Citation

Becker KD, Stuewig J, McCloskey LA. J. Interpers. Violence 2010; 25(9): 1699-1715.

Affiliation

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0886260509354578

PMID

20040716

Abstract

Interviews of women with (n = 193) and without (n = 170) recent exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) were used to examine how IPV and past exposure to child abuse influence self-reports of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. The measurement of IPV included assessing psychological, physical, escalated physical, and sexual abuse. Women's retrospective accounts of childhood victimization included reports of physical abuse, sexual abuse, and witnessing domestic violence growing up. Each form of adult IPV showed an independent association with PTSD symptoms, as did each form of childhood victimization. In regression models including child and adult abuse together, adult IPV and childhood sexual abuse were related to PTSD symptoms, and adult IPV mediated the association between childhood physical abuse and adult PTSD. Tests of the interactions between childhood and adulthood victimization on PTSD symptoms were not significant. Findings are discussed within the context of a life-course perspective of trauma.

Language: en