Is There a Cumulative Association Between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Intimate Partner Violence in Emerging Adulthood?

Abstract

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have been shown to cumulatively predict a range of poor physical and mental health outcomes across adulthood. The cumulative effect of ACEs on intimate partner violence (IPV) in emerging adulthood has not been previously explored. The current study examined the individual and cumulative associations between nine ACEs (emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional neglect, physical neglect, witnessing domestic violence, living with a mentally ill, substance abusing, or incarcerated household member) and IPV in a diverse sample of college students (N = 284; M_age = 20.05 years old [SD = 2.5], 32% male, 37% Caucasian, 30% Asian, 33% other, and 27% Hispanic) from an urban, public college in the Northeast of the United States. Participants reported ACEs (measured by the Adverse Childhood Experiences Survey) and IPV perpetration and victimization (measured with the Revised Conflict Tactics Scale–2) of physical and psychological aggression in an online study that took place from 2015 to 2016. Bivariate and multivariate associations between ACEs, cumulative ACEs (assessed by the sum of adverse experiences), and IPV outcomes were assessed, while controlling for demographics and socioeconomic status. No cumulative associations were observed between ACEs and any of the IPV subscales in multivariate regressions, while witnessing domestic violence was significantly associated with perpetration and victimization of physical aggression and injury, and household member incarceration and physical abuse were associated with physical aggression perpetration. Adverse childhood events do not seem to associate cumulatively with IPV in emerging adulthood and the contributions of individual childhood experiences appear to be more relevant for IPV outcomes. Clinical and research implications are discussed.

Keywords

adverse childhood experiences intimate partner violence cumulative risk domestic violence emerging adulthood

Annually, more than 10 million adult men and women in the United States experience intimate partner violence (IPV) in the forms of physical, sexual, and psychological abuse (Breiding, 2014). Victims of IPV are at an increased risk for adverse outcomes across multiple domains of functioning, including injury, cardiovascular disease, anxiety disorders, posttraumatic stress disorder, substance abuse, suicidality, risky sexual behavior, criminality, and academic disengagement (Breiding, 2014; Capaldi, Knoble, Shortt, & Kim, 2012; Carlson, McNutt, Choi, & Rose, 2002; Kaura & Lohman, 2007). Rates of IPV are estimated to decrease with age in adulthood and therefore emerging adults (late teens through the twenties) are at highest risk for perpetrating and being victims of IPV (Arnett, 2015; Breiding, 2014; Capaldi et al., 2012). Although estimated prevalence rates vary, ranging from 12% to 72% (Barnett, Miller-Perrin, & Perrin, 2004; Machado, Martins, & Caridade, 2014; Makepeace, 1981), research shows that for around 50% of IPV victims, first victimization experience occurs in this developmental stage (Breiding, 2014). Therefore, emerging adults are uniquely vulnerable to IPV, and represent an important developmental group to examine, because they are new to dating relationships and have had limited opportunities to develop communication and relationship skills within romantic partnerships (Fredland et al., 2005). Studying emerging adults could also contribute to the development of effective and timely interventions.

Theoretical Framework

Due to high prevalence rates and negative consequences, preventing IPV is an important public health concern. Research into childhood risk factors for IPV grounded in social learning theory argues that through observational learning, the experience of interpersonal violence during childhood could lead to intergenerational transmission and the enactment of violence in later relationships (Bandura, 1977; Widom, 1989). Researchers using both cross-sectional and longitudinal methodologies consistently find that childhood experiences of violence, including maltreatment and witnessing IPV, are associated with increased risk for perpetrating violence and being victimized in a romantic relationship in adulthood (Capaldi et al., 2012; Carr & Van Deusen, 2002; Coid et al., 2001; Ehrensaft et al., 2003; Fang & Corso, 2007; Gil-González, Vives-Cases, Ruiz, Carrasco-Portiño, & Alvarez-Dardet, 2008; Magdol, Moffitt, Caspi, & Silva, 1998; Widom, Czaja, & Dutton, 2008; Wolfe, Wekerle, Scott, Straatman, & Grasley, 2004).

Most studies of associations between childhood risk factors and IPV attend to the individual effects of childhood violence exposure. Assessing the cumulative risk (CR; an aggregate measure of the effect) of multiple childhood risk factors offers a complementary perspective that helps understand how a number of negative childhood experiences contribute to risk for IPV. The current study is guided by the CR model and examines the relationship between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and IPV in a diverse college sample of emerging adults.

Cummulative Risk and Intimate Partner Violence

The CR approach identifies multiple risks for IPV and examines whether the combined effect of any of these co-occurring risks increases the chances of IPV perpetration and victimization (Appleyard, Egeland, Dulmen, & Alan Sroufe, 2005; Evans, Li, & Whipple, 2013; Rutter, 1979). The cumulative association between ACEs and IPV has not received significant research attention, despite the evidence that risk factors, such as childhood abuse, neglect, witnessing domestic violence, tend to cluster together and co-occur (Dong et al., 2004; Kessler, Davis, & Kendler, 1997; Scott, Burke, Weems, Hellman, & Carrión, 2013; Whitfield, Anda, Dube, & Felitti, 2003), and the recommendation for studying the interface of risk factors in their contribution to IPV (Capaldi et al., 2012).

The Center for Disease Control (CDC)–Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study is one of the largest ongoing investigations of the CR of ACEs and adult health and well-being. It was initiated in 1995 and assessed the association between multiple negative experiences in childhood, including child physical abuse, physical and emotional neglect, childhood sexual abuse, emotional maltreatment, parental incarceration, domestic violence, parental mental illness, and substance abuse, and a range of physical and mental health and behavioral outcomes (Anda et al., 2002; Chapman et al., 2004; Dube, Felitti, Dong, Giles, & Anda, 2003; Felitti et al., 1998; Whitfield et al., 2003). Research on ACEs has found a strong, cumulative, graded dose-response relationship between the number of retrospectively reported ACEs and a myriad of health and social outcomes including IPV (Dube et al., 2003; Felitti et al., 1998; Ports, Ford, & Merrick, 2016; Whitfield et al., 2003). Graded dose-response relationships are marked by deterioration in function with increasing levels of adversity that is usually assessed across levels of negative childhood experiences (Mersky, Topitzes, & Reynolds, 2013).

