Co-Occurrence of Spousal Violence and Child Abuse: Conceptual Implications

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Abstract
Although research has suggested high levels of comorbidity between spouse abuse and child abuse (Carlson, 1984), there has been little attention directed toward identifying factors that may distinguish spouse-abusive and spouse- and child-abusive families. The present study examined what familial and child factors differentiate between nonabusive, spouse-abusive, and spouse- and child-abusive families. Findings indicated a constellation of factors that discriminated between groups, although the discrimination was most effective between nonviolent and violent groups. Of particular interest was the observation that spouse-abusive and spouse- and child-abusive families differed primarily in severity and not qualitative pattern (Trickett, 1998). Conceptual implications of findings will be discussed.