Intervention on behalf of children exposed to intimate partner violence: assessment of support in a diverse community-based sample.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to assess community-based support for intervening on behalf of children exposed to intimate partner violence (IPV) and to determine what contextual and respondent characteristics are associated with that support.

METHOD: An experimental vignette design was used in a random-digit-dial survey of six ethnic groups in California. For each respondent (n=3679), seven vignettes about IPV were generated using randomized categories of victim and assailant characteristics (i.e., gender and sexual orientation, age, ethnicity, nativity, occupational status, and relationship status) and situational characteristics (i.e., motivation, weapon use, type of abuse, alcohol use, frequency of the incident, and child present). All vignettes analyzed for this manuscript (n=6556) mentioned that "there was a child in the other room" during the incident.

RESULTS: In 70% of the IPV scenarios, respondents supported intervention on behalf of the child. Support was lowest when the IPV was purely psychological in nature (62-63%), higher when it involved threats, coercion, or limited physical abuse (68-71%), and highest when it involved severe physical abuse (76-81%). The odds of supporting intervention also were elevated when a weapon was involved, when the IPV occurred multiple times, and when the IPV involved gay men. Men and Vietnamese Americans had the lowest odds of favoring intervention.

CONCLUSIONS: Public opinion assessed in this survey is aligned with that of professionals who believe that the potential impact of IPV on children should not be ignored and who have suggested that criteria should be developed to guide a graded intervention response for such cases.