The effects of childhood exposure to marital violence on adolescent gender-role beliefs and dating violence

Children exposed to marital violence in childhood are at risk for engaging in dating violence as adolescents or young adults. Using a longitudinal prospective design, mother-child pairs from violent and nonviolent homes (N = 208) were interviewed about exposure to marital violence twice over a 7-9 year time span. Responses to questions about adolescent gender-typed beliefs, the acceptance of dating violence, and experiences with dating violence were collected during follow-up interviews. Results indicated that adolescents exposed to marital violence during childhood were more likely to justify the use of violence in dating relationships. Possessing traditional attitudes of male-female relationships and justifying relationship violence were associated with higher levels of dating violence perpetration regardless of marital violence exposure. How adolescents thought about dating relationships was more important than whether they witnessed marital violence in childhood. Results have implications for social-cognitive and norm-based interventions.