Childhood Neglect History,Depressive Symptoms,and Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration by College Students

Abstract

College students experience intimate partner violence (IPV) at an alarming rate, and preventing such violence depends on identifying factors that contribute to perpetration. Although there is extensive research that has established a link between childhood neglect and later physical IPV perpetration, less is known about the specific mechanisms through which childhood neglect leads to IPV perpetration. In the present study, we examined potential mediators of the relationship between childhood neglect and IPV perpetration by college students, with special emphasis on the role of depressive symptoms and IPV victimization. A total of 302 college students reported on their experiences of childhood maltreatment, depressive symptoms, and IPV victimization and perpetration. Results indicate that increasing levels of childhood emotional and physical neglect correspond with increasing rates of IPV perpetration, after accounting for the effect of childhood emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. This effect between childhood neglect and IPV perpetration was fully mediated by the combination of IPV victimization and depressive symptoms for the overall sample. However, when examining the model for men and women separately, only the indirect effect through victimization remained statistically significant for men. Our findings suggest that research on the link between childhood neglect and IPV perpetration should also consider the impact of IPV victimization, as neglect may lead to IPV perpetration within the context of a mutually aggressive relationship. Furthermore, these findings indicate that childhood neglect leads to long-term emotional consequences that contribute to later IPV perpetration, and treating depressive symptoms may help prevent IPV perpetration against college students who experienced childhood neglect.

Keywords

dating violence domestic violence neglect child abuse mental health and violence

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a serious problem in the United States and internationally. Approximately one-third of women (35.6%) and over one-quarter of men (28.5%) in the United States will experience physical violence, rape, or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime (Black et al., 2011). However, many do not realize how prevalent IPV is on college campuses. In fact, college-aged women (ages 16–24 years) experience the highest per capita rate of IPV (Sinozich & Langton, 2014). Approximately 21% of college students report having experienced IPV by a current partner, and 32% of college students report experiencing IPV by a previous partner (Sinozich & Langton, 2014).

Research demonstrates that a cycle of violence exists in which experiencing childhood maltreatment can increase the risk of aggressive behavior in adulthood (Widom, 1989). Although the relationship between childhood abuse experiences and later IPV perpetration has been studied extensively over the past few decades (e.g., Ehrensaft et al., 2003; Fergusson et al., 2008; Kaukinen et al., 2015), there has been considerably less focus on the role of childhood neglect. Studies that have examined childhood neglect separate from abuse find that neglect increases the risk of IPV perpetration in adulthood (Bevan & Higgins, 2002; Fang & Corso, 2007; Renner & Whitney, 2012; Widom et al., 2014). Specifically, Widom et al. (2014) found that individuals with a history of neglect reported causing more injury to their partner than matched controls. Childhood neglect has also been found to predict IPV in young adults indirectly through engagement in youth violence (Fang & Corso, 2007). Although the association between childhood neglect and IPV perpetration has been found for both men and women, there is evidence that for men, childhood neglect predicts IPV perpetration specifically in context of bidirectional or mutual IPV, whereby respondents report both IPV victimization and perpetration (Renner & Whitney, 2012). Whereas bidirectional IPV occurs at the relationship level, “gender symmetry” or “gender parity” refers to similar rates of IPV perpetrated by men and women and has been the subject of much debate (e.g., Hamby, 2016; Straus, 2008, 2011; Straus & Ramirez, 2007). A full discussion of gender symmetry is beyond the scope of the this article, as the focus of this article is on individual experiences of perpetration and victimization.

Despite the research linking childhood neglect to IPV perpetration, little is known about the specific mechanisms that might explain why those who experience neglect during childhood are more likely to use physical violence against their partners at a later stage in their lives. In addition to childhood maltreatment, psychopathology—including depression and antisocial personality traits—has been found to predict IPV perpetration (Brem et al., 2017; Kaukinen, 2014). Moreover, several studies have found an overlap between IPV perpetration and victimization (Anderson, 2002; Renner & Whitney, 2012; Richards et al., 2017), suggesting that research on predictors of IPV perpetration should also account for IPV victimization experiences. In the current study, we examined possible mediators that may explain the relationship between childhood neglect and physical IPV perpetration against college students, looking specifically at the role of depressive symptoms and IPV victimization.

