Adolescent Adverse Childhood Experiences and Risk of Adult Intimate Partner Violence

Exposure to adverse experiences during adolescence may have significant implications for intimate partner violence during adulthood because it is during this developmental stage that many youth begin to have romantic relationships. Yet, few prospective longitudinal analyses on this topic exist. This study aims to fill a gap in the literature by examining the adverse childhood experiences during adolescence and intimate partner violence 15 years later during adulthood.

Multilevel negative-binomial regression was used to examine the relationship between adolescent adverse childhood experiences (age 13-19 years) and adult intimate partner violence (age 28-34 years) in 499 participants over 5 waves of data from a 24-year longitudinal study (Wave 1: 1994) based in Flint, Michigan. Adolescent adverse childhood experiences included being a victim of violence, observed family conflict, parental intoxication, parental divorce, and observed community violence. Data analysis was conducted between 2019 and 2020.

First, investigators modeled the adverse childhood experience variables as a summary score to predict intimate partner violence during adulthood while controlling for known risk factors and individual random effects. Secondly, this study examined individual adverse childhood experiences iteratively to understand which adverse experiences predicted intimate partner violence in adulthood and found that observed community violence remained significant when accounting for all other adverse childhood experiences (β=0.276, p<0.05).

These findings support the negative effects of community violence in adolescence on later risk of intimate partner violence. Prevention interventions that focus on community health and violence prevention with a focus on healthy adolescent development may be pertinent in lowering intimate partner violence victimization in adulthood.