Traumatic Events and Maternal Education as Predictors of Verbal Ability for Preschool Children Exposed to IntimatePartner Violence (IPV)

摘要

Despite research on the effects of intimatepartner violence (IPV) on children, little is known aboutits impact on cognitive development. In this study, 87preschool-aged children and their mothers exposed to IPVwithin the last two years participated in interviews toascertain verbal ability, history of violence, and exposure totrauma. When compared to a national sample of 1,700same-age children not evaluated for exposure to traumaticevents, children exposed to IPV scored significantly loweron verbal ability, as assessed with standardized measures.In order to understand variation in verbal ability, multipleregression models were tested. Both prior exposure totraumatic events and the level of mothers education were significant predictors of verbal ability. However, level ofeducation mediated the relationship between traumaticevents and the childs verbal ability.