Witnessing violence in their parents’ relationship may result in poor mental health, study says

Adult individuals who were able to witness violence in their parents’ relationship during childhood are at greater risk of developing problems with regards to mental health, according to a group of researchers who analyzed data from 3,023 adult people in Paris.

For the study, the researchers examined the present depression of the participants, as well as their experiences with violence committed against children, violence in an intimate relationship, suicide attempts throughout their lives, and dependence to alcohol. The report which was published recently in the online issue of the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health said that the study participants were further asked about their growing-up experiences with violence when their parents fought.

According to the researchers led by Christelle Roustit of INSERM in Paris, they found that violent behavior between parents was considerably more prevalent in certain circumstances. Moreover, parental violence was found to be up to eight times more common among parents who were alcohol dependents, and also likelier to occur in families suffering from financial issues, housing problems, unemployment or when parents were affected with serious illnesses, they said.

After accounting for other significant factors, the research team came up with the conclusion that individuals who had been exposed to interparental violence during childhood were 1.4 times more at risk of developing depression, more than three times more likely to engage in violence with their intimate partners, have nearly five times greater tendency to ill-treat their children, and 1.75 times more likely to be dependent to alcohol.

Roustit and the rest of the researchers concluded that strengthening of preventive and screening strategies for violence in the home, "including interparental violence, is a public health issue for the well-being of future generations."

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