Young people's experiences and use of violence in the home: Examining four types of child maltreatment, their intersections and self-reported use of violence in the home

Background

Child maltreatment has received substantial academic attention. However, little remains known about the intersection of different types of child maltreatment and their association with young people's use of violence in the home.

Objective

To examine the intersection of child maltreatment types and the intergenerational transmission of violence through young people's use of violence in the home.

Participants

and setting: A total of 5021 young people (16–20 years old) completed an online survey, recruited using non-probability sampling via survey panels.

Methods

Analyses were carried out using χ² tests and a series of binary logistic regressions to examine the association between participant characteristics and unique child maltreatment experiences with different forms of maltreatment and young people's use of violence.

Results

Overall, 29.9% of participants had experienced at least one form of maltreatment and 16.7% reported experiences of multi-type maltreatment. The most common experiences were childhood experiences of domestic violence (CEDV) (27.3%), followed by verbal/emotional abuse (17%), which both increased the likelihood of also experiencing physical abuse (OR = 5.85 and OR = 10.21, respectively). Cisgender females and children living with a disability were more likely to experience all four types of maltreatment. Experiences of verbal/emotional abuse (OR = 4.56), and CEDV (OR = 4.52) increased the risk of young people's use of violence in the home.

Conclusions

Findings contribute to a growing body of work recognising CEDV as a distinct form of child maltreatment which intersects with other experiences of abuse, including young people's use of violence in the home.