Whitfield and colleagues (2003) examined the association between three violent ACEs (physical abuse, sexual abuse, and witnessing IPV) and adult IPV in a large sample of middle-aged adults. They observed a graded, positive relationship between the number of ACEs and IPV victimization for women and IPV perpetration for men. A different, nationally representative study of adults, assessed the association between twelve ACEs and retrospectively reported physical violence in adolescent dating relationships (Miller et al., 2011). This study’s findings qualified the association between ACEs and IPV. Authors found support for the positive relationship between the number of ACEs a participant reported and physical aggression in adolescent romantic partnerships but the added risk was diminishing with each additional ACE. Furthermore, a different study of high-risk emerging adults assessed the cumulative effect of four types of adverse experiences, emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, and community violence on one, aggregate measure of IPV across multiple types of violence (Taylor et al., 2008), and found a positive graded relationship between ACEs and IPV predicting victimization, which plateaued at three negative experiences. No cumulative association was present for perpetration.

Taken together, these findings suggest that ACEs may not be associated with IPV in a linear cumulative relationship (e.g., the additional risk associated with each new ACE is equal) and that the risk of each additional negative experience may diminish as the number of ACEs increases. However, no prior study has focused on the association between a range of ACEs and a range of IPV behaviors during emerging adulthood with the goal of exploring the nature of the cumulative relationship. This is an important avenue of research because an in-depth understanding of the association between ACEs and IPV could contribute to the development of more effective interventions (Kessler et al., 1997; Miller et al., 2011).

Current Study

The goal of the current study was to assess the relation between ACEs and IPV perpetration and victimization in a diverse college sample of low-risk (i.e., individuals who have not been identified as at risk for IPV) emerging adults. Because IPV perpetration and victimization exist on a continuum, studies of low-risk samples contribute to the field’s knowledge of IPV behaviors in the community (Capaldi et al., 2012). The current study asked the following three research questions: 1) Are individual ACEs (physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, emotional neglect, physical neglect, witnessing domestic violence, living with a mentally ill, substance abusing, or incarcerated household member) associated with IPV victimization and perpetration of physical aggression, injury, and psychological aggression in romantic partnerships? 2) Is the number of adverse events experienced in childhood associated with perpetration and victimization of physical aggression, injury, and psychological aggression? 3) If there is cumulative association between ACEs and IPV, is it linear or diminishing as the number of ACEs increase?

In answering these questions, the study controls for demographic factors that have been found to predict IPV behaviors, including age, gender, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status (Capaldi et al., 2012; Ehrensaft, Moffitt, & Caspi, 2004; Fang & Corso, 2007; Fergusson, Boden, & Horwood, 2006; Magdol et al., 1998).

Method

Procedure

Data for the current article are drawn from a larger research study assessing histories of ACEs, symptomology, and interpersonal relationships of college students from diverse backgrounds. Research participants were undergraduate students at a public college in New York City, recruited through an “Introduction to Psychology” Subject Pool in 2015 and 2016. Participants received two hours of research participation credit toward their class requirement after completing an online study. Participants were instructed to complete the survey online via Instantly™ (an online platform for research and data collection) in a single session on their personal computers. The average length of the survey was 89 minutes and participants were encouraged to take a break in the middle of the survey. Participants were required to be 18 years or older to participate. All research procedures were approved by the university institutional review board. Researchers have previously examined whether online and in person administrations of IPV measures yield different findings and have found no differences (Fass, Benson, & Leggett, 2008; Hamby, Sugarman, & Boney-McCoy, 2006)

Participants

Five hundred eighteen students participated in the larger online study; however the focus of the current study is on IPV and data from the 284 participants (55% of the original sample) who reported being in a dating, cohabiting, married, or other relationship for at least 1 month and were 30 years old or younger. The focus of the study is on this age group because Jeffrey Arnett identified the period of emerging adulthood as the developmental age from “late teens through the twenties” (Arnett, 2015, p. 1). The state of being between the security of childhood/adolescence and the responsibility of adulthood makes emerging adulthood a unique developmental stage of self-focus and exploration. Such individuals in their late teens through the late twenties who are in the process of completing college education are exploring a vocational identity and have not yet established a career. Furthermore, most of the sample was in dating relationships (83%), suggesting that they have not committed to a marriage. This current sample is on average 20.05 years old (SD = 2.5), 32% male, 37% Caucasian, 30% Asian, 33% other, and 27% Hispanic. Participants reported the highest level of their parents’ education to be high school or less (30%), some college/associate degree (25%), BA/BS and higher (45%), as well childhood family income to be less than US$35,000 (34%), between US$35,000 and US$74,999 (32%), and US$75,000 or greater (34%). Eighty-three percent of the sample were dating, 11% were married or engaged, and the rest cohabiting or other. Relative to the larger sample of participants, those included in the current sample were more likely to be of Hispanic ethnicity, χ²_{(1, 479)} = 8.22, p < .01, and younger in age, M = 20.05 vs. M = 23.25; t₍₄₈₉₎ = 6.29; p < .000. No other demographic differences were observed.

Measures

ACEs

ACEs were assessed using the Adverse Childhood Experiences Survey (Felitti et al., 1998), a widely used measure (Bruskas & Tessin, 2013; Wingenfeld et al., 2011) of stressful childhood experiences. The ACE questionnaire assessed whether a participant experienced (yes/no) nine adverse events before 18 years of age, including psychological, physical, or sexual abuse; emotional or physical neglect; and exposure to household substance abuse, a mentally ill household member, domestic violence, and incarcerated household member. The number of endorsed ACEs is added to create the ACE score (range = 0-9). At Cronbach’s alpha of .70, the current measure had acceptable internal consistency.

IPV

The Conflict Tactics Scale 2 (CTS2; Straus, Hamby, Boney-McCoy, & Sugarman, 1996) assessed participant’s experience both as a victim and perpetrator of IPV in the past year within a romantic relationships lasting at least 1 month. The CTS2 is a 78-item scale, with responses coded dichotomously (yes/no) as is recommended with low-risk samples (Straus et al., 1996), indicating prevalence of any behaviors on three perpetration scales and three victimization scales assessing physical aggression, injury, and psychological aggression (Miller et al., 2011; Testa, Livingston, & Leonard, 2003). More specifically, if a participant endorsed any of the items on a subscale, he or she was marked as positive for that scale. The CTS2 is a widely used IPV measure (Capaldi et al., 2012; Hamby et al., 2006; Murray A Straus & Gelles, 1990) with high concurrent and construct validity (Straus et al., 1996). In the current sample, however, the fourth CTS subscale of sexual coercion perpetration and victimization yielded low internal consistency alphas (both .59) and the scale could not be used. The rest of the alphas ranged from .74 to .83.

