Proactive and reactive sibling aggression and their mediating effects on the relationship between exposure to parental violence and adulthood intimate partner violence perpetration

Abstract

It is generally understood that individuals who experience exposure to parental violence (EPV) during childhood may come to perpetrate violence, but not all will. Research has shown that individuals who experience EPV can model maladaptive modes of problem-solving that can later be seen in sibling relationships as aggression. This can lead to a heightened risk of adulthood intimate partner violence perpetration (IPV). This study aimed to examine the mediating role of proactive and reactive sibling aggression in the associations of three forms of childhood EPV—violence directed from mother-to-father, father-to-mother, bidirectional—and perpetration of sexual and physical IPV types during adulthood. Participants were 322 emerging adults in the age range 18–29 years (M = 24.69, SD = 2.91; 182 female) recruited online via Amazon's Mechanical Turk. Findings indicated that our sample endorsed bidirectional EPV (41.3%), proactive sibling aggression (87.2%) and reactive sibling aggression (94.7%) in childhood. In adulthood, they endorsed physical IPV (20.8%) and sexual IPV (22.7%). The mediation model indicated that those who had bidirectional EPV were more likely to engage in proactive aggression, which was associated with engagement in physical perpetration of IPV, and sexual perpetration of IPV. Findings suggest the need for intervention programs during childhood in those with exposure to parental violence and sibling proactive aggression.