Pathway From Childhood Neglect to IPV

Childhood neglect typically refers to a failure to meet the basic physical needs of the child by the caregiver (e.g., food, medical care, and adequate supervision; Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2016). However, childhood neglect can also entail a failure to meet the emotional needs of the child, including demonstrating love or responding to the child’s emotions. Using the definitions from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, both physical and emotional neglect constitute childhood maltreatment and are associated with adverse psychological outcomes (Leeb et al., 2008). Although childhood neglect is the most common form of childhood maltreatment (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [USDHHS] et al., 2018), it has received relatively little attention, compared with physical or sexual abuse, as a predictor of later aggression. The current investigation focuses on physical and emotional neglect, but not other forms such as supervisory neglect, which can have differing correlates and outcomes (Coohey, 2008).

The relationship between childhood maltreatment and later IPV perpetration is commonly explained using social-learning theory (Bandura et al., 1961; Powers et al., 2017), whereby children exposed to violence or other maltreatment at an early age are more likely to model this behavior (Franklin et al., 2012; Fritz et al., 2012; Whiting et al., 2009). Specifically, Bandura (1978) argued that people, especially children, can learn aggressive behavior through observation or direct experience; this learning, along with other internal and external risk factors, contributes to violent behavior. The social-learning perspective is supported by past research demonstrating that experiences of childhood physical abuse and witnessing interparental violence predict later physical and psychological IPV perpetration and victimization (Eriksson & Mazerolle, 2015; Kwong et al., 2003). However, social learning alone does not completely account for the relationship between childhood neglect and IPV perpetration. Instead, models of intergenerational transmission of violence, which propose that childhood maltreatment leads to aggression through increased mental health symptoms or emotion dysregulation (Siegel, 2013; Smith et al., 2014), may be better able to explain the link between childhood neglect and later IPV perpetration.

Depressive Symptoms as a Potential Intergenerational Facilitator

In addition to aggression, childhood neglect has been linked to a number of long-term negative emotional outcomes. A responsive caregiver assists infants and young children in understanding and responding to emotions, which leads to the development of strategies to appropriately regulate one’s emotions and respond to others with empathy. When children develop in an environment without a responsive caregiver, they may have difficulty identifying and responding to their own emotions or others’ emotions appropriately. For example, children with histories of neglect generally have deficits in identifying emotions and reflecting on emotional experiences (Edwards et al., 2005), and these deficits in emotion processing and regulation persist into adulthood (Jennissen et al., 2016; Young & Widom, 2015). Deficits in understanding and coping with emotions may also explain the relationship between childhood neglect and later psychopathology, including depression (Infurna et al., 2016; Jennissen et al., 2016; Li et al., 2016) and antisocial behaviors (Fang & Corso, 2007). In fact, prior research has found that childhood neglect predicts depressive symptoms above and beyond the effect of other forms of childhood abuse (Infurna et al., 2016).

Another etiological pathway from childhood neglect to depression is through an increase in one’s sensitivity to later stress (Harkness et al., 2006). Adverse experiences in childhood, including neglect, generally increase stress sensitivity; therefore, those who experienced childhood neglect are at increased risk for depressive episodes corresponding with future stressful life events compared with those who have not experienced childhood adversity (Harkness et al., 2006). It stands to reason, then, that mental health consequences of childhood neglect contribute to later aggressive behavior within intimate relationships. First, the ability to regulate emotions and to empathize with others’ emotions are necessary skills to navigate conflict in a romantic relationship (Bliton et al., 2016; Ulloa & Hammett, 2016). Moreover, depression and related constructs (e.g., low self-esteem or suicide attempts) have been found to predict aggression or IPV perpetration (Kerr & Capaldi, 2011; Renner & Whitney, 2012; Whiting et al., 2009; cf. Brown et al., 2015), even when controlling for IPV victimization (Anderson, 2002).

