Co-Occurrence of Spousal Violence and Child Abuse: Conceptual Implications

Although research has suggested high levels of comorbidity between spouse abuse and child abuse (Carlson, 1984), there has been little attention directed toward identifying factors that may distinguish spouse-abusive and spouse- and child-abusive families. The present study examined what familial and child factors differentiate between nonabusive, spouse-abusive, and spouse- and child-abusive families. Findings indicated a constellation of factors that discriminated between groups, although the discrimination was most effective between nonviolent and violent groups. Of particular interest was the observation that spouse-abusive and spouse- and child-abusive families differed primarily in severity and not qualitative pattern (Trickett, 1998). Conceptual implications of findings will be discussed.