HISTORY OF SPOUSE VIOLENCE AGAINST MOTHER - CORRELATED RISKS AND UNIQUE EFFECTS IN CHILD MENTAL-HEALTH

The present study examined mental health risk associated with lifetime occurrence of spouse violence against mother among 303 10 to 12 year- old inner-city children. Maternal report data showed a 30% prevalence rate for lifetime occurrence of spouse violence in this sample. Result s of correlational analyses indicated that violence against mother was associated with several other historical risk factors including divor ce, parental drinking problems, and incarceration of father. Multiple regression analyses controlling for the effects of demographic and his torical risk factors that correlated with violence against mother reve aled that violence accounted for significant unique variance in girls' self-reports of conduct problems, but did not account for unique vari ance in boys' symptomatology. Implications of these results for unders tanding the effects of violence against mother on children and for the development of empirically based interventions for children in those families are discussed.