Assessing children's exposure to intimate partner violence.
Child exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) is widely acknowledged as a threat to the psycho-social and academic well-being of children. Unfortunately, as reflected in the literature, the specific link between such exposure and childhood outcomes is ambiguous. Based on a review of the literature, this article suggests that this state of affairs is due, in part, to the manner with which exposure to IPV is operationally defined. After reviewing the dominant strategies for operationally defining exposure to IPV and the problems associated with those strategies, this article reports original data contrasting three measures derived from maternal reports, three measures derived from child reports, and the limited concordance among those different indices of exposure to IPV. The implications of these findings for research on child outcomes and the clinical assessment of children who might have been exposed to IPV are discussed.
Knutson
John F
JF
University of Iowa, E11 Seashore Hall, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA. john-knutson@uiowa.edu
Lawrence
Erika
E
Taber
Sarah M
SM
Bank
Lew
L
DeGarmo
David S
DS
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D002648:Child; D017579:Domestic Violence / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D002666:Psychology, Child; D014481:United States