Happily Ever After? Life Satisfaction After Childhood Exposure to Violence

Abstract

A plethora of research has linked exposure to violence during childhood to negative long-term physical health, mental health, and risk behavior outcomes. Yet, despite estimates that up to 60% of children in the United States will be exposed to violence, little is known about the impact on adult life satisfaction among different racial and ethnic groups, or for different types of violence exposure. This article seeks to explore factors that are associated with life satisfaction in adults who were exposed to family violence or physically abused as a child, while adjusting race, ethnicity, gender, and emotional support. Employing data from the 2010 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), links are examined between childhood exposure to violence and adult life satisfaction. For this study, noninstitutionalized adults aged 18 and above in the United States were included. Adults who reported exposure to physical abuse as a child had lower odds of reporting life satisfaction, and those with both physical abuse and interpersonal violence exposure had the lowest odds of long-term life satisfaction. Higher levels of income, emotional support, and marriage were associated with higher levels of satisfaction for both adults who were not exposed to violence as children and those who were. After controlling for sociodemographic factors, adults who identified as Asian or Pacific Islander had higher odds of reporting life satisfaction than their Caucasian counterparts. Implications from these findings include targeting interventions to increase emotional support and social networks for individuals who have been exposed to violence.

Keywords

domestic violence child abuse children exposed to domestic violence violence exposure

It is estimated that up to 60% of children aged 0 to 17 years are exposed to violence annually in the United States, either directly or indirectly, and that as many as 10 million children witness violence between their parents every year (Douglas & Mohn, 2014; Widom, Czaja, & Dutton, 2014; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Children’s Bureau, 2011). Furthermore, more than 3 million referrals are made to child protective service agencies annually because of suspected neglect and maltreatment (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Children’s Bureau, 2011). Exposure to violence during childhood has been linked to a plethora of long-term negative outcomes, including impacts on social, emotional, behavioral, and general health functioning (see Finkelhor, Turner, Ormrod, Hamby, & Kracke, 2009; Shapiro, Anderson, & Lal, 2014; Straus, 1991; Wolfe, Crooks, Lee, McIntyre-Smith, & Jaffe, 2003). Yet, despite several studies linking childhood exposure to violence to long-term outcomes in adulthood, there is a need to better understand this relationship with large-scale studies and to examine factors that might mitigate the impact of violence exposure over time.

Recent research has linked childhood violence exposure to long-term negative outcomes, including perpetration of interpersonal violence (IPV; Eriksson & Mazerolle, 2015), later behavior problems (Holmes, Voith, & Gromoske, 2015), illicit substance use (Menard, Covey, & Franzese, 2015), antisocial behavior (Vaughn, Salas-Wright, DeLisi, & Larson, 2015) and self-injury (Vaughn, Salas-Wright, Underwood, & Gochez-Kerr, 2015). However, little research has been conducted to compare outcomes for exposure to different types of violence. Furthermore, given the high proportion of children who are exposed to violence at some point during their lives and the negative outcomes associated, it is imperative to consider what can be done to prevent violence exposure and mitigate its impact.

Child Maltreatment and IPV

In light of numerous definitions of child maltreatment, this article considers child maltreatment as physical assault or abuse against a child (see Wells & Johnson, 2016). In contrast, IPV in this paper consists of a child being exposed to interpersonal violence between their parents or caregivers. Prior literature has found a link between child exposure to IPV and maltreatment (Casanueva, Martin, & Runyan, 2007; Little & Kantor, 2002; Renner & Slack, 2006; Taylor, Guterman, Lee, & Rathouz, 2009). Few prior studies have examined potential differences in outcomes based on types of violence exposure; one study examined the impact of IPV and physical abuse separately and then for those who experienced both, concluding that only those with double exposure had higher odds of presenting internalizing and externalizing problems in adolescence (Moylan et al., 2010). However, few studies have compared the long-term impact of IPV and physical abuse into adulthood and the impact of each separately and combined remains understudied. Furthermore, we need to better understand the unique impact of protective factors and how this shapes the relationship between violence exposure and long-term well-being.

