Client‐Perpetrated Violence and Intent to Leave Among Child Welfare Workers: A Three‐Wave Cross‐Lagged Prospective Study of Causal Directions and the Role of Work‐Related Worrying

ABSTRACT Client‐perpetrated violence and turnover intentions are widespread problems among child‐welfare workers and are associated with both personal and organizational consequences. To elucidate their longitudinal association, the current study built on the cognitive activation theory of stress (CATS) and investigated (H1) whether client‐perpetrated violence is associated with increased intention to leave, (H2) whether this forward relationship is mediated by work‐related worrying and (H3) whether intention to leave is associated with subsequent reports of client‐perpetrated violence. Utilizing a sample of 438 Norwegian public sector child welfare workers, a three‐wave cross‐lagged panel model was specified. Supporting H1 and H3, the cross‐lagged panel model indicated a significant bidirectional relationship. The proposed indirect effect through work‐related worrying (H2) was not supported. In conclusion, the current study provides support for client‐perpetrated violence to predict increased intentions to leave among child welfare workers. The presence of a reverse causal effect highlights that conducting longitudinal studies alone offers little evidence of causality unless reverse causation is also explicitly tested. Although the study did not find work‐related worrying to mediate the relationship between client‐perpetrated violence and intentions to leave, it does support the idea of utilizing CATS as a theoretical framework also within organizational research.