title: Exploring the relationship between child physical abuse and adult dating violence using a causal inference approach in an emerging adult population in South Korea.
abstract: Child maltreatment is one of the most commonly examined risk factors for violence in dating relationships. Often referred to as the intergenerational transmission of violence or cycle of violence, a fair amount of research suggests that experiencing abuse during childhood significantly increases the likelihood of involvement in violent relationships later, but these conclusions are primarily based on correlational research designs. Furthermore, the majority of research linking childhood maltreatment and dating violence has focused on samples of young people from the United States. Considering these limitations, the current study uses a rigorous, propensity score matching approach to estimate the causal effect of experiencing child physical abuse on adult dating violence among a large sample of South Korean emerging adults. Results indicate that the link between child physical abuse and adult dating violence is spurious rather than causal. Study limitations and implications are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Criminology, University of South Florida, USA.
authors.forename: Wesley G
authors.initials: WG
authors.lastname: Jennings
authors.affiliation: Department of Police Administration, Hannam University, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: MiRang
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: School of Criminal Justice, University of Baltimore, USA.
authors.forename: Tara N
authors.initials: TN
authors.lastname: Richards
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Affairs and Social Research, Texas A&M International University, USA.
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tomsich
authors.affiliation: School of Public Affairs, University of Colorado Denver, USA.
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gover
authors.affiliation: Department of Criminology, University of South Florida, USA.
authors.forename: Ráchael A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Powers
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003380:Courtship / Q000523:psychology*; D019548:Crime Victims / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D012307:Risk Factors; D012747:Sexual Partners; D014754:Violence; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Child abuse; Child maltreatment; Dating violence; Intimate partner violence; Propensity scores