The Impact of Violence Exposure and Race and Ethnicity

Prior literature has found IPV rates and child maltreatment to be higher among Black and Latino families (Roberts, Gilman, Breslau, Breslau, & Koenen, 2011). Furthermore, Black and Latino families are at higher risk for factors such as poverty (Gradin, 2012; Semega, Fontenot, & Kollar, 2017), discrimination (Alfaro, Umana-Taylor, Gonzales-Backen, Bamaca, & Zeiders, 2009; Fisher, Wallace, & Fenton, 2000), and incarceration (Harris, Steffensmeier, Ulmer, & Painter-Davis, 2009) than their Caucasian counterparts, which in turn have been linked to negative long-term outcomes. Moreover, cultural contexts may influence parental response to IPV, which in turn can mitigate its impact on child development over time (Taylor et al., 2009). Yet, the link between violence exposure during childhood and long-term outcomes for Latinos and African Americans remains understudied, and even less is known about its impact on other minority groups such as Asians or people with multiple races or ethnicities. Given the increased prevalence of other risk factors such as poverty and incarceration that have been linked to negative long-term outcomes among minority families and the potential mitigating impact of culture, it is important to examine potential differences in the impact of violence exposure on long-term outcomes for minority groups.

Life Satisfaction After Violence Exposure

Life satisfaction is considered the ultimate outcome of human experience (Campbell, Converse, & Rodgers, 1976). It is one of the pillars of well-being and reflects an individual’s overall experience with life (Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985). Prior studies on overall life satisfaction have found it to be correlated with academic performance, self-efficacy, higher achievement of goals, lower academic stress (Antaramian & Lee, 2017), and increased longevity (Boehm, Winning, Segerstrom, & Kubzansky, 2015). Relevant to the current study, prior literature has found a link between exposure to violence and low life satisfaction (see Coker et al., 2000; Zlotnick, Johnson, & Kohn, 2006). However, both of the prior studies focused on violence exposure during late adolescence or early adulthood and satisfaction soon after; few studies have examined long-term general life satisfaction after childhood exposure to violence.

Resilience Theory

In response to the diverse range of outcomes for adults who were exposed to violence as children, experts have focused recently on individual, familial, and community factors that influence one’s resilience and ability to thrive despite early childhood exposure to violence. Given the multidimensionality of these factors, professionals have the opportunity to intervene to increase resilience and positive adaptation (Fraser, Kirby, & Smokowski, 2004; Fraser, Richman, & Galinsky, 1999; Luthar, Crossman, & Small, 2015).

Emotional Support and Resilience After Exposure to Violence

One specific factor that several studies have examined is emotional support and its role in mitigating the relationship between exposure to violence and well-being (see Hamre & Pianta, 2005; Rosenthal, Feiring, & Taska, 2003). Some small-scale studies have suggested that romantic relationships may buffer the link between childhood exposure to violence and life satisfaction (Logan-Greene, Green, Nurius, & Longhi, 2014; Pierce, Abbey, & Wegner, 2018). Other studies have examined the role of emotional support for at-risk children in improving academic performance (Hamre & Pianta, 2005) and in adjustment after disclosure of sexual abuse (Rosenthal et al., 2003). Notably, prior studies have found that females report higher levels of emotional support from nonfamily members than males (Hobfoll, 2013). Nonetheless, these studies examined protective factors related to just one dimension of violence (i.e., witnessing domestic violence or child maltreatment). Furthermore, they were overwhelmingly small-scale, resulting in a need for studies that replicate these findings on a larger scale and of a more nationally representative sample.

The Current Study

This article addresses the gaps in prior literature by exploring factors that influence overall life satisfaction in adults who were exposed to family violence as a child, using a larger, more representative sample than previous studies. We use the term family violence in this study to capture both child maltreatment and interpersonal violence. Specifically, the current study addresses the following research questions:

Research Question 1: What is the prevalence of exposure to only IPV, only child physical abuse, and both forms of violence among a large sample of U.S. adults?

