The effects of domestic violence on children's behavior problems: Assessing the moderating roles of poverty and marital status

a r t i c l e i n f o Keywords: Domestic violence Children Externalizing behavior problems Internalizing behavior problems Poverty status Marital status Using four waves across 5 years of a recent longitudinal dataset, this study examined whether the effects of domestic violence at Year 1 on children's behavior problems at Year 5 differed by poverty and marital status. Findings from multiple-group structural equation modeling revealed that children in poor families were less affected by domestic violence than those in non-poor families, for both externalizing and internalizing behavior problems. Children in unmarried-mother families were more affected by domestic violence for external-izing behavior problems, whereas they were less affected for internalizing behavior problems, compared to children in married-mother families. Findings from this study highlight that the effects of domestic violence on the behavior problems of children vary by socioeconomic categories, such as poverty and marital status, and, therefore, that children's and their mothers' needs in violent families may vary widely as well. At least 1 in 4 women during their lifetime have been physically, emotionally, or sexually abused by an intimate partner (Coker et al., 2002; Straus & Gelles, 1986) and these women frequently suffer from mental health problems and parenting difficulties (Campbell & Soeken, 1997; O'Keefe, 1994). The mental health problems and par-enting difficulties experienced by abused women have been considered as key factors that may mediate the effects of domestic violence on children's behavioral outcomesthough the domestic violence is a problem affecting all women and children, research suggests that low-income and unmarried women are far more likely to experience domestic violence and that the risks of experiencing mental health problems and par-enting difficulties associated with domestic violence may be greater for the women and their children However, the effects of domestic violence combined with socioeconomic categories such as poverty and unmarried-mother status, on women and children have not fully researched. Most studies in this area have commonly considered poverty (or income) and marital status as control variables but have not focused on their moderating roles in the effects of domestic violence on children's behavioral outcomes (Goodman et al., 2009). Therefore, investigating the effects that domestic violence has on women and children across a variety of social categories is critical in order to obtain a more comprehensive understanding of domestic violence and to develop more adequate policies and services for supporting domestic violence victims and their children. Using …