Risk Factors for Male-Perpetrated Domestic Violence in Vietnam Veteran Families in the United States, 1988

The goal of this project was to gain a better
 understanding of risk factors associated with male-perpetrated
 domestic violence, partner's mental distress, and child behavior
 problems. The researchers sought to demonstrate that two important
 social and health problems, domestic violence and trauma-related
 psychological distress, were connected. The project was organized
 into four studies, each of which addressed a specific objective: (1)
 Variables characterizing the perpetrator's family of procreation were
 used to determine the pattern of relationships among marital and
 family functioning, perpetrator-to-partner violence, partner's mental
 distress, and child behavior problems. (2) The perpetrator's early
 background and trauma history were studied to establish the degree to
 which the perpetrator's family of origin characteristics and
 experiences, childhood antisocial behavior, exposure to stressors in
 the Vietnam war zone, and subsequent post-traumatic stress disorder
 (PTSD) symptomatology related to perpetrator-to-partner family
 violence. (3) The perpetrator's degree of mental distress was
 examined to ascertain the ways in which the current mental distress
 of the perpetrator was associated with marital and family
 functioning, violence, and current mental distress of the
 partner. (4) Developmental and intergenerational perspectives on
 violence were used to model a network of relationships explaining the
 potential transmission of violence across generations, commencing
 with the perpetrator's accounts of violence within the family of
 origin and terminating with reports of child behavior problems within
 the family of procreation. Data for this study came from the
 congressionally-mandated National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study
 (NVVRS) (Kulka et al., 1990), which sought to document the current
 and long-term psychological status of those who served one or more
 tours of duty in the Vietnam theater of operations sometime between
 August 5, 1964, and May 7, 1975, compared to their peers who served
 elsewhere in the military during that era and to a comparable group
 who never experienced military service. This study relied upon data
 from the National Survey and Family Interview components of the
 larger NVVRS. Data were collected through face-to-face structured
 interviews, with some supplementary self-report paper-and-pencil
 measures. The interview protocol was organized into 16 parts,
 including portions requesting information on childhood experiences
 and early delinquent behaviors, military service history, legal
 problems in the family of origin and postwar period, stressful life
 events, social support systems, marital and family discord and
 abusive behaviors, and physical and mental health. This study
 emphasized four categories of explanatory variables: (1) the
 perpetrator's accounts of family of origin characteristics and
 experiences, (2) the perpetrator's conduct and behavior problems
 prior to age 15, (3) the perpetrator's exposure to war-zone
 stressors, and (4) mental distress of the perpetrator, with attention
 to PTSD symptomatology and alcohol abuse. Additionally, the project
 incorporated four clusters of family of procreation criterion
 variables: (1) marital and family functioning, (2) perpetrator-to-
 partner violence, (3) partner mental distress, and (4) child behavior
 problems. Variables include child abuse, family histories of
 substance abuse, criminal activity, or mental health problems,
 relationship as a child with parents, misbehavior as a child, combat
 experience, fear for personal safety during combat, alcohol use and
 abuse, emotional well-being including stress, guilt, relationships
 with others, panic, and loneliness, acts of physical and verbal
 violence toward partner, children's emotional and behavioral
 problems, problem-solving, decision-making, and communication in
family, and family support.

Tags: childhood, domestic-violence, families, family-history, family-violence, health-problems, male-offenders, mental-health, military-service, parent-child-relationship, post-traumatic-stress-disorder, risk-assessment, social-problems, veterans, vietnam-war
Organization: Department of Justice