Research Question 2: What is the relationship between each type of violence exposure during childhood (i.e., only IPV, only physical abuse, both, or neither) and adult life satisfaction after controlling for sociodemographic factors?

Research Question 3: What is the role of emotional support in long-term life satisfaction after childhood violence exposure?

Method

The data for this analysis is from the 2010 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2010). The year 2010 was selected because it is the only year that included the specific module asking about childhood adversity, including exposure to violence. BRFSS is a nationally representative sample of noninstitutionalized people above the age of 18 years living in households in the United States. Data are collected annually via randomly sampled adults over the phone with computer-assisted telephone interviewing, with the objective of measuring risk behaviors and health status of people living in the United States. Phone interviews include questions on self-reported physical and mental health, risk behaviors such as drug and alcohol use, and demographic information including self-reported race and ethnicity, household composition, income, and education level. Each state can select additional optional modules that, in 2010, included the following modules: adverse childhood experience, cancer survivorship, caregiver status, and child immunization, among others. In the 2010 BRFSS, 50 States and the District of Columbia (D.C.) used a disproportionate stratified sample design, while Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands used a simple random design.

The sample used for the current study includes noninstitutionalized adults aged 18 and above who resided in the D.C., Hawaii, Nevada, Vermont, or Wisconsin at the time of the survey. The sample was limited to adults from these states because these were the only ones that added the optional module that asked respondents about exposure to adversity, including violence, as children. A missing values analysis was run, concluding that data were not missing completely at random. Therefore, for each variable, missing values (if any) were imputed utilizing the multiple imputation function in the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), version 22. This is consistent with prior literature that recommends multiple imputation to address values missing not completely at random (see Schafer & Graham, 2002). This resulted in a final sample of N = 26,020. The weighting scheme provided by the CDC was used for all variables before performing statistical tests.

Measures

To answer the three main research questions of the current study, the measures described below were selected. The outcome variable was a measure of self-reported life satisfaction, and the main independent variables were taken from the adverse childhood experience (ACE) module that included two questions about exposure to violence during the adult’s childhood. Given the importance of social support in building resilience and mitigating the impact of violence exposure, a self-reported emotional support scale was included. Sociodemographic variables were selected to include as controls and to examine possible differences by race and ethnicity and gender.

Life satisfaction

Overall life satisfaction as an adult was dichotomized into two categories based on responses on a 4-point Likert-type scale, asking the respondents to answer the question of how satisfied they were with their lives. Original answers ranged from “1” (very dissatisfied, 1.0%), “2” (somewhat dissatisfied, 4.3%), “3” (somewhat satisfied, 47.8%), and “4” (very satisfied, 46.5%). Those who originally answered “3” or “4” were recoded into a group of “satisfied,” and those who originally answered “1” or “2” were recoded into a “dissatisfied” group. The reference group for all analyses was the satisfied group. Previous research (Elliott, Charyton, Sprangers, Lu, & Moore, 2011) has also dichotomized this variable. A multiple regression analysis was run using life satisfaction as a metric variable, with similar results. As a result, the findings reported in the next section are based on life satisfaction as a dichotomous variable.

Exposure to violence as a child

Exposure to violence as a child was measured by three different variables: adults who only witnessed intimate partner violence between their parents as a child (IPV), adults who only experienced physical abuse as a child (PA), those who experienced both IPV and PA, and those who experienced neither. Each of these variables was based on the self-report of adults aged 18 years and above regarding their adverse experiences as a child.

Emotional support

A variable measuring one’s perceived support was also included, measured on a Likert-type scale from 1 to 5, with 5 representing “always getting emotional support” and 1 representing “never getting emotional support.” This was included as a separate independent variable, to examine the relationship between reported emotional support and life satisfaction for all adults, and for those who were exposed to violence as children. An interaction term for emotional support and gender was also entered into the multivariate analyses to assess possible differences in emotional support between men and women.

