Researchers from the Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba (CHRIM) and the University of Manitoba as well as collaborating institutions, have found that children exposed to intimate partner violence (IPV) face significantly higher risks of adverse educational, social, and justice-related outcomes.

Published in the journal Child Abuse & Neglect, the population-based study followed more than 10,000 Manitoba children exposed to IPV, comparing them to more than 53,000 other children who had not been exposed.

The findings indicated children exposed to IPV were more likely to:
• Struggle academically, beginning in middle school;
• Withdraw, and not graduate from high school;
• Be involved with Child and Family Services;
• Experience engagement with the justice system as young adults;
• Require income assistance as young adults;
• Experience teenage pregnancy.

“Exposure to intimate partner violence is not limited to what happens inside the home in the moment,” says Dr. Kelly Russell, Associate Professor at the University of Manitoba, CHRIM scientist, and lead author of the study. “Our findings highlight significant, measurable harms across multiple systems. This underscores the need for earlier and more coordinated supports for children and families who’ve experienced IPV, throughout their lives and as they transition into young adulthood.”

Researchers used linked provincial administrative data from health, education, justice, and social systems in Manitoba, allowing them to follow children over time and examine outcomes from childhood through to adulthood.

They found that children exposed to IPV were:
• More likely not to finish school, 40 per cent did not graduate high school within six years, and 25 per cent formally withdrew;
• Nearly twice as likely to become victims of crime as young adults;
• More than four times as likely to be engaged with Child and Family Services.

The study also reinforced growing evidence that witnessing or living in environments affected by violence can have lasting developmental consequences, even when children are not the direct targets of the abuse.

“This study provides the quantitative data to what we’ve been observing qualitatively,” Russell continues. “That IPV has wide repercussions that resonate over time, and that we need to develop coordinated systems of care that offer early interventions to mitigate these impacts: early recognition and intervention; trauma-informed supports in schools; accessible medical care, counselling and social services; increased IPV prevention efforts; and, coordinated cross-sector responses involving healthcare, education, child welfare, and community organizations are key.”

Kendra Nixon, Director of RESOLVE Manitoba and Professor at the University of Manitoba notes “While this research suggests that children exposed to men’s violence against their mothers are at increased risk for negative outcomes, not all children are destined to repeat these patterns in adulthood. One of the strongest sources of resilience for children is a safe, supportive relationship with their mother, as well as mothers having good mental health. If we want to protect children, we must protect and support their mothers. Good protection of children begins and ends with good protection of their mothers.”

While the study is based on Manitoba administrative data, the findings may have broader relevance across Canadian jurisdictions. Manitoba’s population-level linked data infrastructure offers a unique ability to examine longitudinal outcomes associated with childhood exposure to IPV.

Researchers note because IPV is frequently underreported, administrative data likely underestimates the prevalence and future impacts experienced by children and families.

“Children exposed to IPV are interacting with multiple systems long before adulthood,” the researchers note in the paper. “The earlier supports are available, the greater the opportunity to reduce long-term harms.”

The study, titled Educational, judicial, and social outcomes of children exposed to intimate partner violence, was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.