Associations of childhood violence experience and intimate partner violence during adulthood among women in Limpopo, South Africa

Adverse childhood experiences are associated with lifelong health risks, including intimate partner violence. South Africa has one of the highest rates of intimate partner violence globally. We sought to test hypotheses that among women in rural Limpopo Province, both childhood exposure to violence and witnessing intimate partner violence would be associated with adult perpetration and victimization. A total of 107 women, including village residents and university students, completed measures including the Revised Conflict Tactics Scale about adulthood intimate partner violence victimization and perpetration. Descriptive statistics compared the two groups, and adjusted logistic regressions examined relationships between childhood violence exposure and adulthood experiences of psychological, physical, and sexual violence. Childhood violence exposure significantly predicted adulthood victimization by minor [χ 2 (1) = 4.540, p = .033] and severe psychological aggression [χ 2 (1) = 6.965, p = .008], and severe physical assault [χ 2 (1) = 6.130, p = .013]. Witnessing intimate partner violence during childhood predicted women’s perpetration of minor sexual coercion [χ 2 (1) = 5.971, p = .015]. Community women were more likely than university women to commit severe physical assault (16.1%) [χ 2 (1) = 4.10, p = .043]. Findings suggest that childhood violence exposure is significantly associated with women’s intimate partner violence experiences in adulthood. Trauma-focused and parent-child interventions could reduce the experience of adverse childhood experiences and alter the long-term effects of witnessing intimate partner violence.