Sociodemographic control variables

Education level (less than high school, high school grad, some college, and college graduate), marital status (married/in a relationship, single never married, divorced/separated/widowed), and annual household income (six categories, pre-grouped including weights: income unreported; less than US$15,000; US$15,000-US$24,999; US$25,000-US$34,999; US$35,000-US$49,999; and US$50,000 and over) were examined as sociodemographic controls on life satisfaction for adults who were exposed to violence as children.

Other demographic variables included race/ethnicity: White (non-Hispanic), Black (non-Hispanic), Hispanic, Asian or Pacific Islander, Native American, and Multiracial; respondent’s age (six categories: 18-24 years, 25-34 years, 35-44 years, 45-54 years, 55-64 years, and 65 and older); and gender (male or female).

Data Analysis

All analysis was conducted with SPSS, version 22. Survey weights from the CDC were incorporated for all analyses to account for the complex survey design. Univariate statistics were calculated to determine prevalence rates among the sample. Bivariate statistics were then run to determine the prevalence of life satisfaction among diverse demographic groups. A binary logistic regression was run to examine the impact of childhood exposure to violence on long-term life satisfaction, after controlling for emotional support and sociodemographic factors. A supplementary analysis was run to examine the unique impact of any protective or risk factors on life satisfaction for those adults who were exposed to violence as children. Finally, considering the relationship between emotional support and life satisfaction, the average self-rated emotional support score was examined for adults grouped by violence exposure and overall life satisfaction.

Results

First, univariate statistics and prevalence rates for the general sample were examined. As seen in Table 1, all groups reported more satisfaction than dissatisfaction with life. The sample consisted of 50.5% females and 49.5% males. Respondents ranged from 18 years to 99 years of age, with an average of 46.8 years (SD = 17.5). Just over a third of the sample (34.3%) had graduated college, with 29.5% completing some college or a technical degree, 30.9% completing high school, and 5.3% not completing high school. The majority of respondents were married (65.4%), with 19.3% single and 15.3% divorced, separated, or widowed. The sample was largely White (77.3%); a total of 6.2% were non-Hispanic Black; a total of 4.0% were Hispanic; a total of 6.3% were Asian or Pacific Islander; with 1.1% Native American and 5.1% more than one race. Overall, 25.2% of the sample had experienced at least one form of violence as children, with 7.7% reporting only exposure to IPV, 9.1% reporting only physical abuse, and 8.4% reporting both forms of violence.

Table 1.

Life Satisfaction Among Different Groups (N = 26,020).

