Adverse childhood experiences and subsequent experiences of intimate partner violence in adulthood: a gender perspective

Investigate the prevalence of adverse childhood experience (ACE) and intimate partner violence (IPV) using a large representative Chinese sample, explore the association mechanism between ACE and adult exposure to IPV and to examine gender differences. A total of 21,154 participants were included in this study. The ACE scale was used to assess participants' exposure to ACE before the age of 18. Participants were evaluated for IPV experienced after the age of 18 using the IPV Scale. Logistic regression model was used to analyse the association between ACE and the risk of IPV exposure in adulthood. Principal component analysis was used to extract the main patterns of ACEs in the Chinese population. Network analyses were employed to identify the most critical types of ACE and IPV, analyse the association mechanisms between ACEs and IPVs, explore gender differences in this association and compare gender differences in the severity of IPVs experienced in adulthood. Participants with at least one ACE event faced a 215.5% higher risk of IPV compared to those without ACE experiences. In population-wide and gender-specific networks, The ACE and IPV nodes with the highest expected influence are 'ACE1 (Verbal abuse + physical abuse pattern)' and 'IPV5 (Partner compares me to other people and blatantly accuses me, making me feel embarrassed and unsure of myself)'. Positive correlations were found between 'ACE1 (Verbal abuse + physical abuse pattern)'-'IPV3 (Partner does not care about me when I am in bad shape [not feeling well or in a bad mood])', 'ACE4 (Violent treatment of mother or stepmother + criminal acts in the family pattern)'-'IPV1 (Partner has ever directly assaulted or hurt me with the help of an instrument)' and 'ACE2 (Exposure to sexual assault pattern)'-'IPV2 (Partner would have physical or sexual contact with me against my will)', which were the three edges with the highest edge weight values in the ACE pattern and IPV edges. 'ACE1 (Verbal abuse + physical abuse pattern)'-'IPV3 (Partner does not care about me when I am in bad shape [not feeling well or in a bad mood])', 'ACE2 (Exposure to sexual assault pattern)'-'IPV2 (Partner would have physical or sexual contact with me against my will)', 'ACE4 (Violent treatment of mother or stepmother + criminal acts in the family pattern)'-'IPV1 (Partner has ever directly assaulted or hurt me with the help of an instrument)' in the male network and 'ACE1 (Verbal abuse + physical abuse pattern)'-'IPV3 (Partner doe