Objective: This paper examines whether exposure to interparental violence in childhood predicts subsequent involvement in interpartner violence and violent crime after controlling for potentially confounding factors.
Method: The investigation analyses data from the Christchurch Health and Development Study, a prospective, longitudinal study of a birth cohort of over 1000 New Zealand young adults studied at multiple assessment points from birth to the age of 25.
Results: After controlling for potentially confounding risk factors, observed associations between exposure to interparental violence in childhood and increased risks of both (a) psychological interpartner violence perpetration and victimization and (b) violent crime, were reduced to statistical non-significance. No statistically significant associations were observed between exposure to interparental violence in childhood and increased risk of physical interpartner violence perpetration or victimization.
Conclusions: It is concluded that the effects of childhood exposure to interparental violence on subsequent interpartner violence are weak and largely explained by the psychosocial context within which childhood exposure to interparental violence occurs.