Characteristics	Satisfied (n = 24,540)	Dissatisfied (n = 1,480)	Unadjusted		Adjusted
Characteristics	%	%	OR	95% CI	AOR	95%
Violence exposure
IPV only	92.6	7.4	0.45***	[0.28, 0.69]	0.67	[0.43, 1.04]
Physical abuse only	88.5	11.5	0.27***	[0.19, 0.40]	0.38***	[0.25, 0.56]
Both	85.8	14.2	0.22***	[0.15, 0.31]	0.30***	[0.20, 0.46]
Neither	96.5	3.5	1.00	—	Reference
Education
<High school	91.2	8.8	1.0	—	—
High school grad	93.5	6.5	1.4*	[1.0, 2.0]	0.87	[0.55, 1.38]
Some college	92.9	7.1	1.3	[0.90, 1.87]	0.64	[0.39, 1.03]
College graduate	97.4	2.6	3.6***	[2.6, 5.1]	1.14	[0.71, 1.82]
Income
<15,000	90.3	9.7	1.00	—	—
15,000-24,999	89.5	10.5	0.82	[0.58, 1.2]	0.70*	[0.49, 1.00]
25,000-34,999	94.2	5.8	1.6**	[1.1, 2.3]	1.19	[0.82, 1.75]
35,000-49,999	94.8	5.2	1.8**	[1.2, 2.7]	1.23	[.79, 1.91]
50,000+	97.4	2.6	3.9***	[2.8, 5.5]	2.26***	[1.53, 3.34]
Marital status
Married/relationship	96.2	3.8	1.00	—	—
Single, not married	92.6	7.4	0.50***	[0.36, 0.70]	0.73	[0.45, 1.1]
Separated/divorced	87.7	12.3	0.28***	[0.21, 0.39]	0.59***	[0.41, 0.85]
Widowed	94.5	5.5	0.72*	[0.52, 1.0]	0.75	[0.49, 1.13]
Gender
Female	94.9	5.1	1.14	[0.89, 1.4]	1.3	[0.76, 2.5]
Male	94.2	5.8	—	—	—	—
Age
18-24	95.3	4.7	0.72	[0.40, 1.3]	0.61	[0.27, 1.39]
25-34	94.8	5.2	0.64	[0.37, 1.1]	0.41***	[0.22, 0.75]
35-44	93.3	6.7	0.49***	[0.35, 0.68]	0.28***	[0.18, 0.43]
45-54	93.6	6.4	.51***	[0.39, 0.68]	0.34***	[0.21, 0.45]
55-64	93.8	6.2	0.53***	[0.40, 0.70]	0.32***	[0.22, 0.46]
65+	96.6	3.4	Reference		Reference
Race
Non-Hispanic White	94.9	5.1	Reference
Non-Hispanic Black	90.0	10.0		[0.33, 0.68]	0.75	[0.48, 1.17]
Hispanic	94.4	5.6	0.48***	[0.39, 1.7]	1.44	[0.64, 3.26]
Asian/Pacific Islander	97.6	2.4	0.93	[1.6, 3.1]	3.65***	[2.35, 5.65]
American Indian	87.2	12.8	2.2***	[0.16, 0.83]	0.73	[0.37, 1.44]
Multiracial/Other	92.7	7.3	0.37* 0.70*	[0.49, 1.0]	1.06	[0.69, 1.6]
Emotional Support			2.17***	[2.02, 2.34]	2.07***	[1.80, 2.34]
Emotional Support × Gender					1.13	[.95, 1.35]

Note. OR = odds ratio; CI = confidence interval; AOR = adjusted odds ratio.

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

Life Satisfaction Among Groups

The majority of respondents (94.3%) in all groups reported satisfaction with life. Overall, 25.2% of the sample had been exposed to violence as children. Table 1 displays the rates of life dissatisfaction and satisfaction among different sociodemographic groups. The results suggested that adults who identified as Asian or Pacific Islander reported the highest rates of life satisfaction (97.6%) followed by those who earned US$50,000 per year or more (97.4%), college graduates (97.4%), and those who were 65 years or older (96.6%). Adults who were exposed to both forms of violence reported the lowest rates of life satisfaction (85.5%), followed by those who identified as Native American or American Indian (87.2%), those who were separated or divorced (87.7%), those who experienced physical abuse only (88.5%), and those who earned US$15,000 to US$24,999 per year (89.5%).

Life Satisfaction and Exposure to Violence

Table 1 also presents the results from the binary logistic regressions that examine the relationship between violence exposure and life satisfaction after controlling for sociodemographic variables. The odds ratios reflect those with worse (lower odds) or better (higher odds) outcomes related to life satisfaction. Thus, lower odds are linked with factors that make an adult less likely to report life satisfaction, whereas higher odds are linked with factors that make an adult more likely to report life satisfaction. Adults who reported exposure to both IPV and physical abuse as children had .30 lower odds (95% confidence interval [CI] = [0.20, 0.46]) of reporting life satisfaction than those who were exposed to neither type of violence. Those who were only exposed to physical abuse had .38 lower odds (95% CI = [0.25, 0.56]) of reporting life satisfaction, but those who were only exposed to IPV did not have significantly different odds of reporting life satisfaction than those exposed to neither form of violence. Income was associated with life satisfaction, with adults who made US$50,000 or more per year having 2.2 higher odds (95% CI = [1.5, 3.3]) of reporting life satisfaction than those who made less than US$15,000 per year. Adults who were separated or divorced had .59 lower odds (95% CI = [0.41, 0.85]) of reporting life satisfaction than those who were married, but there were no significant differences between those who were single or widowed and those who were married. There were also no significant differences based on gender.

