Intimate Partner Violence and Preschoolers' Explicit Memory Functioning

Ernest N. Jouriles, Alan S. Brown, Renee McDonald, David Rosenfield, Matthew M. Leahy, Cheryl Silver

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

40 Scopus citations

Abstract

This research examines whether parents' intimate partner physical violence (IPV) relates to their preschoolers' explicit memory functioning, whether children's symptoms of hyperarousal mediate this relation, and whether mothers' positive parenting moderates this relation. Participants were 69 mothers and their 4- or 5-year-old child (34 girls). Mothers completed measures of IPV, children's hyperarousal symptoms, parent-child aggression, and positive parenting. Measures of explicit memory functioning were administered to preschoolers. As expected, IPV correlated negatively with preschoolers' performance on explicit memory tasks, even after controlling for parent-child aggression and demographic variables related to preschoolers' memory functioning. Preschoolers' hyperarousal symptoms did not mediate the relation between IPV and explicit memory functioning, but mothers' positive parenting moderated this relation. Specifically, the negative relation between IPV and preschoolers' performance on 2 of the 3 explicit memory tasks was weaker when mothers engaged in higher levels of positive parenting. These findings extend research on IPV and children's adjustment difficulties to explicit memory functioning in preschoolers and suggest that mothers can ameliorate the influence of IPV on preschoolers' memory functioning via their parenting.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)420-428
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of Family Psychology
Volume22
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2008

Keywords

  • explicit memory
  • intimate partner violence
  • preschoolers

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Psychology

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Intimate Partner Violence and Preschoolers' Explicit Memory Functioning'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this