Since witnessing inter-parental intimate partner violence has been found to be associated with adolescents' own relationship abuse, this study examined the relationship between patterns of inter-parental intimate partner verbal and physical violence victimization reported by parents and their children's reports of dating abuse experiences and behavior.
Latent class analysis was performed on a sample of 610 parents (42 percent male and 67 percent White) and their dating adolescent children (ages 12-21 years; 52 percent male). Parents reported five types of victimization by their partners in the past year, and youth concurrently reported their own victimization and perpetration within their dating relationships. Three profiles of parents' intimate partner victimization were related to youth relationship abuse experiences and behaviors. Children of parents who experienced verbal abuse were more likely to experience similar patterns in their own relationships; whereas, children of parents who reported physical and verbal abuse were more likely to report psychological, physical and sexual abusive encounters in their partnerships. Findings indicate that parents' relationship quality and abusive behaviors may have a long-lasting effect on their children as they enter mid and late adolescence. Parents should pay attention to their own relationship quality and behavior even as their teen-age children gain independence. (publisher abstract modified)