Before adjusting for exposure to violence and other sociodemographic variables, there were differences in reports of life satisfaction between non-Hispanic Whites and the following racial or ethnic groups: non-Hispanic Black (OR = .48, 95% CI = [0.33, 0.68]), Asian and Pacific Islander (OR = 2.2, 95% CI = [1.6, 3.1]), American Indian (OR = .37, 95% CI = [0.16, 0.83]), and more than one race (OR = .70, 95% CI = [0.49, 1]). However, after adjusting for exposure to violence and other sociodemographic variables, only those who were Asian or Pacific Islanders had significant differences in the odds of reporting life satisfaction as compared with non-Hispanic Whites, with 3.6 higher odds (95% CI = [2.3, 5.6]).

The oldest group of adults (65 years and older) had higher odds of reporting life satisfaction than people between 25 and 64 years of age, but similar rates of life satisfaction as the 18- to 24-year-old age groups. Before adjusting for other factors, those with a high school degree or college degree had higher odds of reporting life satisfaction than those who had not completed high school. However, after adjusting for income, marital status, age, and race, there were not significant differences among education groups.

Emotional Support and Its Impact After Violence Exposure

To examine the unique impact of sociodemographic factors and emotional support on the relationship between violence exposure and long-term life satisfaction, a supplementary analysis examined these correlates for only those adults who were exposed to at least one form of violence during their childhoods. Table 2 presents the adjusted and unadjusted odds ratios for each sociodemographic factor and emotional support. Given the prior literature on gender differences in emotional support, an interaction term was included.

Table 2.

ORs of Life Satisfaction for Adults Who Were Exposed to Violence as Children (n = 6,583).

Characteristics	OR	95% CI	AOR	95% CI
Education
<High school	Reference		Reference
High school grad	0.92	[0.54, 1.5]	0.54*	[0.29, 1.0]
Some college	0.77	[0.46, 1.2]	0.43**	[0.23, 0.82]
College graduate	2.2**	[1.3, 3.7]	0.91	[0.47, 1.7]
Income
<15,000	Reference		Reference
15,000-24,999	0.70	[0.42, 1.1]	0.61	[0.35, 1.04]
25,000-34,999	1.1	[0.69, 1.9]	1.0	[0.55, 1.8]
35,000-49,999	1.7*	[1.0, 2.9]	1.4	[0.79, 2.7]
50,000+	2.8***	[1.7, 4.6]	2.07**	[1.1, 3.8]
Marital status
Married/relationship	Reference		Reference
Single, not married	0.54*	[0.31, 0.95]	0.95	[0.49, 1.8]
Separated/divorced	0.30***	[0.19, 0.49]	0.63	[0.35, 1.1]
Widowed	0.72	[0.43, 1.1]	0.58	[0.30, 1.1]
Gender
Female	1.3	[0.90, 1.9]	1.02	[0.32, 3.2]
Male	Reference		Reference	Reference
Age
18-24	0.55	[0.23, 1.2]	0.34*	[0.12, 0.93]
25-34	0.34**	[0.16, 0.71]	0.16***	[0.06, 0.40]
35-44	0.40***	[0.24, 0.66]	0.16***	[0.08, 0.32]
45-54	0.39***	[0.24, 0.61]	0.15***	[0.08, 0.29]
55-64	0.33***	[0.21, 0.52]	0.14***	[0.07, 0.26]
65+	Reference		Reference
Race
NH White	Reference		Reference
NH Black	0.52*	[0.29, 0.91]	0.65	[0.44, 1.2]
Hispanic	2.0*	[0.98, 4.1]	2.7*	[1.1, 6.5]
Asian/Pacific Islander	2.5***	[1.5, 4.4]	4.4***	[2.1, 9.1]
American Indian	0.32*	[0.10, 0.96]	0.68	[0.30, 1.5]
Multiracial/Other	0.83	[0.49, 1.3]	0.90	[0.52, 1.5]
Emotional support	2.13***	[1.8, 2.4]	2.18***	[1.7, 2.6]
Emotional Support × Gender			0.91	[0.66, 1.2]

Note. OR = odds ratio; CI = confidence interval; AOR = adjusted odds ratio; NH = non-Hispanic.