Demographics

Participants reported their age, gender, race, ethnicity, current and childhood family income, and parents’ highest level of education. To identify their race, participants were asked to select the category or multiple categories that best describe them from the following options: White, Black or African American, American Indian or Alaskan Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, Other. In a separate question, participants were asked whether or not they identify with Hispanic/Latino ethnicity. For parsimony, the race variable was collapsed into three groups: 37% Caucasian, 30% Asian, and 33% other. Similarly, to indicate childhood family income, current income, and parents’ highest level of education, participants selected appropriate responses from available options.

Statistical Analysis

SPSS Version 24 was used for all analyses. Bivariate associations between ACEs, IPV subscales, and demographics were examined with Pearson correlations and Chi-squares. To answer the first and second research questions and examine the individual and cumulative associations between individual ACEs and IPV scales (i.e., physical assault perpetration and victimization, injury perpetration and victimization, and psychological aggression perpetration and victimization), six multivariate logistic regressions were run. An IPV subscale was the outcome variable in each regression that included the ACE score and individual adverse experiences that were associated at least at a trend level (p < .10) with the individual IPV subscale in bivariate results and controlled for demographic characteristics (associated with outcome at least on a trend level in bivariate results). This approach was undertaken to maximize statistical power of the analyses by minimizing the number of independent variables in each model and only focusing on ones that are associated with the outcome in bivariate analyses. Due to low ns for some study outcomes and independent variables (i.e., injury perpetration and victimization; incarcerated household member), and because of the importance of considering effect sizes and statistical significance, trend-level findings (p < .10) in addition to significant ones (p < .05) were considered in the results and discussion (Cohen, 1992; Olejnik & Algina, 2000; Wilkinson & Leland, 1999). If cumulative effects were observed, and to answer the third research question, whether the association between ACEs and IPV subscales is linear or subadditive, the added risk associated with each additional ACE was to be compared with the risk associated with one less ACE (e.g., two ACEs compared with three ACEs) by examining the changes in the associated adjusted odds ratios in multivariate logistic regressions, controlling for demographics that were significant in bivariate associations.

Results

Prevalence Rates of IPV, ACEs, and Bivariate Associations

Prevalence rates of IPV and bivariate associations are reported in Appendix Table A1. The most prevalent type of IPV perpetration and victimization was psychological aggression that was reported by the majority of the sample (60% and 60%, respectively), followed by physical aggression (24% and 25%, respectively) and injury, which occurred in only 4% perpetration and 5% victimization of the sample. The different types of IPV behaviors frequently co-occurred.

Prevalence rates of ACEs are reported in Table 1; the most prevalent type of ACE was physical abuse (35%), followed by mental illness of a household member (29%) and emotional abuse (26%). The least frequent types of adverse experience in the current sample were physical neglect (11%) and growing up with an incarcerated household member (4%). The rest of the ACEs were endorsed by 14% to 19% of the sample. On average, participants reported experiencing 1.7 adverse childhood events. Thirty-three and a half percent of the sample reported no adverse childhood events, 24% reported one ACE, 18% reported two ACEs, 9% reported three ACEs, 6% reported four ACEs, 11% reported five or more ACEs. Bivariate associations between ACEs are reported in Appendix Table A2.

Table 1.

Bivariate Associations Between IPV Perpetration and ACEs.

	N (%) ACE Entire Sample	Perpetration N (%)
		Physical Aggression		Injury		Psychological Aggression
		No	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes
		214 (75)	70 (25)	273 (96)	11 (4)	115 (40)	169 (60)
		N (%) of ACE within IPV category
Emotion abuse	73 (26)	χ²(1) = .90		Fisher’s ns		χ²(1) = .97
No		162 (76)	49 (70)	204 (75)	7 (64)	89 (77)	122 (72)
Yes		54 (24)	21 (30)	69 (2)	4 (36)	26 (23)	47 (28)
Physical abuse	100 (35)	χ²(1) = 7.27**		Fisher’s ns		χ²(1) = 1.29
No		148 (69)	36 (51)	179 (67)	5 (46)	79 (68)	105 (62)
Yes		66 (31)	34 (49)	94 (34)	6 (54)	36 (31)	64 (38)
Sexual abuse	49 (17)	χ²(1) = 2.04		Fisher’s ns		χ²(1) = 4.79*
No		181 (87)	54 (77)	228 (84)	7 (64)	102 (89)	133 (79)
Yes		54 (15)	16 (23)	45 (16)	4 (36)	13 (11)	36 (21)
Emotion neglect	39 (14)	χ²(1) = .91		Fisher’s*		χ²(1) = .07
No		187 (87)	58 (83)	238 (87)	7 (64)	99 (86)	146 (86)
Yes		27 (13)	12 (17)	35 (13)	4 (36)	16 (14)	23 (14)
Physical neglect	30 (11)	χ²(1) = .52		Fisher’s^†		χ²(1) = .00
No		193 (90)	61 (87)	246 (90)	8 (73)	103 (90)	151 (89)
Yes		21 (10)	9 (13)	27 (10)	3 (27)	12 (10)	18 (11)
Dom. violence	47 (17)	χ²(1) = 24.70***		Fisher’s***		χ²(1) = 6.83**
No		192 (89)	45 (64)	233 (85)	4 (36)	104 (90)	133 (78)
Yes		22 (10)	25 (36)	40 (15)	7 (64)	11 (10)	36 (21)
Subst. use	54 (19)	χ²(1) = .35		Fisher’s ns		χ²(1) = 3.27^†
No		175 (82)	55 (79)	222 (81)	8 (73)	99 (86)	131 (78)
Yes		39 (18)	15 (21)	51 (18)	3 (27)	16 (14)	38 (23)
Mental illness	81 (29)	χ²(1) = 1.51		Fisher’s ns		χ²(1) = 2.41
No		157 (73)	46 (66)	194 (71)	9 (82)	88 (76)	115 (68)
Yes		57 (27)	24 (34)	79 (29)	2 (18)	27 (24)	54 (32)
Prison	12 (4)	Fisher’s*		Fisher’s^†		Fisher’s*
No		209 (98)	62 (90)	262 (96)	9 (82)	114 (99)	157 (94)
Yes		5 (2)	7 (10)	10 (4)	2 (18)	1 (1)	11 (6)
	M (SD)	R
ACE score	1.70 (1.88)	.19**		.16**		.15*

Note. N = 284 (N = 283 for prison). Associations between categorical ACEs and IPV subscales were examined with Chi-square and Fisher Exact tests (for those with expected cell counts of <5). IPV = intimate partner violence; ACEs = adverse childhood experiences; ns = not significant; dom. violence = witnessing domestic violence; subst. = substance. R = Pearson Correlation.

