title: Examining Patterns of Exposure to Family Violence in Preschool Children: A Latent Class Approach.
abstract: Young children can experience violence directly or indirectly in the home, with some children exposed to multiple forms of violence. These polyvictims often experience violence that is severe, chronic, and multifaceted. The current study used latent class analysis to identify and examine the pattern of profiles of exposure to family violence (i.e., violence directed towards the child and between caregivers) among a sample of 474 children ages 3-6 year who were drawn from the Multidimensional Assessment of Preschoolers Study (Wakschlag et al., 2014). The data yielded 3 classes: a polyvictimized class (n = 72; 15.2%) with high probability of exposure to all forms of violence, a harsh parenting class (n = 235; 49.5%), distinguished mainly by child-directed physical discipline in the absence of more severe forms of violence, and a low-exposure class (n = 167; 35.2%). Classes were differentiated by contextual factors, maternal characteristics, and mother-reported and observational indicators of parenting and child functioning with most effect sizes between medium and large. These findings add to emerging evidence linking polyvictimization to impaired caregiving and adverse psychological outcomes for children and offer important insight for prevention and intervention for this vulnerable population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington, Connecticut, USA.
authors.forename: Damion J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Grasso
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Social Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois, USA.|Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
authors.forename: Amélie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Petitclerc
authors.affiliation: Institute for Health Research and Policy, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
authors.forename: David B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Henry
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington, Connecticut, USA.
authors.forename: Kimberly J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: McCarthy
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Social Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois, USA.|Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
authors.forename: Lauren S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Wakschlag
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington, Connecticut, USA.
authors.forename: Margaret J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Briggs-Gowan
mesh_terms: D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D017579:Domestic Violence / Q000145:classification / Q000523:psychology*; D000069581:Exposure to Violence / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations / Q000523:psychology; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012308:Risk Management; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires