The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong.
J Interpers Violence. 2021 May;36(9-10):4431-4450. doi: 10.1177/0886260518790596. Epub 2018 Aug 2.
Literature shows a link between adverse childhood experiences and subsequent depression, but there is a lack of concrete evidence on whether victimization of intimate partner violence (IPV) in adulthood plays significant roles in that link. This study aimed to test the mediating effect of adulthood IPV victimization in the associations between exposure to family violence in childhood and adulthood depression. Exposure to family violence in childhood was operationalized as one's experiences of child abuse and witnessing parental IPV in childhood. This study also tested the effects of other violence-related factors from the Personal and Relationships Profile, including one's antisocial personality, borderline personality, dominance, posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms, and violence approval, on the associations. A path analysis was conducted a cross-sectional survey study sample recruited between 2009 and 2010. The sample was 8,807 adults selected with a multistage stratified sampling procedure from six cities in China (43.4% male; age = 40.61 years, = 8.93). The main outcome was participants' depressive symptoms during the past 2 weeks. As predicted, the path model suggests that IPV victimization significantly mediated the associations between exposure to family violence in childhood and adulthood depression. Violence approval and PTS symptoms, but not the other violence-related factors, significantly mediated the above associations. Findings warrant the need to identify individuals with exposure to family violence in early stages, and to provide them with suitable intervention programs to prevent subsequent IPV as well as to minimize the negative impacts of the exposure to family violence in childhood.
文献表明，童年逆境经历与随后的抑郁之间存在关联，但缺乏具体证据表明成年期亲密伴侣暴力（IPV）受害是否在这一关联中起重要作用。本研究旨在检验成年期 IPV 受害在童年期和成年期家庭暴力暴露与抑郁之间的关联中的中介作用。童年期家庭暴力暴露被定义为儿童期遭受虐待和目睹父母间 IPV 的经历。本研究还测试了人际关系和个性特征问卷中的其他与暴力相关因素（包括反社会人格、边缘型人格、支配性、创伤后应激症状和暴力认可）对这些关联的影响。采用路径分析方法对 2009 年至 2010 年间招募的横断面调查研究样本进行分析。该样本由来自中国六个城市的 8807 名成年人组成，采用多阶段分层抽样程序进行选择（43.4%为男性；年龄=40.61 岁，标准差=8.93）。主要结局是参与者在过去两周内的抑郁症状。正如预测的那样，路径模型表明，IPV 受害显著中介了童年期家庭暴力暴露与成年期抑郁之间的关联。暴力认可和创伤后应激症状，但不是其他与暴力相关的因素，显著中介了上述关联。研究结果表明，有必要在早期识别出遭受过家庭暴力的个体，并为他们提供适当的干预计划，以预防随后的 IPV，并最大限度地减少童年期家庭暴力暴露的负面影响。
