Youth who are exposed to intimate partner violence (IPV) between their parents may be at increased risk for a multitude of behavioral and emotional problems, including mental health problems such as depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and internalizing symptoms (Fergusson & Horwood, 1998; Finkelhor, Ormond, & Turner, 2009; Graham-Bermann, DeVoe, Mattis, Lynch, & Thomas, 2006; Zinzow et al., 2009). Research also suggests that males and females may react differently to being exposed to parental violence, although most of the findings in this area are mixed with regard to mental health outcomes. For instance, some evidence suggests that male witnesses are more likely to develop externalizing behaviors and females are more likely to suffer from internalizing disorders (Clements, Oxtoby, & Ogle, 2008; Kennedy, Bybee, Sullivan, & Greeson, 2010; Moylan et al., 2010; Yates, Dodds, Sroufe, & Egeland, 2003), whereas other studies have found that girls exposed to IPV are more likely than boys to demonstrate externalizing problems such as anger (Sigfusdottir, Farkas, & Silver, 2004). Yet others have found no gender differences in these outcomes (Fergusson & Horwood, 1998; Kitzmann, Gaylord, Holt, & Kenny, 2003; Sternberg, Baradaran, Abbott, Lamb, & Guterman, 2006)
