This paper describes a conceptual approach to understanding the impact
of marital violence on preschoolers, examines the predictors and mediators
of child behavioral problems in a clinical sample of multiethnic
preschoolers who witnessed their mothers' battering by their father
figure, and presents empirical evidence supporting the use of
relationship-based therapeutic modalities in treating preschoolers exposed
to violence. We find that exposure to violence and maternal life stress
are each predictive of child behavior problems, and that the impact of
maternal life stress on child behavior problems is mediated by maternal
psychopathology and the quality of the mother–child
relationship.This research was funded by a
grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (R21 MH 59661) and by
grants from the Irving Harris Foundation and the Miriam and Peter Hass
Fund. The authors thank the mothers and children who participated in the
study and the assessors who conducted the interviews. We also thank Rachel
Kimerling, PhD, and Chandra Ghosh Ippen, PhD, for their review of earlier
versions of the manuscript.