Domestic Violence Events: updated as of 05/04/2012
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Exposure to interpersonal violence as a predictor of PTSD-symptomatology in domestic violence survivors
Griffing, S., Lewis, C.S., Chu, M., Sage, R.E., Madry, L., and Primm, B.J. (in press). Journal of Interpersonal Violence.

This study examines the interrelationships between childhood abuse, exposure to maternal domestic violence, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology in a multiethnic sample of 111 adult female residents of a domestic violence (DV) shelter. Participants completed structured interviews about the DV and their prior violence exposure, as well as the Impact of Event Scale-Revised. As hypothesized, there was high co-occurrence between exposure to maternal DV and childhood physical and sexual abuse, and the frequency of lifetime violence exposure predicted PTSD symptomatology. A series of multiple regressions indicated a more complex pattern of relationships, in which specific forms of violence predicted different PTSD symptom dimensions. A history of witnessing maternal DV predicted intrusion symptoms, and the severity of the DV predicted avoidance symptoms. Both, the severity of the current DV and a history of childhood sexual abuse predicted hyperarousal symptoms. Ethnicity was not related to levels of violence exposure or to PTSD symptoms. Clinical implications of the findings are discussed.