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

As seen in Table 2, income followed a similar pattern for this subsample as it did in the general sample. Those who made US$50,000 or more per year had 2.07 higher odds (95% CI = [1.1, 3.8]) of reporting life satisfaction than those who made less than US$15,000. As with the general sample, there were no differences between males and females. The oldest group of adults (65 years and above) had the highest odds of reporting life satisfaction and had higher odds than all other age groups. For race and ethnicity, before adjusting for other sociodemographic factors, those who were non-Hispanic Black or American Indian had lower odds of reporting life satisfaction after violence exposure than their non-Hispanic White counterparts, and those who were Asian or Pacific Islander or Hispanic had higher odds of reporting life satisfaction. However, after adjusting for sociodemographic controls, only the two groups with higher odds of life satisfaction—Hispanics and Asian or Pacific Islanders—differed significantly from the non-Hispanic White counterparts. Notably, the adjusted odds ratio for Hispanics was 2.7 (95% CI = [1.1, 6.5]) and for Asians or Pacific Islanders was 4.4 (95% CI = [1.7, 2.6]).

Emotional support was also significantly associated with life satisfaction for adults who were exposed to violence as children. For each one-unit increase in the emotional support scale, the odds of reporting life satisfaction increased by 2.18 (95% CI = [1.7, 2.6]). The interaction term between emotional support and gender was not significant; therefore, in this subsample there were not significant differences in the relationship between emotional support and life satisfaction for women and men.

Type of Violence Exposure, Emotional Support, and Life Satisfaction

As seen in Figure 1, those who reported life satsifaction had consistently higher levels of emotional support than those who were not satisified with life. For all violence subgroups, the amount of perceived emotional support was similar for adults who reported life satisfaction.

Figure 1.

Emotional support rating by violence exposure.

Discussion

This analysis presents four main findings on life satisfaction after childhood violence exposure. First, these findings suggest that approximately one quarter of adults were exposed to at least one form of violence in their childhoods. Second, exposure to intimate partner violence and physical abuse or physical abuse alone as a child decreases the odds that an adult reports life satisfaction. In fact, adults who experienced both IPV and physical abuse as children had .30 lower odds of reporting life satisfaction than their nonexposed counterparts. Notably, for those adults who report childhood exposure to violence, the majority still report life satisfaction. Furthermore, those who were divorced or separated, lower income, or younger had lower odds of reporting life satisfaction than their married, older, higher income counterparts. Third, those who reported higher levels of emotional support had lower odds of reporting dissatisfaction with their lives. Similar patterns were observed for income, gender, and emotional support among only those adults who had been exposed to at least one form of violence as children. The same trend for non-Hispanic Blacks and American Indians was observed in both samples as well: Before adjusting for other sociodemographic factors, both had lower odds of reporting life satisfaction. But, after controlling for education, income, marital status, age, and gender, there were no significant differences between American Indian or Native Americans, non-Hispanic Blacks, and non-Hispanic Whites.

Yet, there were slight differences in the relationship between Hispanics and life satisfaction, age and life satisfaction, marital status and life satisfaction, and education and life satisfaction, between the general sample and those adults who had been exposed to at least one form of violence as children. For example, for the general sample, only Asian or Pacific Islanders had higher odds than their non-Hispanic White counterparts of reporting life satisfaction after controlling for other sociodemographic variables. In contrast, in the subsample of violence-exposed adults, Hispanics and Asians or Pacific Islanders both had higher odds of reporting life satisfaction than non-Hispanic Whites. In the general sample, both the 65+ and the 18- to 24-year age groups had the highest odds of life satisfaction; for those exposed to violence, the 65+ group had significantly higher rates of life satisfaction than the 18- to 24-year age group. In parallel, in the general sample those who were separated or divorced had lower odds of life satisfaction than those who were married. Yet, in the violence subgroup, there were no differences based on marital status. Finally, there were no significant differences in education level and life satisfaction in the general sample, but there were in the violence-exposed subsample, with those who had a high school degree or some college less likely to report life satisfaction than those who had not completed high school.

