From childhood maltreatment to intimate partner violence perpetration: A prospective longitudinal examination of the roles of executive functioning and self-esteem

Previous research has found that childhood maltreatment predicts increased risk for violence and partner violence and there is some evidence for poorer executive functioning and low self-esteem. To date, there have been no longitudinal studies that have examined the extent to which executive functioning and self-esteem play a role in the relationship between child maltreatment and intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration. This study aims to fill this gap by utilizing data from a prospective longitudinal study of children with documented court cases of abuse and neglect (ages 0–11 years) from a metropolitan county area in the Midwest (during the years 1967–1971) and demographically matched controls. Both maltreated individuals and matched controls were followed up and assessed over several waves of the study in young and middle adulthood. At mean age 39 years, inhibition and cognitive control were evaluated, while cognitive flexibility and nonverbal reasoning were assessed at mean age 41. Self-esteem was also assessed at mean age 41. Physical IPV perpetration was evaluated at age 47 using two different scoring strategies in separate models: the number of acts and variety of acts, ensuring avoidance of potential score skewness. Childhood maltreatment predicted lower executive functioning and self-esteem, and both independently predicted intimate partner violence perpetration. Lower executive functioning and self-esteem mediated the relationship between childhood maltreatment and physical IPV perpetration in midlife, irrespective of the scoring method. Findings suggest that executive functioning and self-esteem play a role in the cycle of violence. Implications and suggestions for future directions are discussed. •Little is known about whether childhood maltreatment, executive function, and self-esteem predict IPV perpetration.•Individuals with documented childhood maltreatment had lower executive function and self-esteem than matched controls.•Executive function and self-esteem mediated the link between childhood maltreatment and IPV.•New evidence suggests that executive functioning and self-esteem play a role in the cycle of violence.