†

p < .10. *p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.

As can be seen in Tables 1 and 2, in bivariate associations of ACEs with IPV subscales, witnessing domestic violence was associated with all IPV subscales. Physical abuse was associated with physical aggression perpetration and victimization. Growing up with an incarcerated household member was associated with physical and psychological aggression perpetration and victimization. Sexual abuse was associated with psychological aggression perpetration and victimization. Emotional neglect was associated with injury perpetration. Growing up with a substance abusing and mentally ill household member was associated with psychological victimization. The ACE score was positively associated with all IPV subscales except for being a victim of injury.

Table 2.

Bivariate Associations Between IPV Victimization and ACEs.

	N (%) ACE Entire Sample	Victimization N (%)
		Physical Aggression		Injury		Psychological Aggression
		No	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes
		216 (76)	68 (24)	271 (95)	13 (5)	113 (40)	171 (60)
		N (%) of ACE within IPV category
Emotion abuse	73 (26)	χ²(1) = 2.07		Fisher’s ns		χ²(1) = 1.96
No		165 (76)	46 (67)	201 (74)	10 (77)	89 (79)	122 (71)
Yes		51 (24)	22 (32)	70 (26)	3 (23)	24 (21)	49 (29)
Physical abuse	100 (35)	χ²(1) = 12.32***		Fisher’s ns		χ²(1) = 2.97^†
No		152 (70)	32 (47)	176 (65)	8 (62)	80 (71)	104 (61)
Yes		64 (30)	36 (53)	95 (35)	5 (38)	33 (29)	67 (39)
Sexual abuse	49 (17)	χ²(1) = .22		Fisher’s ns		χ²(1) = 4.35*
No		180 (83)	55 (81)	226 (83)	9 (69)	100 (89)	135 (79)
Yes		36 (17)	13 (19)	45 (17)	4 (31)	13 (12)	36 (21)
Emotion neglect	39 (14)	χ²(1) = .07		Fisher’s ns		χ²(1) = .27
No		187 (87)	58 (85)	235 (87)	10 (77)	96 (85)	149 (87)
Yes		58 (15)	10 (15)	36 (13)	3 (23)	17 (15)	22 (13)
Physical neglect	30 (11)	χ²(1) = 2.98^†		Fisher’s ns		χ²(1) = 1.34
No		197 (91)	57 (84)	244 (90)	10 (77)	104 (92)	150 (89)
Yes		19 (9)	11 (16)	27 (10)	3 (23)	9 (8)	21 (12)
Dom. violence	47 (17)	χ²(1) = 26.46***		Fisher’s***		χ²(1) = 8.05**
No		194 (90)	43 (63)	232 (86)	5 (39)	103 (91)	134 (78)
Yes		22 (10)	25 (37)	39 (14)	8 (62)	10 (9)	37 (22)
Subst. use	54 (19)	χ²(1) = 2.08		Fisher’s ns		χ²(1) = 4.02*
No		179 (83)	51 (75)	219 (81)	11 (85)	98 (87)	132 (77)
Yes		37 (17)	17 (25)	52 (19)	2 (15)	15 (13)	39 (23)
Mental illness	81 (29)	χ²(1) = 1.23		Fisher’s ns		χ²(1) = 6.14*
No		158 (73)	45 (66)	194 (72)	9 (69)	90 (80)	113 (66)
Yes		58 (27)	23 (34)	77 (28)	4 (31)	23 (20)	58 (34)
Prison	12 (4)	Fisher’s*		Fisher’s ns		Fisher’s*
No		210 (98)	61 (90)	259 (96)	11 (4)	112 (99)	159 (94)
Yes		5 (2.3)	7(10)	11 (4)	1 (8)	1 (1)	11 (7)
	M (SD)	R
ACE score	1.70 (1.88)	.21***		.10		.18**

†

p < .10. *p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.

Bivariate associations between demographics and IPV are presented in Tables 3 and 4. Females reported engaging in higher rates of physical aggression. Hispanic ethnicity was associated with higher rates of psychological and physical aggression and victimization. Those of other racial backgrounds were more likely to perpetrate physical and psychological aggression and be victims of psychological aggression. The “Other” category represents a diverse group of participants and 54% of whom also identified as Hispanic. Childhood family income was associated with experiencing physical aggression. Current income was associated with injury victimization. No other associations were observed.

Table 3.

Bivariate Associations Between Demographic Characteristic and IPV Perpetration Subscales.

Demographics	Perpetration
	Physical Aggression		Injury		Psychological Aggression
	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes
	214 (75)	70 (25)	273 (96)	11 (4)	115 (40)	169 (60)
	N (%)demographic category within IPV subscale
Sex	χ²(1) = 3.83*		Fisher’s ns		χ²(1) = 2.13
Male	73 (34)	15 (22)	86 (32)	2 (18)	41 (37)	47 (28)
Female	137 (63)	53 (78)	181 (68)	9 (82)	71 (63)	119 (72)
Ethnicity	χ²(1) = 9.21 **		Fisher’s^†		χ²(1) = 11.33 **
Not Hispanic	163 (78)	40 (59)	198 (74)	5 (45)	94 (84)	109 (66)
Hispanic	47 (22)	28 (41)	69 (26)	6 (55)	18 (16)	57 (34)
Race	χ²(2) = 6.21*		Fisher’s^†		χ²(2) = 13.62**
Caucasian	79 (38)	24 (35)	100 (38)	3 (27)	45 (41)	58 (35)
Asian	69 (33)	14 (21)	82 (31)	1 (1)	43 (39)	40 (24)
Other	61 (29)	30 (44)	84(32)	7 (64)	23 (21)	68 (41)
Childhood income	χ²(2) = .89		Fisher’s ns		χ²(2) = 4.34
<US$35,000	71 (34)	22 (32)	87(32)	6 (55)	40 (36)	53 (32)
US$35,000-US$74,999	64 (31)	25 (37)	86 (32)	3 (27)	28 (25)	61 (37)
≥US$75,000	73 (35)	21 (31)	92 (34)	2 (18)	43 (39)	51 (31)
Current income	χ²(2) = 1.99		Fisher’s ns		χ²(2) = 1.58
<US$35,000	71 (34)	25 (37)	90 (34)	6 (55)	35 (32)	61 (37)
US$35,000-US$74,999	57 (27)	23 (34)	78 (29)	2 (18)	31 (28)	29 (30)
≥US$75,000	80 (39)	20 (29)	97 (37)	3 (27)	45 (41)	55 (33)
Parent education	χ²(2) = .12		Fisher’s ns		χ²(2) = 2.03
HS or less	63 (30)	20 (29)	81 (30)	2 (18)	32 (29)	51 (31)
Some college	51 (24)	18 (26)	66 (25)	3 (27)	24 (21)	45 (27)
BA/BS/postgrad	95 (45)	30 (44)	119 (45)	6 (56)	56 (50)	69 (42)
	R
Age	−.02		−.01		−.03