The Current Study

Despite relationships between neglect and depression, and depression and IPV perpetration, there is limited research on the psychosocial mediators between childhood neglect and IPV perpetration. González et al. (2016) found that neglect indirectly predicted violence against strangers through antisocial personality disorder. However, the role of depressive symptoms or other internalizing disorders was not explored, and it is unclear whether their findings would also apply to the perpetration of IPV. In the current study, we explored possible mechanisms through which childhood neglect, independent of other forms of abuse, may contribute to physical IPV perpetration. Using a general college sample, rather than following children who were identified by childhood protective services or using retrospective reports from those in treatment for IPV, this study can help clarify the relationship between childhood neglect and later IPV perpetration regardless of whether their experiences with violence, neglect, or abuse were ever formally reported to local law enforcement or social services. Although there is value in using a sample of confirmed cases of childhood maltreatment, those referred cases may not represent all who are exposed to neglectful parenting, as many instances of child maltreatment go unreported (Finkelhor et al., 2009), and instances of emotional neglect are unlikely to meet the definition of imminent risk to the child that would require intervention by child protective services (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2016). Likewise, IPV also tends to be underreported (Kennedy & Prock, 2016), which opens the possibility that research based on those samples might not present the complete picture.

We first examined whether college students who reported experiencing neglect in childhood were more likely to perpetrate IPV, controlling for the effect of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. We then examined the extent to which depressive symptoms mediated this relationship. Within this model, we hypothesized that childhood neglect would predict IPV perpetration, and that this relationship would be mediated by depressive symptoms. Furthermore, we decided to explore the role of IPV victimization because it is consistently associated with depressive symptoms (Longmore et al., 2014; Simmons et al., 2015) and IPV perpetration (e.g., Anderson, 2002), and because childhood neglect can lead to IPV victimization (Melander et al., 2010; Widom et al., 2014).

Method

Participants and Procedure

All study procedures were approved by the institutional review board. Undergraduate students in a large southeastern university who were enrolled in a psychology course and above the age of 18 years were recruited to participate in this study. Participants were recruited online through the university’s research participant pool and were compensated with course credit for their psychology course. The study was advertised as investigating “how people handle conflict in their relationships.” After providing consent, 314 undergraduate students (52.5% female, 42.7% male, 0.6% transgender) were administered surveys online. The mean age was 20.0 (SD = 4.0) years. The racial/ethnic makeup of the sample was diverse (33% African American, 32% European American, 17% Asian American or Pacific Islander, 8% Hispanic or Latin American, 6% Multiracial, and 4% Other or Not Specified). Students who did not complete all of the measures necessary for the analysis plan were also excluded (N = 12). The final sample, therefore, included 302 students (55.3% female, 44.7% male, 0.7% transgender).

Measures

IPV perpetration and victimization

The Revised Conflict Tactics Scale–2 (CTS2; Straus et al., 1996) is a 78-item, self-report measure used to assess IPV perpetration and victimization. Prior studies support this scale as a valid and reliable measure of IPV (for a review, see Chapman & Gillespie, 2019). The subscale for physical IPV assesses both perpetration and victimization of various forms, including pushing or shoving, slapping, intentionally burning or scalding, kicking, or using a weapon (e.g., “I twisted my partner’s arm or hair/My partner did this to me”). Participants rated the frequency in which they experienced or perpetrated various forms of IPV in the past year on a scale ranging from 0 (no past year IPV) to 6 (20 times in the past year). Items were scored using authors’ recommendations of calculating the midpoint for response categories with a frequency range (Straus et al., 1996). For example, Category 4, which indicates that a behavior occurred 6 to 10 times, was scored as “8.” The frequencies of IPV perpetration and victimization were, respectively, summed across all physically aggressive acts to create the two variables for analysis. Internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha) was .73 for physical IPV victimization and .76 for physical IPV perpetration.

Childhood abuse and neglect

Experiences of childhood physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, and childhood emotional and physical neglect were measured using the 28-item short form of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ-SF; Bernstein et al., 2003). This is one of the most widely used self-report measures of childhood abuse and neglect, and it has been found to correspond to therapists’ independent ratings of abuse and neglect among adolescents in a psychiatric setting (Bernstein et al., 2003). The CTQ-SF continues to be a preferred measure among researchers internationally studying childhood maltreatment (e.g., Cohen et al., 2019; He et al., 2019; Khosravani et al., 2019; Talmon & Ginzburg, 2019). The CTQ has been recommended as a brief screener of abuse and neglect experiences among children and adolescents referred to child protective services (Milne & Collin-Vézina, 2015), and higher scores are associated with increased psychiatric symptoms (Norman et al., 2012).

