Type of violence, age, and gender diVerences in the eVects of family violence on children’s behavior problems: A mega-analysis

A mega-analytic study was designed to exploit the power of a large data set combining raw data from multiple studies (n D 1870) to examine the eVects of type of family violence, age, and gender on children’s behavior problems assessed using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Our Wndings conWrmed that children who experienced multiple forms of family violence were at greater risk than children who experienced only one form of abuse, and witnesses of inter-parental violence were at similar risk as victims of violence. Age moderated the eVects of family violence on externalizing behavior problems, but not on internalizing behavior problems. No main or interaction eVects involving children’s gender were evident. These results underscore the need to take children’s age, type of violence, and type of outcome into account when examining the eVects of family violence on children’s behavior problems. Published by Elsevier Inc. The authors are grateful to the researchers who provided data for inclusion in these analyses: Dante Cicchetti, Robert Emery, George Holden, Honore Hughes, Ernest Jouriles, Milling Kinard, Laura McCloskey, Tim Moore, Maura O’Keefe, Kathy Ritchie, Robbie Rossman, Suzanne Salzinger, and Penelope Trickett. We also thank Jessica Norris for assistance preparing the data for reanalysis and are especially grateful to Jack McArdle for his advice regarding the mega analytic technique. Unfortunately, Kathleen J. Sternberg died before completion of this report. * Corresponding author. Fax: +44 1223 334 550. E-mail address: [email protected] (M.E. Lamb). 90 K.J. Sternberg et al. / Developmental Review 26 (2006) 89–112