From Intimate Partner Violence to Adolescent Behavior Problems: The Serial Mediating Role of Maternal Mastery and Parental Stress

Background and Purpose: Intimate partner violence affects millions of children and is associated with adolescent internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. Drawing on the Family Stress Model and Coercive Control Theory, this study examines whether IPV is associated with reduced maternal mastery—the sense of control over one's life—which in turn elevates parental stress and subsequently adolescent behavioral problems. Although parenting stress has been identified as a familial mediator between IPV and children's internalizing symptoms, evidence remains inconsistent, and limited longitudinal study has examined maternal mastery as an upstream psychological mechanism or tested whether internalizing and externalizing problems follow distinct mediating pathways. This study examines whether maternal mastery and parental stress sequentially mediate IPV's effects on adolescent behavior problems over a 12-year period, with attention to differences across internalizing and externalizing outcomes.

Methods: Data were drawn from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 4,897), a longitudinal birth cohort of children born in 20 large U.S. cities. Maternal IPV exposure and parental stress were assessed via self-report at child ages 3 and 9, respectively. Maternal mastery was measured using the Pearlin Mastery Scale at age 5, and adolescent internalizing and externalizing behavior problems were assessed via the Child Behavior Checklist at age 15. A structural equation model was estimated using full information maximum likelihood, adjusting for child sex, race/ethnicity, maternal depression, poverty, and education.

Results: IPV was associated with lower maternal mastery (b = −0.586, p < .001), which in turn was linked to higher parental stress (b = −0.381, p < .001). The serial indirect pathway through mastery and parental stress was significant for both internalizing (b = 0.014, p < .001) and externalizing problems (b = 0.021, p < .001). Mastery had an additional direct effect on internalizing (b = −0.019, p = .027) but not externalizing problems. Total indirect effects were significant for both outcomes, and direct effects of IPV were nonsignificant, indicating full mediation in this sample. Model fit was acceptable (RMSEA = 0.025, CFI = 0.916).

Conclusions and Implications: Findings indicate that IPV is associated with adolescent behavior problems via a sequential pathway linking reduced maternal mastery to elevated parental stress. These results suggest that parenting difficulties among IPV-affected mothers may reflect constrained psychological agency rather than maternal inadequacy. Because mastery operates as an upstream mechanism, interventions targeting depression or parenting skills alone may be insufficient; empowerment-based approaches that restore mothers' sense of control warrant greater attention. Distinct pathways for internalizing and externalizing problems further suggest the need for symptom-specific screening and intervention strategies.