Note. N = 276 to 278. Associations between categorical demographic variables (all except for age) and IPV subscales were examined with Chi-square and Fisher Exact tests (for those with expected cell counts of <5). IPV = intimate partner violence; HS = high school. R = Pearson Correlation.

†

p < .10. *p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.

Table 4.

Bivariate Associations Between Demographic Characteristic and IPV Victimization Subscales.

Demographics	Victimization
	Physical Aggression		Injury		Psychological Aggression
	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes
	216 (76)	68 (24)	271 (95)	13 (5)	113 (40)	171 (60)
	N (%)demographic category within IPV subscale
Sex	χ²(1) = .29		Fisher’s ns		χ²(1) = 1.00
Male	65 (31)	23 (34)	86 (32)	2 (15)	36 (33)	52 (31)
Female	146 (69)	44 (65)	179 (68)	11 (85)	74 (67)	116 (69)
Ethnicity	χ²(1) = 7.95**		Fisher’s ns		χ²(1) = 12.27***
Not Hispanic	163 (77)	40 (60)	196 (74)	7 (54)	93 (86)	110 (65)
Hispanic	48 (23)	27 (40)	69 (26)	6 (46)	17 (14)	58 (35)
Race	χ²(2) = 4.36		Fisher’s ns		χ²(2) = 10.79**
Caucasian	82 (39)	21 (31)	99 (38)	4 (31)	41 (38)	62 (37)
Asian	66 (31)	17 (25)	80 (30)	3 (23)	43 (39)	40 (24)
Other	62 (30)	29 (43)	85 (49)	6 (46)	25 (23)	66 (39)
Childhood income	χ²(2) = 7.96*		Fisher’s ns		χ²(2) = 1.99
<US$35,000	69 (33)	24 (36)	86 (33)	7 (54)	38 (35)	55 (33)
US$35,000-US$74,999	60 (29)	29 (43)	86 (33)	3 (23)	30 (28)	59 (35)
≥US$75,000	80 (38)	14 (21)	91 (35)	3 (23)	41 (38)	53 (32)
Current income	χ²(2) = 1.60		Fisher’s*		χ²(2) = 2.80
<US$35,000	71 (34)	25 (37)	87 (33)	9 (69)	32 (29)	64 (38)
US$35,000-US$74,999	58 (28)	22 (33)	79 (30)	1 (8)	32 (29)	48 (29)
≥US$75,000	80 (38)	20 (30)	97 (37)	3 (23)	45 (41)	55 (33)
Parent education	χ²(2) = 1.00		Fisher’s ns		χ²(2) = 2.30
HS or less	60 (28)	23 (35)	81 (31)	2 (15)	29 (26)	54 (32)
Some college	54 (26)	15 (23)	65 (25)	4 (31)	23 (21)	46 (28)
BA/BS/postgrad	97 (46)	28 (42)	118 (45)	7 (54)	58 (53)	67 (40)
	R
Age	−.05		−.02		−.08

†

p < .10. *p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.

Individual Associations and Cumulative Associations Between ACEs and IPV

Multivariate logistic regressions examining individual associations of individual ACEs and cumulative effects of ACEs, assessed by the ACE score, with IPV subscales are presented in Tables 5 and 6. Results showed that Hispanics, those with a history of witnessing domestic violence and those who grew up with incarcerated caregivers, were more likely to perpetrate physical aggression. Hispanics were also more likely to be victimized by psychological aggression. Those with a history of physical abuse and incarcerated household member (trend, odds ratio = 3.36) were more likely to be victims of physical aggression. Those with a history of witnessing domestic violence were more likely to be injured or injure a partner. Trend-level findings also suggest that witnessing domestic violence was associated with psychological aggression perpetration and victimization and therefore exposure to domestic violence emerged as a significant or trend-level predictor for all of the IPV subscales with odds ratios ranging from 2.13 to over 16, with other ACEs and demographics controlled. Exposure to domestic violence co-occurred significantly with all of the other ACEs (Appendix Table A2).

Table 5.

Logistic Regressions With IPV Perpetration Outcomes.

	B	SEb	OR, OR (95% CI)
Physical aggression
Hispanic	0.79*	0.38	1.20 [1.05, 4.60]
Race
Asian	−0.15	0.41	0.86 [0.39, 1.92]
Other	0.05	0.38	1.05 [0.50, 2.20]
Female	0.67 ^†	0.36	1.96 [0.97, 3.96]
Physical abuse	0.67	0.45	1.96 [0.82, 4.68]
Dom. violence	1.70***	0.47	5.49 [2.17, 13.91]
Prison	1.43*	0.14	4.20 [1.01, 17.45]
ACE score	−0.23 ^†	0.14	0.79 [60, 1.04]
Constant	−2.11***	0.42	0.12
χ²_(df)	36.59₍₈₎*** .19
N’s R²	36.59₍₈₎*** .19
Injury
Hispanic	.49	0.77	1.64 [0.35, 7.46]
Race
Asian	−0.59	1.22	0.56 [0.05, 6.10]
Other	0.53	0.82	1.70 [0.34, 8.46]
Emotion neglect	0.78	0.96	2.18 [0.33, 14.40]
Physical neglect	0.62	1.10	1.86 [0.22, 15.86]
Dom. violence	2.46**	92	11.74 [1.94, 70.98]
Prison	0.73	1.05	2.07 [0.26, 16.34]
ACE score	−0.27	0.73	76 [0.45, 16.34]
Constant	−4.13***	0.73	0.02
χ²_(df)	27.42₍₈₎*
N’s R²	22
Psychological aggression
Hispanic	0.66 ^†	0.35	1.93 [0.96, 3.85]
Race
Asian	−0.19	0.31	0.83 [0.45, 1.52]
Other	0.47	0.34	1.6 [0.83, 3.10]
Sexual abuse	0.62	0.42	1.85 [0.82, 4.18]
Dom. violence	0.84 ^†	0.48	2.13 [0.91, 5.94]
Subst. use	0.09	0.42	1.10 [0.48, 2.50]
Prison	1.71	1.11	5.50 [0.63, 48.09]
ACE score	−0.07	0.12	0.93 [0.74, 1.18]
Constant	−0.01	0.24	0.99
χ²_(df)	27.42₍₈₎**
N’s R²	.13

