Dating violence (DV) is a common experience among college-age Canadians, affecting between one quarter and one third of both men and women. A significant predictor of DV perpetration and victimization is childhood physical abuse (CPA). While there is evidence of an intergenerational transmission of violence from CPA to both victimization and perpetration of DV in young adulthood, there remain gaps in our understanding of what factors influence these relationships throughout an individual’s development. Using survey data collected from a convenience sample of 660 University of Manitoba students, this study analyzed the strength of a model of violence development from CPA to DV including the mediating effects of personality symptoms and attachment security. The current study suggested partial support for theoretical frameworks that have been applied to the understanding of the relationship between CPA and DV, namely social learning theory, the criminological framework, and attachment based theories. CPA was correlated with DV perpetration and victimization. However, in multivariate analyses, witnessing interparental violence, rather than experiencing CPA, was a direct predictor of DV perpetration and victimization. CPA predicted DV indirectly through witnessing interparental violence. More severe dating violence items were significantly predicted by other variables in the model. Antisocial personality symptoms increased odds of severe DV perpetration and victimization while borderline personality symptoms increased odds of severe DV victimization. Attachment insecurity had the strongest impact on dating violence perpetration in the female subsample. These findings, suggesting a number of distinct pathways in the intergenerational transmission of violence, should be further tested in larger and more diverse samples. It would be beneficial to include additional risk and protective variables in future research in order to understand what impacts each distinct pathway to dating violence, under what circumstances, as well as the influence of these variables at different points in individuals’ development. This research is valuable for understanding the impact of childhood abuse on young adult attachment, personality, and dating violence. Further, it is hoped that this research will be helpful for establishing appropriate and comprehensive DV interventions which take into account mediating influences from the intergenerational transmission of violence.

No description available.

The purpose of the current study was to investigate the relationship between Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) symptoms and childhood experiences, and to explore the role of Early Maladaptive Schemas and core beliefs as variables possibly mediating this relationship. Previous research with clinical samples has established a strong link between childhood maltreatment and adult BPD (& other PD) symptoms in clinical samples. However, difficulties with these studies limit the specificity of results. For example, BPD has been shown to be highly comorbid with other axis I and axis II psychiatric conditions. Given that studies examining the relationship between BPD and childhood maltreatment generally fail to control for these comorbid conditions, the specificity of their results must be questioned. Furthermore, it has been well established that childhood familial environment is strongly related to childhood maltreatment. Again studies examining the relationship between BPD and childhood maltreatment have generally failed to concurrently assess childhood familial environments, hence opening the possibility that the relationship between BPD and childhood maltreatment may be due to family functioning rather than childhood maltreatment per se. Finally, studies linking childhood maltreatment with adult BPD have primarily utilized clinical samples. However, the primary use of clinical samples to examine the aetiology of disorders in this context ignores the vast literature showing adequate psychological functio ning for the majority of individuals exposed to childhood maltreatment. Hence, the primary aim of the current study was to examine the relationship between childhood maltreatment and adult BPD symptoms in a primarily non-clinical sample whilst statistically controlling for commonly comorbid axis I and axis II symptomatology and concurrently measuring childhood familial functioning. It was a secondary aim of the current study to examine the mediating effects of beliefs on the relationship between childhood factors (i.e., childhood maltreatment & childhood familial functioning) and adult BPD symptomatology. That is, cognitive-behavioural theorists argue that personality disorders may be triggered by adverse childhood experiences leading to maladaptive beliefs (or schemas) related to the self, others, and the world, and it is these beliefs which lead to the behavioural disturbances evident in personality disorders. One hundred and eighty-five primarily non-clinical participants completed questionnaires measuring a variety of axis I and axis II symptoms, early maladaptive schemas and core beliefs, as well as retrospective reports of family functioning and childhood maltreatment. Results showed a significant relationship between childhood factors and adult BPD symptomatology. For example, the largest correlation between BPD symptoms and a childhood factor was .27 (for childhood emotional abuse). Furthermore, early maladaptive schemas and core beliefs were found to mediate the relationship between childhood factors and adult BPD symptomatology thus supporting cognitive-behavioural theories of personality disorders. However, early maladaptive schemas and core beliefs were also found to mediate the relationship between childhood factors and other Axis I and Axis II symptoms. Hence, it was concluded that while there was some support for a cognitive mediation hypothesis for BPD symptoms, future research is needed in exploring the specificity of the cognitive mediation hypothesis for BPD.