Intimate Partner Violence, Coercive Control, and Child Adjustment Problems

Coercive control is a relationship dynamic that is theorized to be key for understanding physical intimate partner violence (IPV). This research examines how coercive control in the context of physical IPV may influence child adjustment. Participants were 107 mothers and their children, aged 7 to 10 years. In each family, mothers reported the occurrence of at least one act of physical IPV in the past 6 months. Mothers reported on physical IPV and coercive control, and mothers and children reported on children's externalizing and internalizing problems. Coercive control in the context of physical IPV related positively with both mothers' and children's reports of child externalizing and internalizing problems, after accounting for the frequency of physical IPV, psychological abuse, and mothers' education. This research suggests that couple relationship dynamics underlying physical IPV are potentially important for understanding how physical IPV leads to child adjustment problems.