Cohort Differences In the Association between Witnessing Parental Violence and Women’s Spousal Controlling Behaviors: Do Attitudes Matter?

Background/Purpose: While research on intimate partner violence (IPV) has traditionally focused on male-perpetrated violence against female partners, IPV is increasingly recognized as a bidirectional phenomenon that may include violence perpetrated by women. Women’s use of controlling behaviors within intimate relationships represents an important yet underexamined dimension of IPV. Controlling behaviors (e.g., coercion, intimidation, and psychological dominance) are increasingly viewed as core components of IPV that extend beyond physical victimization. However, existing literature remains largely victimization-centered, leaving mechanisms underlying women’s perpetration insufficiently understood. This gap is particularly relevant in South Korea, where rapid social change and generational shifts in gender norms may influence how violence is learned and expressed within intimate relationships. As emerging evidence suggests that women engage in controlling behaviors, shaped by early exposure to family violence as well as attitudinal and normative factors, this study examines whether the association between witnessing parental violence and women’s controlling behaviors toward their spouses is moderated by attitudes toward IPV and varies across age cohorts.

Methods: We analyzed the 2022 Korean National Survey on Domestic Violence data. Our study sample included 5,975 adult women and stratified into two age groups: under 50 years (n=3,563) and 50 years and older (n=2,412). In the Korean context, women under 50 were more likely to have been socialized in a context of increasing gender equality and growing recognition of IPV as unacceptable, whereas women aged 50 and older were more likely to have been socialized in environments with greater tolerance of IPV. Key study variables included controlling behaviors toward a spouse (range: 1-4, alpha=.901; scores 10-40, with higher scores indicating higher levels of controlling behaviors), witnessing parental violence (range: 0-1, alpha=.634), and attitudes toward domestic violence (range: 1-4, alpha=.867; scores 11-44, with higher scores indicating more permissive attitudes toward IPV). Regression analyses with interaction terms were conducted separately by age group to examine whether permissive attitudes toward IPV moderated the association between witnessing parental violence and controlling behaviors across the two cohorts.

Results: The younger group reported significantly lower levels of parental violence exposure and less permissive attitudes toward IPV compared to the older group, while no significant differences were observed in spousal controlling behaviors. After controlling for socioeconomic status and child abuse victimization, witnessing parental violence significantly predicted women’s controlling behaviors toward spouses across both age groups. However, the moderating effect of IPV attitudes was significant only among the younger group.

Conclusion and Implications: Our findings highlight that early exposure to parental violence was associated with women’s controlling behaviors across both age groups, but the mechanisms differ by cohort. Compared to older women, younger women showed greater responsiveness in the effect of early exposure to parental violence on controlling behaviors through their permissive attitudes toward IPV. These findings suggest that interventions targeting IPV attitudes may be particularly important for younger women.