The impact of less severe intimate partner aggression on child conduct problems

Significant intimate partner aggression (IPA) has been found to negatively impact outcomes of children, such as increased conduct problems (CP). However, it is unclear if forms of IPA that are less severe (e.g., shoving, pushing or yelling) have no, little, or substantial impact on child CP, which would indicate that the intensity (i.e., dosage) of IPA matters. In addition, it is unknown if the impact of IPA on child CP depends on the reporter (mother vs. partner) and on variables such as maternal depression and parenting.

We investigated the impact of IPA (both mother- and partner-reported), assessed during pregnancy and 9 months postpartum, on child CP at ages 2, 4.5, and 8 years. We also tested both the potential mediating role of maternal depression and moderating role of maternal warmth, reflecting risk and protective factors, respectively. Using longitudinal data from the Growing Up in New Zealand study, we tested path models with 5298 children.

IPA predicted greater child CP for both mother- and partner-reported IPA, but at different age. Maternal depression partly mediated this effect, which was not moderated by maternal warmth.

These findings underscore the importance of exposure to IPA on child development and provides evidence for that impact on behaviour independent of the effects of maternal depression. Positive parenting like maternal warmth seems not to buffer those negative effects.