Participants indicated their frequency of experience with various forms of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, and physical and emotional neglect in childhood, on a scale that ranged from 1 (never true) to 5 (almost always true). Neglect included both emotional and physical forms for the purposes of the current study. Physical neglect included items such as “My parents were too high or drunk to take care of the family,” and emotional neglect included items such as, “There was someone in my family who helped me feel that I was important or special” (reverse scored). An average neglect score was computed. Although the mean score for emotional and physical neglect was used in primary analyses, the descriptive statistics reported in Table 2 for rates of child abuse or neglect in this sample includes those who reported mild-to-severe abuse or neglect using the scoring guidelines from Bernstein et al. (2003). Scores of 8 or above on the physical neglect, physical abuse, and emotional abuse subscales, 6 or above for the sexual abuse subscale, and 10 or above for the emotional neglect subscale constituted at least mild levels of abuse or neglect. Cronbach’s alpha for this sample was .88 for emotional neglect and .66 for physical neglect.

Depressive symptoms

Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Mental Health Inventory (MHI) from the Medical Outcomes Study (MOS; Stewart & Ware, 1992). The MHI has been found to be a valid measure of depressive symptoms, and scores are predictive of functional impairment (McHorney et al., 1994; Stewart & Ware, 1992). The full length and abbreviated versions continue to be used to measure symptoms of mood and anxiety disorders, often in public health and medical research (e.g., Baumann et al., 2017; French et al., 2014; Freyer-Adam et al., 2019; Mason et al., 2016; Mason & Lewis, 2015; Sturgeon et al., 2016). The MHI includes 38 items that assess several domains of psychological well-being (e.g., anxiety, positive affect, and depression) in the past month. For the current study, depressive symptoms were assessed using the 13-item Depression/Behavioral-Emotional Control subscale (Hays et al., 1995). Participants responded to items such as “How much of the time, during the past month, have you felt downhearted and blue?” or “How often has feeling depressed interfered with what you usually do?” on a scale that ranged from 1 (always) to 6 (never). This subscale has strong internal reliability (Cronbach’s alpha = .93). A total score was obtained by adding all items from this subscale. There is no clinical cutoff for depression in this measure. Depressive symptoms were treated as a continuous variable, with lower scores indicating higher depressive symptomatology.

Results

Descriptive Statistics

As demonstrated in Table 1, all study variables were significantly correlated with the exception of childhood sexual abuse and IPV victimization. Table 2 contains simple frequencies of participants who endorsed childhood maltreatment, IPV victimization, and IPV perpetration. These rates are presented for the overall sample as well as for men and women separately to present meaningful differences in frequency of IPV perpetration and certain forms of childhood abuse. For example, women in this study reported higher rates of emotional abuse and sexual abuse in childhood compared with men (see Table 2). Rates of IPV and childhood maltreatment are not presented independently for transgender participants because the small number of transgender participants in this study (N = 2) preclude any meaningful comparisons and may unintentionally increase the risk for identification of these participants.

Table 1.

Descriptive Statistics and Bivariate Correlations Among Study Variables.

Variables	M	SD	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
1. Depression^a	74.09	18.03
2. Physical neglect	0.42	0.57	−.27**
3. Emotional neglect	0.86	0.87	−.30**	.50**
4. Emotional abuse	3.09	4.12	−.27**	.38**	.46**
5. Physical abuse	0.47	0.66	−.16**	.24**	.21**	.43**
6. Sexual abuse	0.23	0.62	−.15**	.22**	.19**	.29**	.32**
7. IPV perpetration	4.84	13.08	−.12**	.14**	.13**	.18**	.19**	.11*
8. IPV victimization	4.95	13.13	−.09*	.12*	.09*	.17**	.15**	.09	.78**

Note. Correlations calculated using Kendall’s tau. IPV = intimate partner violence.

Lower scores on measure of depression indicate high depressive symptoms.

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

Table 2.

Number of Male and Female Participants Who Endorsed Childhood Maltreatment (Mild to Severe), IPV Perpetration, or IPV Victimization.

