Abstract
From a family systems perspective, it is believed that the marital relationship is interrelated with the parent-child relationship, and was hypothesized in this study that mother-child relationships would be of poorer quality in families with a history of intimate partner violence (IPV) as compared to families without, particularly in the context of needed maternal authority. The sample consisted of 104 mother-child dyads with children ages two to eight years old. Dyads participated in three tasks that varied in amounts of necessary maternal authority, and were assessed with the Brief Emotional Availability Screener – Trianalog. Results showed no effect of IPV on the mother-child relationship under low maternal authority conditions. However, a trend that approached significance showed decreased relationship quality during the high maternal authority condition among dyads with IPV history. The findings are discussed with respect to future research and clinical implications are addressed.