These findings build upon Moylan et al.’s (2010) study by examining the link between separate violence exposure, double exposure, and well-being in a larger, more representative sample, and examines the link between social support and well-being after violence. Furthermore, they add to our knowledge of violence exposure among different racial and ethnic groups, and possible mitigating factors.

Limitations

There are some limitations that should be noted about the generalizability of this study. First, the measures are susceptible to recall bias. The measures were all based on self-reported data, and therefore subject to social desirability and recall bias. The data set is also cross-sectional, which limits our ability to determine causality. In addition, the adverse childhood experience subset of questions was only asked in five states and Washington, D.C., limiting the generalizability to those states. Finally, the measures of violence in the BRFSS data did not include severity. Therefore, there was no distinction between severe, life-threatening violence and less invasive forms of IPV and physical abuse.

Implications for Practice and Research

Despite the limitations, this question and these initial findings are important to better understand the long-lasting effects of childhood exposure to violence. Approximately one quarter of the adults in this sample reported exposure to IPV, physical abuse, or both as children. These adults have greater odds of reporting life dissatisfaction, which in turn has been found to be correlated with a plethora of other negative outcomes related to physical health, mental health, and risk behaviors. Therefore, early intervention is important and could include assessment of social supports that could help children address their exposure to violence. The results from this study suggest that the area of emotional support and support systems is important in designing and implementing interventions when working with clients who have experienced violence. Thus, practitioners could help mitigate the impact of exposure to violence by providing interventions that focus on building support networks over time.

The findings on racial and ethnic differences in life satisfaction after violence exposure are consistent with prior literature that suggests that cultural differences may result in different impacts of exposure to violence over time (Taylor et al., 2009). In fact, it is possible that access to education and stable incomes are particularly beneficial for Latino families, given that the likelihood of reporting life satisfaction after exposure to violence was higher for these groups after adjusting for income, education, and marital status. Similarly, overall non-Hispanic Black and American Indian or Native American families had consistently lower odds of reporting life satisfaction until adjusting for education, income, and marital status, at which point their rates of life satisfaction became similar to Whites. Therefore, access to education and stable incomes might also particularly benefit these racial and ethnic groups. Therefore, interventions could target access to education and job trainings for minority groups with a long-term goal of improving overall life satisfaction.

Future research could be done to confirm these findings on a longitudinal sample, so that causality can be established and potential mediating factors such as emotional support over time can be examined. Furthermore, prior studies have shown differential impacts on development based on the intensity and frequency (Carlson, 2000; Graham-Bermann, 2001); therefore, future research could include variables that measure the frequency and severity of violence exposure, such as one-time exposure compared with chronic exposure.

Despite the prevalence of violence exposure during childhood, the majority of adults continue to report life satisfaction. By better understanding factors that increase life satisfaction after exposure, practitioners can better support individuals and provide targeted interventions to increase long-term life satisfaction. This, in turn, can improve other measures of long-term well-being and outcomes.

Footnotes

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) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Catherine A. LaBrenz

Author Biographies

Catherine A. LaBrenz, MSW, is a doctoral candidate at the Steve Hicks School of Social Work, The University of Texas at Austin. Her research focuses on improving outcomes for families involved in child welfare systems, preventing child maltreatment, and ending cycles of child abuse and neglect.

Peter J. Dell, PhD, is an army behavioral health officer and is currently assigned to Fort Stewart’s Winn Army Community Hospital. He serves as director of training and oversees the hospital’s intensive outpatient program focusing on trauma resolution and the family advocacy program.

Rowena Fong is the Ruby Lee Piester Centennial Professor in Services to Children and Families in the Steve Hicks School of Social Work at the University of Texas at Austin and has over 100 publications. Her research areas are child welfare and adoptions, immigrant and refugee children and families, and victims of human trafficking.

Vera Liu, BA, is currently a PhD student in statistics at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research interests include applying statistical methods to social science problems. She graduated from Rice University in Houston, Texas, with a double major in statistics and mathematics.

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