Abstract
General Overview: This US article presents the findings of a study on trauma symptoms among infants exposed to intimate partner violence. Objective: It seeks to assess whether infants have a traumatic response to intimate partner violence (IPV) by exploring to see:

• If the number of infant trauma symptoms related to the infant’s temperament and the mother’s mental health; and
• If the severity of violence moderated the relationships

Methods: Forty-eight mothers participated in the study to report on whether their one year old infants experienced trauma symptoms as a result of witnessing IPV during their first year of life. These mothers also reported on their own trauma symptoms from experiences of IPV.

Discussion: Findings of only nearly half (44%) of the infants exposed to IPV had at least one trauma symptom are discussed as departure from the research results on pre-school and school-age children where most of these pre-school and school-age children who witnessed IPV had at least one trauma symptom. The theory of relational Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is used to analyse the findings, whereby the infants who witness severe IPV seem to experience an additional stressor (that is the distress of their mothers).

Results: The results show the predictors for infants with trauma symptoms are infants experiencing severe IPV and their mothers showing trauma symptoms. This is not the case for children who witnessed less severe IPV. Maternal depressive symptoms and difficult infant temperament also did not predict infant trauma symptoms for infants witnessing either severe or less severe IPV.

Conclusions: It concludes that the significant relationship between infant and maternal trauma symptoms, particularly among infants experiencing severe IPV, are consistent with the theory of relational PTSD. It also suggests that interventions for mothers need to consider the impact of the severity of IPV on young infants.