The Long-Term Consequences of Family Violence Victimization : An Umbrella Review of Longitudinal Meta-Analyses on Child Maltreatment and Intimate Partner Violence

Purpose

Child maltreatment (CM) and intimate partner violence (IPV) can have far-reaching adverse consequences to psychological and physical health. While multiple evidence syntheses support this, they are typically limited by a narrow outcome focus, rely on cross-sectional studies, and lack true clinical impact estimates.

Method

We conducted a preregistered umbrella review of meta-analyses only including prospective and longitudinal studies examining the long-term consequences of CM and IPV. We also critically appraised the included meta-analyses on their methodological quality and assessed the quality of evidence for each outcome. We calculated ORs by family victimization type and outcome, and population attributable fractions (PAFs) to estimate the true clinical impact of violence.

Results

Our search yielded 18 meta-analyses, covering over 150 primary studies and more than 3 million individuals. The follow-up periods ranged from 1 to 17 years, with a median of 5 years. CM and IPV were significantly linked to 16 out of 19 adverse psychiatric, psychosocial, and physical health outcomes. While the methodological quality was moderate to high, the quality of evidence was generally lower. PAFs indicated that up to a quarter of cases of some psychiatric disorders can be attributed to family violence victimization.

Conclusions

Family violence victimization is clearly linked to a multitude of long-term psychiatric and physical health consequences, and therefore requires action by researchers, policymakers, and practitioners. Recommendations, such as investments into global research and prevention efforts, are provided.