Note. N = 276. Models were built by including those demographics and ACEs that were associated with the IPV subscale at p < .10 or less and therefore each IPV subscale model was different and also included the cumulative risk measure of the ACE score. Significant and trend-level findings are bolded. IPV = intimate partner violence; OR = odds ratio; 95% CI = 95% confidence interval surrounding the odds ratio; dom. violence = witnessing domestic violence; subst. = substance ACE = adverse childhood experience; N’s R² = Nagelkerke’s R².

†

p < .10. *p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.

Table 6.

Logistic Regressions With IPV Victimization Outcomes.

Physical Aggression				Injury				Psychological Aggression
	B	SEb	OR, OR (95% CI)		B	SEb	OR, OR (95% CI)		B	SEb	OR, OR (95% CI)
Hispanic	.64 ^†	.33	1.91 [0.99, 3.67]	Current income	.96	.73	2.60 (.62, 10.96)	Hispanic	.76*	.36	2.14 [1.06, 4.34]
Childhood income				<US$35, 000	−1.14	1.20	.32 (.03, 3.56)	Race
<US$35,000	.43	.41	1.53 [0.69, 3.40]	US$35,000-US$74,999				Asian	−.30	.32	0.74 [0.40, 1.38]
US$35,000-US$74,999	.82*	.39	2.26 [1.05, 4.88]	Dom. violence	2.82**	.81	16.75 (3.40, 82.45)	Other	.18	.34	1.19 [0.61, 2.33]
Physical abuse	1.01*	.45	2.75 [1.14, 6.61]	ACE score	−.24	.20	.79 (.54, 1.17)	Physical abuse	.28	.44	1.32 [0.55, 3.15]
Physical neglect	.51	.58	1.67 [0.54, 5.19]					Sexual abuse	.53	.44	1.70 [0.71, 4.03]
Dom. violence	1.80***	.49	6.05 [2.32, 15.78]					Dom. Violence	.94 ^†	.51	2.57 [0.49, 2.92]
Prison	1.21 ^†	.72	3.36 [0.81, 13.80]					Subst. use	.18	.45	1.20 [0.49, 2.92]
ACE score	−.30 ^†	.17	0.74 [0.53, 1.02]					Mental illness	.62	.38	1.86 [0.88, 3.96]
								Prison	1.75	1.12	5.77 [0.65, 51.32]
								Ace Score	−.16	1.12	0.85 [0.57, 1.28]
Constant	−2.16***	.34	.12	Constant	−3.81***	.66	.02	Constant	−.02	.20	0.98
χ²_(df)	36.88₍₈₎***			χ²_(df)	36.88₍₄₎***			χ²_(df)	29.95₍₁₀₎**
N’s R²	.20			N’s R²	.24			N’s R²	.14

†

p < .10. *p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.

No significant cumulative effects were observed after the individual types of adverse experiences were taken into consideration. In addition, all of the ACE score associations with the outcomes were in the negative direction and those for physical aggression perpetration and victimization were trend-level findings. These multivariate analyses were also rerun (not shown) examining any effect of ACE categories of 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5+ with reference to zero ACEs, and the findings were unchanged relative to the continuous ACE score results. Because ACE scores or ACE categories were not associated with IPV subscales, follow-up examinations of CR are not warranted.

Discussion

The current study examined the relationship between retrospectively reported ACEs and IPV in a college sample of emerging adults. The perpetration and victimization behaviors in the current study included physical aggression and victimization, injuring a romantic partner and being victim of injury, and psychological aggression victimization and perpetration. When examined in bivariate analyses, findings suggested that a range of adverse childhood events are associated with IPV behaviors, consistent with other research (Capaldi et al., 2012; Miller et al., 2011; Whitfield et al., 2003). However, when examined in multivariate models, exposure to domestic violence was the only ACE consistently associated with risk for IPV perpetration and victimization including physical aggression, injury, and, at a trend level, psychological aggression. Growing up with an incarcerated caregiver was associated with physical aggression and physical abuse was associated with revictimization by experiencing physical aggression.

These findings suggest that other retrospectively reported childhood risk factors assessed in the current study and their cumulative associations do not put individuals at increased risk for IPV beyond that of witnessing domestic violence, household member incarceration, and physical abuse. These were associated with IPV, after the importance of socioeconomic status and other demographic characteristics and adverse experiences were taken into consideration (Capaldi & Langhinrichsen-Rohling, 2012). It may be that these childhood experiences are particularly potent in perpetuating the cycle of violence, more so than the combination of other adverse events a child may have been through. Other studies of CR have observed effects of singular risk factors driving the cumulative association (Evans et al., 2013). However, because this is a cross-sectional study of retrospectively reported childhood events, no causal conclusions can be drawn.

Nonetheless, these findings may offer support for social learning theory, intergenerational transmission of violence (Bandura, 1977; Kwong, Bartholomew, Henderson, & Trinke, 2003; Widom, 1989), mere exposure effect (e.g., repeated exposure to a stimulus subconsciously makes it more attractive; Zajonc, 2001), and previous research (Capaldi & Langhinrichsen-Rohling, 2012; Capaldi et al., 2012; Doumas, Margolin, & John, 1994; Ehrensaft et al., 2003), and suggest that recalled, observed violent interactions between caregivers may be repeated by their children in their own relationships in emerging adulthood. Experiencing violence through physical abuse was also associated with revictimization in the current study, as in past research (White & Widom, 2003). There is no information available for the offense that caused household member incarceration, and if it was due to violent crime, the intergenerational transmission hypothesis would also be supported.

