Maternal Acceptance Moderates the Association Between Marital Conflict and Teen Dating Violence in a High Risk Sample

Introduction: Exposure to aggressive marital conflict is a risk factor for teen dating violence (TDV). There is some evidence to indicate that maternal warmth attenuates the relationship between exposure to marital conflict and aggressive behavior (Skopp et al., 2007). Yet other research suggests that modeling both warmth and hostility teaches youth that aggression is part of a loving relationship and places them at greater risk of TDV involvement (Simons et al., 2012). The current study tested these conflicting views of maternal warmth as a moderator between exposure to marital conflict and TDV using longitudinal data collected from a sample of children of alcoholic fathers and control families.

Method: Participants were 227 families enrolled in a longitudinal study of the effects of paternal alcoholism on child development. Families were identified through New York State birth records for Erie County, and were classified into the alcohol (n=130) or control group (n=97) when the child was 12 months old. Parents were predominantly White (94% mothers, 87% fathers). Maternal acceptance and exposure to marital conflict were assessed when the child was in 8^th grade using the Acceptance subscale of the Child Report of Parenting Behaviors Inventory (CRPBI; Margolies & Weintraub, 1977) and Exposure to Marital Disagreements measure (Jouriles et al., 1991). TDV was assessed at 12^th grade using the Conflicts in Adolescent Dating Relationships Inventory (CADRI; Wolfe et al., 2001). Due to their high correlation (r = .96), the perpetration and victimization scales of the CADRI were combined as a single measure of TDV involvement.

Results: Regression analyses were used to predict total CADRI score by alcohol group status, exposure to marital conflict, maternal acceptance and the interaction of marital conflict and maternal acceptance. There was a significant main effect for exposure to marital conflict (β = .25, p < .05). Maternal acceptance and alcohol group status did not significantly predict TDV. The interaction between conflict exposure and maternal acceptance was significant (β = -.32, p < .01, ΔR² = .09). The combination of low maternal acceptance and high conflict exposure predicted the highest rates of TDV. Unexpectedly, low maternal acceptance and low marital conflict exposure was associated with the lowest rates of TDV, and high maternal acceptance was associated with moderate rates of TDV, regardless of exposure to marital conflict.

Conclusions: Low maternal acceptance places youth at risk for TDV only in situations where exposure to marital conflict is high. The low rates of TDV among those with low conflict exposure and low acceptance may reflect an avoidance of intimacy in relationships, although more research is needed to explain this outcome.