| The purpose of this study was to determine if the type of abuse in childhood is associated with the type of abuse a victim of interpersonal violence (IPV) receives in adulthood and whether the type of abuse is associated with depressive symptoms. 66 women who were actively receiving services, either in shelter or non-residential counseling, at a domestic violence agency in Illinois participated. The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire was used to retrospectively measure emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional neglect, and physical neglect in childhood. An adapted version of the Conflict Tactics Scale-2 was used to measure psychological aggression, physical assault, sexual coercion and injury in adult intimate relationships. Seventy-four percent of the IPV victims reported some form of childhood abuse or maltreatment at the moderate to severe level. Significant associations between types of abuse in childhood and adulthood were found. Physical abuse in childhood most strongly predicted physical abuse in adulthood, p < .001. Other significant associations between childhood abuse and IPV types were as follows: physical abuse in childhood with IPV psychological abuse, sexual coercion and injury, emotional abuse in childhood with IPV physical abuse, sexual abuse in childhood with IPV physical abuse and injury, as well as use of negotiation tactics by the perpetrator, physical neglect with IPV physical abuse, sexual coercion and injury, and severity of emotional neglect in childhood with severity of IPV sexual coercion. Demographic variables such as age, race/ethnicity, education and witnessing abuse in the family of origin are associated with types of abuse and conflict tactics. Depressive symptoms were measured using the Beck Depression Inventory-II. Though 50% of the women who completed the BDI-II scored in the moderate to severe range, there were no significant correlations found between type of abuse and depressive symptoms in this homogeneous population. Depressive symptoms were significantly correlated with whether or not the victim considers herself to still be in the relationship. Implications of the results on future research and treatment are discussed. |
