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Intimate Partner Violence Victimization and Parenting Stress: Assessing the Mediating Role of Depressive Symptoms

NCJ Number
228971
Journal
Violence Against Women Volume: 15 Issue: 11 Dated: November 2009 Pages: 1380-1401
Author(s)
Lynette M. Renner
Date Published
November 2009
Length
22 pages
Annotation
This study examined relationships between intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization and parenting stress.
Abstract
The purpose of the study was to examine the direct relationships between physiological and psychological IPV victimization and women's self-reported parenting stress and parental warmth with the mediating relationship of depressive symptoms. Results show that recent incidents of psychological IPV were associated with later self-reported parenting stress, but recent incidents of physical IPV were not significantly related to later levels of stress, suggesting that psychological IPV might have more lasting effects on parenting stress. Results also revealed that women's experiences with physical and psychological IPV were not associated with increased or decreased levels of parental warmth. Depressive symptoms were found to mediate the relationship between psychological IPV and later parenting stress. Data were taken from the Illinois Families Study, a 5-year longitudinal study of the same group of families. Tables, notes, and references