Variables	Men (N = 134)	Women (N = 165)	Total (N = 302)
Child maltreatment
Physical neglect	46 (34.3%)	46 (28.0%)	94 (31.1%)
Emotional neglect	46 (34.3%)	69 (41.8%)	117 (38.7%)
Physical abuse	48 (35.8%)	50 (30.5%)	100 (33.1%)
Sexual abuse	16 (11.9%)	35 (21.2%)	53 (17.5%)
Emotional abuse	28 (20.9%)	59 (35.8%)	89 (29.5%)
Intimate partner violence
Bidirectional IPV	37 (27.6%)	50 (30.3%)	89 (29.5%)
IPV perpetration only	2 (1.5%)	13 (7.9%)	15 (5.0%)
IPV victimization only	8 (6.0%)	2 (1.2%)	10 (3.3%)

Note. Childhood maltreatment measured using short form of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ-SF), with severity ratings based on recommended cut-off scores (Bernstein et al., 2003). Intimate partner violence (IPV) was measured using the Revised Conflict Tactics Scale–2 (CTS2; Straus et al., 1996).

For the overall sample, rates of childhood maltreatment ranged from 17.5% reporting experiences of childhood sexual abuse to 38.7% reporting emotional neglect. Due to the correlations among different forms of childhood maltreatment (see Table 1), childhood sexual, physical, and emotional abuse were controlled for in subsequent analyses. Regarding experiences of IPV in the past year, 31.5% of college women in the sample and 33.8% of college men reported physical IPV victimization, and 38.2% of women and 29.3% of men reported physical IPV perpetration. Because women in this sample reported significantly more IPV perpetration, gender was entered as a covariate in subsequent analyses. The majority of those who endorsed IPV endorsed both victimization and perpetration.

Data Analysis Strategy

We tested the assumptions of linear modeling (ordinary least squares [OLS] regression) prior to analysis. These tests revealed that the IPV perpetration outcome was significantly skewed, ostensibly due to it being a relatively low base-rate, count variable. Modeling based on Poisson’s distribution, including standard Poisson regression and negative binomial regression, is generally considered the most appropriate method handling these types of data (Swartout, Thompson, Koss, & Su, 2015). We, therefore, tested a series of models based on Poisson’s distribution in Mplus version 7.2 (Muthén & Muthén, 1998-2012). The negative binomial regression model fit better than the standard Poisson regression, as indicated by the lower Akaike information criterion (AIC; 4,644.45 compared with 10,147.47); it was thus retained and interpreted as our final model.

In our hypothesized model, childhood neglect was specified as an exogenous variable and IPV perpetration, depressive symptoms, and IPV victimization were specified as endogenous variables, with depressive symptoms and IPV victimization mediating paths to the IPV perpetration outcome. Both mediating pathways were entered in the same model, and mediation was determined by examining the statistical significance of indirect pathways specified in the model. Gender and a single variable representing the frequency of any form of childhood abuse (physical, sexual, and emotional) were included in the model as covariates.

Final Mediation Model

See Table 3 for the full results from the final mediation model and Figure 1 for a pictorial representation. Neglect significantly predicted depressive symptoms, with childhood emotional and physical neglect severity associated with higher depressive symptomatology (B = −8.70, SE = 1.98, p < .01).¹ In addition, higher depressive symptomatology significantly predicted increased IPV perpetration (B = −0.02, SE = 0.01, p = .02). Thus, higher reported levels of neglect during childhood corresponded with more depressive symptomology during college, and more depressive symptomology corresponded with higher rates of IPV perpetration. Finally, the indirect effect of neglect on IPV perpetration through depressive symptomatology was significant (B = 0.15, SE = 0.07, p = .04), suggesting that depressive symptoms indeed mediate this relation.

Table 3.

Final Model Results.

