272 mother-child dyads (child age ranged from 5-12 years) were asked questions about interparental violence (IPV), co-occurring child and familial risk factors, and mothers reported on their child's symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Six years later a measure of these children's intelligence (IQ) was evaluated along with an update on IPV. Child exposure to IPV was associated with lower verbal, performance, and composite IQ in adolescence even when accounting for numerous co-occurring risk factors and the relationship between childhood exposure to IPV and lower IQ was stronger for girls than for boys. Previous studies have hypothesized that stress may mediate the relationship between exposure to IPV and lower IQ. Among children who were exposed to IPV in this sample, however, greater PTSD symptoms in childhood were not associated with IQ as adolescents, suggesting that it is unlikely that PTSD mediates the relationship between childhood exposure to IPV and lower IQ.
