2015 APHA Annual Meeting & Expo

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Recorded Annual Meeting Presentations (RAMP) are now available for purchase.
Only $90 for presenters, $140 for registered attendees and $200 for non-attendees.

Online Program

325480
Parental Relationships and Violence Trajectories from Adolescence through Adulthood


Tuesday, November 3, 2015 : 2:30 p.m. - 2:50 p.m.

June Lim, PhD, MSW, UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs, Los Angeles, CA
Background: Violence poses a pervasive threat to the population. Although it is a leading cause of death for people 1-44 years old, much of the research has been on adolescents and the risk factors for violence onset at this life stage. Less is known about the course of violence over time and the role parental relationships play in its persistence and cessation.

Methods: Data from Waves 1-4 of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (n=11,197) were used to identify gender-stratified violence trajectories from adolescence through adulthood using group-based trajectory modeling. Trajectories were used in multinomial logistic regression analyses with Wave 1 parental relationships as the primary predictors, controlling for sociodemographic characteristics and other risk factors. Wave 1 parental relationship measures include attachment to mother/father and child maltreatment by mother/father.

Results: Four violence trajectories were identified for males and females: low adolescence-limited, high adolescence-limited, persistent, and adulthood-onset. Parental attachment has a protective effect only among females such that higher attachment decreases the risk of being in the high adolescence limited or persistent trajectory. Child abuse victimization increases the risk of being in the high adolescence-limited, persistent, and adulthood-onset violence trajectories.

Conclusions: While females benefit from the deterrent effect of parental attachment, both genders experience the detrimental influences of child maltreatment on violence. These results point to the proximal, distal and persistent effects of parental relationships. Thus, strengthening positive parental relationships and preventing child maltreatment are integral to preventing violence across the life course.

Learning Areas:

Epidemiology
Public health or related research
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
Identify distinct trajectories of violence from adolescence through adulthood in males and females. Describe the extent to which aspects of the parent-child relationship differentiate the risk of being in one violent trajectory over another Discuss the implications of the findings for further research, intervention, and policy development

Keyword(s): Violence & Injury Prevention, Adolescents

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I was a social worker and worked with many children and families who were victims of violence. Since then, violence prevention has been my research area of interest and was also the focus of my dissertation.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 4338.0: Violence Prevention Committee Oral Session