Prevalence and Predictors of Intimate Partner Violence Among Youth with Foster Care Histories
Understanding the factors that place TAY at risk of intimate partner violence (IPV) is central to prevention and treatment of this public health problem. However, questions remain about the prevalence and correlates of IPV among youth in foster care and emotional abuse, a particular form of IPV in intimate partnerships, remains an understudied area in this population. This study explores factors associated with IPV victimization, perpetration, bidirectional IPV, and emotional abuse using longitudinal data from the CalYOUTH study. We found that approximately one-fifth (20.4%) of CalYOUTH respondents had experienced some form of IPV at age 23, with emotional abuse and bidirectional violence being the most commonly reported types of IPV. Youth with histories of emotional abuse, caregiver IPV victimization, sexual abuse in foster care, placement instability, substance use, anxiety, and incarceration were also at heightened risk of IPV involvement. Our findings suggest that routine, systematic, low-burden IPV screening in child welfare settings is warranted.