Social learning theory suggests that parents model aggressive interactions for their children, who learn to resolve conflict though violence and implement these strategies in their own partnerships, leading to intergenerational transmission (Bandura, 1977; Kwong et al., 2003; Widom, 1989). In these interactions, aggression may be perceived to be positively reinforced because the aggressor is rewarded by getting his or her way. Through mere exposure to violence, aggression and victimization may also be perceived positively (Zajonc, 2001). Children who observe and are victims of violent interactions may also fail to learn proactive ways of engaging with others and rely on aggression, withdrawal, and victimization to resolve conflict (Bandura, 1977; Kwong et al., 2003; Widom, 1989).

However, other potential theories that could explain these relationships include a genetic loading for antisocial behaviors (Frisell, Lichtenstein, & Långström, 2011) and attachment (Orcutt, Garcia, & Pickett, 2005). It is possible that genetic factors responsible for household member violence are passed down to the child and are also driving the violence of the offspring (Frisell et al., 2011). In addition, insecure attachment formed with violent caregivers in childhood may be reenacted in adult partnerships as adults seek out partners who reinforce their attachment framework (Orcutt et al., 2005).

Furthermore, the current study did not observe a cumulative association of ACEs, which has been previously reported in other studies (Miller et al., 2011; Whitfield et al., 2003). These differences in findings can be attributed to multiple factors, including sampling and methodology. This study is the first one known to the authors to examine the cumulative association of ACEs with IPV in a sample of low-risk emerging adults. Other studies have focused on IPV in adolescents, adults in general, and high-risk youth (Miller et al., 2011; Taylor et al., 2008; Whitfield et al., 2003). Key risk factors may be different in higher risk and offender samples (Taylor et al., 2008). From a developmental perspective, the importance of risk factors may differ by developmental period and the primary tasks associated with each period (National Research Council and Institute of Medicine, 2009). Establishment of healthy romantic partnerships is one of the key developmental tasks facing emerging adults (Arnett & Jensen, 2000) and the findings of the current study may shed light on identification of risk factors that interfere with this goal.

Different study methodologies may also help explain the lack of cumulative association of adverse childhood events in the current study, which has been previously observed. The current study replicates the bivariate associations between the CR and IPV and that of multiple individual adverse experiences with IPV (Miller et al., 2011; Taylor et al., 2008; Whitfield et al., 2003). However, when the significant effects of individual adverse events are taken into consideration, CR is no longer significant. Not all previous studies have controlled for individual effects of adverse events when examining the contribution of cumulative effects (Whitfield et al., 2003). However, including both the individual and cumulative contributions allows for the more comprehensive examination of the relationship between adverse childhoods and IPV.

We found that a quarter of our sample engaged in physical aggression perpetration and victimization and 60% reported perpetrating and being victims of psychological aggression. There were few injuries. These rates are consistent with estimates of 20% to 30% of college students experiencing violence but are somewhat lower than those of other college samples, which have reported psychological aggression and victimization prevalence of around 80% and physical aggression and perpetration in the midhigh 30th (Fass et al., 2008; Sutherland, Fantasia, & Hutchinson, 2016). It is possible that the difference in rates could be attributed to demographics as the current sample is diverse and includes higher numbers of Asian and Hispanic students as compared with the previous studies that had largely Caucasian samples. Prior research has shown that rates of IPV differ by race and ethnicity (Capaldi et al., 2012) and examinations of diverse samples are important.

In addition, individuals of Hispanic background reported higher rates of physical aggression and psychological aggression. One national representative study of adults has reported higher rates of IPV among Hispanic than European American couples (Caetano, Ramisetty-Mikler, & Field, 2005) but a cross-sectional study of male to female violence did not find this difference (Ellison, Trinitapoli, Anderson, & Johnson, 2007). The current study adds to the existing literature with the findings that Hispanic emerging adults may experience higher rates of IPV. Furthermore, female participants report perpetrating more acts of physical aggression in a romantic relationship than males, in consistence with past literature (Capaldi et al., 2012). However, males have been found to cause more injuries, a difference that was not observed in the current study.

The clinical implications of the current study are in line with a body of previous research (Capaldi & Langhinrichsen-Rohling, 2012) and highlight the importance of asking about histories of witnessing domestic violence and household member incarceration when identifying emerging adults who are at elevated risk for IPV perpetration and victimization. From a prevention perspective, stopping the cycle of intergenerational transmission of domestic violence may yield the most effective results. It is possible that intervening with college students who report a history of witnessing domestic violence to prevent intergenerational transmission may be an effective avenue for ending the cycle of intimate partner aggression (O’Leary & Slep, 2012). Public health campaigns highlighting the benefits of prosocial conflict resolutions in interpersonal relationships and clinical interventions aimed at teaching prosocial conflict resolution and helping the individual perceive the negative consequences of physical and verbal aggression may be helpful. Furthermore, as in previous research, a majority of perpetrators and victims in this study also report victimization and perpetration, therefore suggesting that the aggression is reciprocal and highlighting the importance of dyadic interventions (Capaldi & Langhinrichsen-Rohling, 2012).

It is important to acknowledge the limitations of the current study. This is a cross-sectional sample and directionality between the independent variables and outcomes cannot be established (Capaldi et al., 2012; Capaldi & Langhinrichsen-Rohling, 2012). In addition, retrospectively reported childhood adversities may be subject to recall bias. It is important to replicate the current work with longitudinal studies (Capaldi et al., 2012). The current sample of adults was of college students in an urban Northeast college in the United States and cannot be generalized outside of this sample to the general population of emerging adults. In addition, students enrolled in the Introduction to Psychology courses may differ from the larger population of students. Furthermore, this sample is of low-risk individuals and findings may not generalize to samples of offenders. Replication of the current findings with other groups of emerging adults is important in future research. In addition, future studies of the associations between ACEs and IPV may want to examine Receiver Operating Characteristics curves.

Finally, the current sample is of low-risk adults and therefore prevalence rates of injury due to IPV were low, resulting in limited power to find significant effects. There were also few individuals in the sample who reported growing up with an incarcerated household member. When examining the injury and incarceration findings, it may be helpful to look at the effect sizes of odds ratios and to replicate the current findings with higher risk samples of emerging adults. To present a more comprehensive picture of these associations, we reported trend-level findings that need to be replicated with larger samples. Nonetheless, the lack of CR observed here is unlikely due to power because in multivariate analysis it was associated with the outcomes in the opposite direction (i.e., a higher number of adverse experiences was associated with reduced risk of injury, albeit nonsignificantly).