Path	Estimate	SE	Ratio	p
Direct effects
IPV perpetration on
Neglect	−0.01	0.27	−0.04	.97
Depression	−0.02	0.01	−2.28	.02
IPV victimization	0.10	0.02	5.16	<.001
Gender	−0.56	0.27	−2.08	.04
Other abuse	0.01	0.02	0.64	.52
Depression on
Neglect	−8.70	1.98	−4.38	<.001
Gender	1.63	1.86	0.87	.38
Other abuse	−0.33	0.19	−1.73	.08
IPV victimization on
Neglect	0.59	0.23	2.57	.01
Gender	−0.02	0.26	−0.09	.93
Other abuse	0.03	0.02	1.39	.16
Indirect effects
IPV perpetration on
Neglect through depression	0.15	0.07	2.11	.04
IPV perpetration on
Neglect through IPV victimization	0.06	0.03	2.35	.02
Total indirect effect	0.2	0.26	0.75	.45
Residual variances
Depression	267.25	27.99	9.55	—

Note. Lower depression scores indicate more depressive symptoms; IPV = intimate partner violence.

Figure 1.

Final mediation model.

We explored the role of IPV victimization in the same model, with results indicating that neglect significantly predicted IPV victimization (B = 0.52, SE = 0.24, p = .03), and IPV victimization significantly predicted IPV perpetration (B = 0.12, SE = 0.02, p < .01). These findings suggest that higher levels of childhood neglect correspond with higher rates of IPV victimization, and more IPV victimization corresponds with higher rates of IPV perpetration. The indirect effect was statistically significant (B = 0.06, SE = 0.03, p = .02), suggesting that IPV victimization also mediates the relation between childhood neglect and IPV perpetration, concurrently with depressive symptoms. It is important to note that the direct effect from childhood neglect (predictor) to IPV perpetration (outcome) was rendered not statistically significant once depressive symptoms and IPV victimization were accounted for in the model, which suggests that these two constructs fully mediate the relation between childhood neglect and IPV perpetration (MacKinnon et al., 2007).

Gender differences

Given previous findings of gender differences in the relationship between childhood maltreatment and IPV perpetration and victimization (Fang & Corso, 2007; Kaukinen et al., 2015; Melander et al., 2010; Millett et al., 2013; Renner & Whitney, 2012; Richards et al., 2017), in addition to analyzing these data controlling for gender, we ran the same mediation model presented above separately for men and women. Results were largely consistent across men and women with one exception: neglect significantly predicted victimization for men but not women (B = 0.62, SE = 0.26, p = .02). Furthermore, when examining the mediation model for men and women separately, few significant indirect effects reached statistical significance. The only significant indirect pathway was for men, whereby IPV victimization mediated the relationship between childhood neglect and IPV perpetration (B = 0.09, SE = 0.05, p = .05).

Sensitivity Analysis

Due to the cross-sectional nature of the data, an alternative model with neglect predicting depressive symptoms through IPV perpetration and victimization was tested. This alternative model (AIC = 4,713.25) was a poorer fit for the data compared with our hypothesized model (AIC = 4,644.45), and the indirect pathways from neglect to depressive symptoms through IPV perpetration and victimization were not significant. Furthermore, to explore any possible relationship between the two mediators of the final model (depressive symptoms and IPV victimization), we estimated the model again regressing depressive symptoms on victimization. By adding this relationship, the model fit did not improve, and the effect from victimization to depressive symptoms was not statistically significant; therefore, this path was not included in the final model.

Discussion

College students’ use of physical violence against a romantic partner occurs at an alarming rate, and prevention efforts depend on identifying risk factors for perpetration by college students. In the current study, we examined the relationship between childhood emotional and physical neglect and IPV perpetration in a sample of college students. We looked specifically at childhood neglect because it is the most common form of childhood maltreatment (USDHHS et al., 2018), and it has been found to predict IPV perpetration independent of other forms of childhood abuse (Bevan & Higgins, 2002; Fang & Corso, 2007; Renner & Whitney, 2012). We also aimed to identify the potential mechanisms through which neglect may lead to IPV perpetration. Our results indicate that childhood neglect predicts IPV perpetration against college students, controlling for childhood abuse, and this effect is fully mediated by depressive symptomatology and experiences of IPV victimization. These findings lend support for models of intergenerational transmission of violence that highlight the mediating effects of emotion dysregulation and mental health symptomatology (Siegel, 2013; Smith et al., 2014).

Our finding that neglect significantly predicts IPV perpetration after accounting for the effect of other childhood abuse is consistent with prior research (Bevan & Higgins, 2002; Fang & Corso, 2007; Renner & Whitney, 2012) and indicates that different forms of childhood maltreatment (i.e., physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect) may have differing long-term impacts on psychological well-being. Therefore, it is important to understand the independent effects of the different forms of maltreatment over time to develop more targeted interventions for survivors of childhood maltreatment.

