Interpersonal violence: secondary analysis of the keep your children/yourself safe and secure (KySS) data.

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of the secondary analysis was to determine agreement of parents and children to the interpersonal violence (IPV) items on the Keep Your Children/Yourself Safe and Secure (KySS) survey to assess mental health concerns.

METHODS

A comparative, descriptive design was used to determine the level of agreement between parent/child dyads on the 15 attitude/knowledge and worry items related to IPV (n = 563 dyads).

RESULTS

Single mother/son and 10- to 12-year-olds had less agreement than other dyad combinations and child age groups. Six of the 10 knowledge/attitude items had significant differences, including multigenerational occurrence of sexual abuse, the effect of harsh parenting, witnessing domestic violence, and incidence of physical abuse. The least agreement was on sexual abuse, incidence of physical abuse, and outcome of strict parenting (p < .001). Parents had greater worry about the parent-child relationship than did the children (p < .001).

DISCUSSION: Parents and clinicians may not realize how different their understanding of IPV is from that of children. Identifying items of least agreement can inform parents and clinicians in targeting violence education and prevention.