Parents who experience intimate partner violence are at greater risk of stress and child abuse

Parents who recently experienced intimate partner violence reported greater parenting stress and a greater risk of child maltreatment, and were less likely to use positive parenting strategies, according to research from UTHealth Houston published August 26, 2024, in JAMA Pediatrics.

“Our findings highlight the collateral damage of domestic violence: the negative impacts are not limited to the couple, but have the potential to affect their parenting styles and ultimately the health of their children. We must do everything we can to prevent this public health problem,” said Jeff Temple, Ph.D., lead author of the study and professor in the Louis A. Faillace, MD, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston.

Researchers focused on physical and sexual intimate partner violence. Starting in 2010, more than 1,000 high school students were surveyed annually. The surveys, now in their 15th year, included questions about mental health, violence, and parenting. Researchers also assessed the potential for child abuse, parental stress, and positive parenting skills.

Temple said the study’s findings underscore the need to expand resources for people in abusive relationships, encourage them with positive parenting strategies and give them the tools to become better parents. By doing so, he said, the intergenerational cycle of violence can hopefully be stopped. The study’s findings also suggest that increasing efforts to treat stress and anxiety for people experiencing intimate partner violence could help prevent potential abuse of their children and promote healthy development.

“When you look at some of the systemic and structural factors that are associated with both violence and parenting, it’s harder to be a good parent and avoid violence if you’re not making a living wage, if you’re living in unsafe housing, if you’re living in a community that experiences a lot of violence, if you’re working three jobs,” said Temple, the Betty and Rose Pfefferbaum Chair in Child Mass Trauma and Resilience at McGovern Medical School. “So if we can reduce that stress, then maybe we can do things like reduce intimate partner violence, prevent child abuse, and promote positive parenting.”

Temple says being in an abusive relationship doesn’t automatically make someone a bad parent. The research suggests ways to reduce child abuse.

“It’s not a lost cause because we can give them the tools they need to get out of the abusive relationship and be able to parent positively,” he said.

Co-authors from the Faillace Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences include Elizabeth Baumler, Ph.D., and Leila Wood, Ph.D.