Furthermore, the current study provides greater insight into the mechanisms through which neglect leads to IPV perpetration, therefore identifying potential intervention targets. To our knowledge, this is the first study to identify depression as a mediator between neglect and IPV perpetration. Our findings help to bridge previous research that identified links between childhood neglect and depression (Infurna et al., 2016) and between depression and IPV perpetration (Anderson, 2002; Kerr & Capaldi, 2011; Renner & Whitney, 2012; Whiting et al., 2009). Although previous research has identified antisociality as a mediator between neglect and aggression (Fang & Corso, 2007; González et al., 2016), our results indicate that other forms of psychopathology also play a role in this relationship. Moreover, the significant indirect effect through depressive symptoms, apart from IPV victimization, indicates that depressive symptomatology deserves attention as a contributing factor to IPV perpetration by college who have experienced childhood neglect.

The finding that childhood neglect predicted IPV perpetration indirectly through IPV victimization suggests that neglect may not lead to perpetration outside of the context of a high-conflict, mutually aggressive relationship. Although the cross-sectional nature of these data does not allow us to determine causality from our findings, the results suggest it is possible that neglect leads to physical aggression against a romantic partner through the risk of IPV victimization. Thus, individuals who have experienced neglect may need additional support in learning skills to navigate interpersonal conflict, including identifying signs of an unhealthy or aggressive relationship and learning to identify one’s own and one’s partner’s emotions. For example, the program Fostering Healthy Futures, which includes education about healthy relationships and emotional awareness training, has been found to reduce psychological distress in maltreated children (Taussig et al., 2013). Our findings indicate that this type of intervention to reduce negative psychological outcomes among neglected children may also work to prevent future aggressive behavior against a romantic partner. In addition, IPV prevention programs on college campuses that provide education about healthy relationships may also work to target those who experienced childhood neglect by incorporating psychoeducation on coping strategies into the curriculum and strengthening mental health resources on campus.

This indirect effect was significant in the combined sample with all genders and for men when examining men and women separately. It is possible that indirect effects among women were not as easy to detect when separating the sample by gender due to sample size constraints. Nevertheless, when looking at women only, our results indicated that childhood neglect did not significantly predict IPV victimization. However, this null finding should be interpreted with extreme caution due to the relatively small sample size and the fact that this finding is at odds with past research that has identified a positive relationship between childhood neglect and IPV victimization in women (Renner & Whitney, 2012; Widom et al., 2014).

Although the focus of this study on childhood neglect predicting IPV perpetration, it is important to recognize that there are also a multitude of social and cultural factors that contribute to IPV perpetration. For example, endorsement of traditional gender role norms and neighborhood level factors, including economic disadvantage and exposure to community violence, have been found to predict IPV perpetration (Copp et al., 2015; Reyes et al., 2016; Voith & Brondino, 2017). Furthermore, childhood neglect tends to co-occur not only with childhood abuse but also with other important contextual factors that likely influence social and emotional development. For example, children living in high-poverty neighborhoods or who witness IPV in their household are at greater risk for emotional and physical neglect (Dong et al., 2004; Maguire-Jack & Font, 2017). Although an analysis of these contextual factors was beyond the scope of the current study, future research should continue to explore the interplay between family of origin and community level factors that contribute to IPV perpetration.

