Intimate Partner Violence, Maternal Depression, and Pathways to Children's Language Ability at 10 Years

Laura J Conway; Fallon Cook; Petrea Cahir; Fiona Mensah; Sheena Reilly; Stephanie Brown; Deirdre Gartland; Rebecca Giallo

Journal article

Intimate Partner Violence, Maternal Depression, and Pathways to Children's Language Ability at 10 Years

Laura J Conway, Fallon Cook, Petrea Cahir, Fiona Mensah, Sheena Reilly, Stephanie Brown, Deirdre Gartland, Rebecca Giallo

JOURNAL OF FAMILY PSYCHOLOGY | AMER PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOC | Published : 2021

DOI: 10.1037/fam0000804

Abstract

Intimate partner violence (IPV) between parents is associated with poorer child language development. This study aimed to examine pathways from IPV and maternal depressive symptoms in children's 1st year to language skills at 10 years. Pathways were examined via IPV, maternal depressive symptoms, and maternal involvement in home learning activities (e.g., reading, storytelling) at age 4. A secondary aim was to examine whether these pathways differed by child gender. Data were drawn from 1,507 mothers and their firstborn children participating in a community-based prospective longitudinal study. At child age 1 and 4 years, mothers reported IPV using the Composite Abuse Scale (CAS) and complet..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Sheena Reilly Author Paediatrics Royal Children's Hospital

Fiona Mensah Author Paediatrics Royal Children's Hospital

Stephanie Brown Author General Practice

Steph Brown Author Paediatrics Royal Children's Hospital

Rebecca Giallo Author Paediatrics Royal Children's Hospital

Related Projects (1)

CENTRE FOR RESEARCH EXCELLENCE TO PROMOTE SAFER FAMILIES: TAILORING EARLY IDENTIFICATION AND NOVEL INTERVENTIONS FOR INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE

Partner violence damages the health of families, particularly children. We aim to make all families safer by generating new knowledge from e..

Grants

Awarded by Australian National Health & Medical Research Council (NHMRC)

Awarded by NHMRC

Awarded by NHMRC Career Development Fellowship

Awarded by NHMRC Safer Families Centre

Awarded by Melbourne Children's LifeCourse postdoctoral fellowships - Royal Children's Hospital Foundation

Funding Acknowledgements

The Maternal Health Study (MHS) was supported by Australian National Health & Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Grants 199222, 433006, 491205 and by Australian Rotary Health. Stephanie Brown holds NHMRC Senior Research Fellowship Grant 1103976. Rebecca Giallo and Fiona Mensah hold NHMRC Career Development Fellowship Grants 1123900 and 1111160. Laura J. Conway and Deirdre Gartland are supported by NHMRC Safer Families Centre Grant 1116690. Laura J. Conway and Fallon Cook are supported by Melbourne Children's LifeCourse postdoctoral fellowships, funded by Royal Children's Hospital Foundation Grant 2018-984. MCRI researchers are supported by the Victorian Government Operational Infrastructure Support Program. We are grateful to the women and children taking part in the MHS, to the MHS Collaborative Group members (including H. Hiscock, H. Hermann, G. Patton) who contributed to the study instrument design and 10-year data collection procedures, and to the MHS research team members who contributed to data collection (L. Brice, M. Dunning, M. Flood, A. Fogarty, A. Krastev, E. McDonald, S. Papadopoullos, K. Paton, R. Paxton, S. Perlen, P. Pilkington, M. Seymour, L. Skinner, M. Spaull, M. Tate, H. Woolhouse).