Violence and Victims, Volume 19, Number 2, April 2004
© 2004 Springer Publishing Company 123
Pathways From Physical Childhood
Abuse to Partner Violence in Young
Adulthood
Todd I. Herrenkohl
W. Alex Mason
Rick Kosterman
Liliana J. Lengua
J. David Hawkins
Robert D. Abbott
University of Washington
Seattle
Analyses investigated several competing hypotheses about developmental pathways from
childhood physical abuse and early aggression to intimate partner violence (IPV) for
young adult males and females at age 24. Potential intervening variables included: ado-
lescent violence (age 15 to 18), negative emotionality at age 21, and quality of one’s rela-
tionship with an intimate partner at age 24. At the bivariate level, nearly all variables were
associated in the expected directions. However, tests of possible intervening variables
revealed only a few significant results. For males, a strong direct effect of abuse on later
partner violence was maintained in each model. For females, the quality of one’s rela-
tionship with an intimate partner did appear to mediate the effect of childhood abuse on
later violence to a partner, raising the possibility of gender differences in developmental
pathways linking abuse to IPV. Implications with regard to prevention are discussed.
Keywords: child abuse; domestic abuse; intimate partner violence; abuse
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a serious national problem that affects a countless
number of families across demographic groups (Magdol, Moffitt, Caspi, & Silva,
1998). Findings from several studies, including the National Family Violence Surveys
(NFVS; Straus, 1990), are useful for estimating the scope of the problem. According to
the NFVS first conducted in 1975, 160 of every 1000 families experienced partner vio-
lence; that number was nearly unchanged when data were last collected in 1985.
The NFVS and other studies have investigated violence perpetrated by males toward
their female partners and by females toward their male partners, with noteworthy findings.
For example,evidence appears to contradict the commonly held belief that women are
routinely victims of violence but rarely perpetrators (Moffitt, Caspi, Rutter, & Silva, 2001;
Morse, 1995; Straus & Gelles, 1990). While studies continue to show that females are
indeed victimized by their male partners—some by the most serious forms of assault—
findings suggest that females also perpetrate some forms of violence at rates proportional
to males, or higher (Archer, 2002; Magdol et al., 1998; Moffitt et al., 2001; Straus &