Limitations and Future Directions

Because the data used for this study were cross-sectional, we were not able to determine causal pathways; we instead had to rely on inferences based on model fit statistics and previous empirical research. Future research with longitudinal data could help to clarify whether IPV victimization and depressive symptoms truly precede IPV perpetration. Furthermore, as with all self-report data, there is a certain degree of error involved. Although we believe that one of the strengths of this study was that we were able to include students who experienced maltreatment that may have not been reported to any formal outlets (e.g., child protective services or law enforcement), it is also possible that there were inaccuracies in these retrospective self-reports. Items in the physical neglect scale had relatively low reliability, at α = .66; however, low reliability is relatively common for scales that measure experiences of violence and abuse and is not necessarily an indication of poor data quality (Follingstad, 2017). Another limitation of this study relates to the lack of a clinical cutoff score for the measure of depressive symptoms and the inability to determine whether participants’ self-reported depressive symptomatology reached clinical levels of a depressive disorder. Likewise, by using a continuous measure of physical and emotional neglect rather than a legal standard of neglect, we were not able to compare outcomes for participants whose experience of maltreatment would have resulted in a referral to child protective services. In addition, while the MHI has been used in several studies on psychological well-being, these studies rarely include college students and many utilize abbreviated version form of the MHI (Baumann et al., 2017; French et al., 2014; Freyer-Adam et al., 2019; Sturgeon et al., 2016). Future research should continue to study validity of MHI depression items in a college sample.

College students at a southeastern university self-selected to participate in a survey study on relationship conflict, which generally limits the extent we can generalize these findings. For example, bias may have been introduced into the findings based on the fact that these participants were drawn to a study that they were told focused on relationship conflict. Moreover, bias may have been introduced by the exclusion of participants who did not complete the study and the fact that recruitment was limited to those who voluntarily enrolled in psychology courses. Future research should explore the extent to which these findings generalize to college students more broadly, outside of the southeastern United States, and to non-student populations. To our knowledge, there has not been a systematic comparison of prevalence rates of emotional and physical neglect among university and clinical or community samples; however, it is likely that these sampling differences lead to divergent estimates of neglect histories (Stoltenborgh et al., 2013). Future studies should build on these results using a random sample of a more general population. In addition, future research should also evaluate whether our model accurately explains unique experiences of those who identify as male, female, or transgender. Due to sample size constraints, we were limited in our ability to make any meaningful conclusions based on our models separately by gender; however, it is important to identify any gender differences that may exist to further inform IPV prevention and intervention efforts. Furthermore, although the diverse racial/ethnic makeup of this sample contributed to the generalizability of our findings, future research should evaluate whether our findings apply to populations not adequately represented in our data. For example, younger age has been associated with attitudes that are more accepting of IPV (Copp et al., 2019); therefore, it is important to explore whether our model applies to different age groups.

Conclusion

We found the relationship between childhood physical and emotional neglect and IPV perpetration against college students was fully mediated by a combination of depressive symptoms and IPV victimization. These findings suggest that neglect, independent of other experiences of childhood abuse, can contribute to emotional and relationship disturbances, and these adverse developmental consequences of neglect contribute to relationship violence. This study provides further support that the intergenerational transmission of maltreatment is generalizable beyond experiences of physical or sexual abuse or witnessing violence. Our findings indicate the importance of targeting depressive symptoms and increasing skills for responding to interpersonal conflict for preventing IPV perpetration by students who have experienced childhood neglect.

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

Carolyn L. Brennan

Note

Author Biographies

Carolyn L. Brennan, MA, is a doctoral candidate in Georgia State University’s Clinical and Community Psychology Program. Her research interests include the social, cultural, and psychological factors that contribute to sexual violence and intimate partner violence.

Robyn A. Borgman, MA, is a doctoral candidate in Georgia State University’s Community Psychology Program. Her research interests include violence against women prevention and substance abuse and misuse prevention and intervention. Specifically, she is interested in the ways in which community and environmental context affect substance use and violence against women.

Samantha S. Watts, MA, is a doctoral student in Georgia State University’s Community Psychology Program. Sam’s research interests include violence against women, sexual violence, and family violence intervention and prevention. Specifically, she is interested in how exposure to violent and sexist content in media shape attitudes about sexual violence.

Rebecca A. Wilson, MA, is a doctoral student in Georgia State University’s Community Psychology Program. Rebecca’s research interests include violence against women, sexual violence in conflict, violent extremism, and counterterrorism prevention and policy. Specifically, she is interested in how the inclusion of violence against women prevention can shape counterterrorism policy, national security, and international community functioning.

Kevin M. Swartout, PhD, MA, is an Associate Professor of Psychology and Public Health at Georgia State University in Atlanta, GA. His research addresses trajectories and social correlates of violence and victimization, with the goal of promoting safer campuses and communities. He has made significant contributions to the understanding of those who perpetrate violence and the social contexts in which violence is likely to occur.

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