In conclusion, the current findings replicate previous research (Capaldi et al., 2012; Capaldi & Langhinrichsen-Rohling, 2012) on intergenerational transmission of IPV and add to the literature by suggesting that there is no cumulative association between a range of childhood risk factors and IPV behaviors in emerging adults enrolled in college. Furthermore, findings suggest that when examining cumulative associations, it is important to attend to singular-level effects of ACEs.

Footnotes

Appendix

Table A2.

Bivariate Associations Among ACEs.

	N (%)
	Emotional Abuse		Physical Abuse		Sexual Abuse		Emotional Neglect		Physical Neglect		Domestic Violence		Substance Use		Mentally Ill		Prison
	N	Y	N	Y	N	Y	N	Y	N	Y	N	Y	N	Y	N	Y	N	Y
	211	73	184	100	235	49	245	39	254	30	237	47	230	54	203	81	271	12
	(74)	(26)	(65)	(35)	(83)	(17)	(86)	(14)	(89)	(11)	(83)	(17)	(81)	(19)	(71)	(29)	(96)	(4)
	N (%) of row within column
Emotional abuse	—		χ²₍₁₎ = 89.6***		χ²₍₁₎ = 7.08**		χ²₍₁₎ = 26.20***		χ²₍₁₎ = 16.84 ***		χ²₍₁₎ = 29.72***		χ²₍₁₎ = 17.56***		χ²₍₁₎ = 18.18***		Fisher’s^†
N	—	—	170 (92)	41(41)	182 (77)	29 (59)	195 (80)	16 (41)	198 (78)	13 (43)	191 (81)	20 (43)	183 (80)	28 (52)	165 (81)	46(57)	205 (76)	6(50)
Y	—	—	14 (8)	59(59)	53 (23)	20 (41)	50 (20)	23 (59)	56 (22)	17 (57)	46 (19)	27 (57)	47 (20)	26 (48)	38 (19)	35 (43)	66 (24)	6(50)
Physical abuse	—	—	—		χ²₍₁₎ = 3.57		χ²₍₁₎ = 16.54***		χ²₍₁₎ = 14.54***		χ²₍₁₎ = 38.05***		χ²₍₁₎ = 19.61***		χ²₍₁₎ = 18.14***		Fisher’s
N	—	—	—	—	158 (67)	26 (53)	170 (69)	14 (36)	174 (69)	10 (33)	172 (73)	12 (26)	163 (71)	21 (39)	147(72)	37 (46)	179 (66)	5(42)
Y	—	—	—	—	77 (33)	23 (47)	75 (31)	25 (64)	80 (32)	20 (67)	65 (27)	35 (75)	67 (29)	33 (61)	56(28)	44 (54)	92(34)	7(58)
Sexual abuse	—	—	—	—	—		χ²₍₁₎ = .34		χ²₍₁₎ = .87		χ²₍₁₎ = 8.48**		χ²₍₁₎ = 18.28***		χ²₍₁₎ = 17.49***		Fisher’s
N	—	—	—	—	—	—	204 (83)	31 (80)	212 (84)	23 (77)	203 (86)	32 (68)	201 (87)	34 (63)	180(89)	55(68)	227(84)	8(67)
Y	—	—	—	—	—	—	41 (17)	8 (21)	42 (17)	7 (23)	34(14)	15 (32)	29 (13)	20 (37)	23 (11)	26(32)	44 (16)	4(33)
Emotional neglect	—	—	—	—	—	—	—		Fisher’s***		χ²₍₁₎ = 19.61***		χ²₍₁₎ = 4.06*		χ²₍₁₎ = 1.21		Fisher’s*
N	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	233 (92)	12(40)	214 (90)	31 (66)	203 (88)	42 (78)	178 (88)	67(83)	238(88)	7(58)
Y	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	21 (8)	18 (60)	23 (10)	16 (34)	27 (12)	12 (22)	25 (12)	14(17)	33 (12)	4(42)
Physical neglect	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—		Fisher’s**		χ²₍₁₎ = 16.66***		χ²₍₁₎ = 3.61^†		Fisher’s*
N	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	218 (92)	36 (77)	214 (93)	40 (74)	186 (92)	68(84)	245(90)	8(67)
Y	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	19 (8)	11 (23)	16 (7)	14 (26)	17 (8)	13(16)	26 (10)	4(33)
Domestic violence	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—		χ²₍₁₎ = 20.27***		χ²₍₁₎ = 11.51**		Fisher’s**
N	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	203 (88)	34 (63)	179 (88)	58(72)	232(86)	5(42)
Y	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	27 (12)	20 (37)	24 (12)	23(28)	39 (14)	7(58)
Substance use	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—		χ²₍₁₎ = 12.60**		Fisher’s**
N	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	175 (86)	55(68)	225 (83)	5(42)
Y	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	28 (14)	26(32)	46 (17)	7(58)
Mentally ill	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—		Fisher’s
N	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	195(72)	8(68)
Y	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	76 (28)	4(33)

Note. N = 284 (N = 283 for prison). Associations between ACEs were examined with Chi-squares and Fisher Exact tests (for those with expected cell counts <5). ACE = adverse childhood experiences. N = No; Y= Yes

†

p < .10. *p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Support for this project was provided by a PSC-CUNY Award (68338-00 46 award), jointly funded by The Professional Staff Congress and The City University of New York.

Author Biographies

Valentina Nikulina, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Psychology Department at Queens College and the Graduate Center at the City University of New York (CUNY). Her research examines the consequences of traumatic experiences from an ecological perspective. She is also interested in efficacy-based treatment of trauma sequelae.

Melissa Gelin, BA, is currently pursuing a Dual MAT in Elementary and Childhood Special Education. She earned her BA in psychology magna cum laude from CUNY Queens College. Her research interests broadly include examining the role of societal context in human development. She is particularly interested in the relationship between race, ethnicity, and academic achievement.

Amanda Zwilling, MA, is currently pursuing her PhD in clinical psychology. She earned her MA at Queens College, CUNY, researching working memory deficits in school-age children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). She previously earned her BA in psychology at Duke University. Her research interests broadly include development and assessment of interventions for children and adolescents, and the role of neuropsychological correlates and emotion in human behavior. She is currently examining emotion recognition and regulation styles in individuals at high risk for the perpetration of physical child abuse.

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