TY - JOUR
T1 - Intimate Partner Violence and Children's Attachment Representations During Middle Childhood
AU - The Family Life Project Key Investigators
AU - Gustafsson, Hanna C.
AU - Brown, Geoffrey L.
AU - Mills-Koonce, W. Roger
AU - Cox, Martha J.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 National Council on Family Relations
PY - 2017/6
Y1 - 2017/6
N2 - Despite long-standing hypotheses that intimate partner violence (IPV) may undermine children's ability to form secure attachment representations, few studies have empirically investigated this association. Particularly lacking is research that examines IPV and attachment during middle childhood, a time when the way that children understand, represent, and process the behavior of others becomes particularly important. Using data from a sample of African American children living in rural, low-income communities (N = 98), the current study sought to address this gap by examining the association between physical IPV occurring early in children's lives and their attachment security during the first grade. Results indicate that, even after controlling for child- and family-level covariates, physical IPV was associated with a greater likelihood of being rated insecurely attached. This effect was above and beyond the influence of maternal parenting behaviors, demonstrating a unique effect of physical IPV on children's attachment representations during middle childhood.
AB - Despite long-standing hypotheses that intimate partner violence (IPV) may undermine children's ability to form secure attachment representations, few studies have empirically investigated this association. Particularly lacking is research that examines IPV and attachment during middle childhood, a time when the way that children understand, represent, and process the behavior of others becomes particularly important. Using data from a sample of African American children living in rural, low-income communities (N = 98), the current study sought to address this gap by examining the association between physical IPV occurring early in children's lives and their attachment security during the first grade. Results indicate that, even after controlling for child- and family-level covariates, physical IPV was associated with a greater likelihood of being rated insecurely attached. This effect was above and beyond the influence of maternal parenting behaviors, demonstrating a unique effect of physical IPV on children's attachment representations during middle childhood.
KW - Manchester Child Attachment Story Task
KW - attachment
KW - domestic violence
KW - intimate partner violence
KW - middle childhood
KW - parenting
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85006858079&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85006858079&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/jomf.12388
DO - 10.1111/jomf.12388
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85006858079
SN - 0022-2445
VL - 79
SP - 865
EP - 878
JO - Journal of Marriage and Family
JF - Journal of Marriage and Family
IS - 3
ER -