Intergenerational transmission of violence, self-control, and conjugal violence: a comparative analysis of physical violence and psychological aggression

This paper is a sequel to Avakame (1998), a study which sought to determine whether (a) violence in families of origin affects males' psychological aggression toward wives, and (b) whether the intergenerational transmission effect is solely direct or mediated by Gottfredson and Hirschi's concept of self-control. The current research extends these questions to females' psychological aggression as well as males' and females' physical violence. The models were estimated using data from the 1975 National Family Violence Survey. Like its precursor, results of the present research suggest that it is useful to (a) distinguish between mothers' and fathers' violence and (b) recognize that the intergenerational transmission of violence may be mediated by self-control. Specifically, results suggested that, whether considering physical violence or psychological aggression, fathers' violence is most likely to exert the direct social learning effect.     

Parent and Partner Violence in Families With Young Children: Rates, Patterns, and Connections.

In this study, the authors assessed men's and women's partner and parent physical aggression among 453 representatively sampled families with young children. The prevalences of partner aggression and of severe parent aggression were higher than previously reported. Substantial rates of co-occurrence were found. Risk ratios and regression analyses indicated that connections between (a) husbands' and wives' partner aggression and (b) mothers' and fathers' parent aggression were especially strong. Patterns of co-occurrence pointed to the probable relative importance of family-level, in comparison with individual, predictors of aggression. Patterns of co-occurring violence are described in light of the theoretical literature. Implications for studying family violence in community samples are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Marital satisfaction of parents of preadolescent boys and its relationship to family and child functioning.

Investigated the relationship between parents' marital satisfaction (MS) and family and child outcomes among 50 mothers and 43 fathers with 6th-grade sons. Outcomes in 3 domains of functioning were studied: within-family functioning, 2 aspects of sons' social-emotional (SEM) adjustment (distress and restraint), and sons' academic achievement. Two mediators by which MS might influence the outcomes were also assessed: individual parental characteristics (i.e., SEM functioning) and child-rearing practices. Quality of the marital relationship was signficantly related to outcomes in each domain of functioning. Mothers' MS was related to overall family functioning; fathers' MS was related to sons' school achievement and development of self-control. The relationship between fathers' MS and sons' self-restraint was accounted for by fathers' SEM functioning and child rearing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Physical aggression in early marriage: Prerelationship and relationship effects.

Spousal physical aggression at 30 mo after marriage was predicted for 393 young couples who were interviewed for a longitudinal study. The prerelationship predictor variables were history of violence in the family of origin, aggression against others during childhood and adolescence, and personality characteristics. Relationship predictor variables were marital discord and spouse-specific psychological aggression, both measured at 18 mo after marriage. The findings suggest that predictive models are different for husbands and wives. For both sexes, there were direct paths to marital violence that were not mediated by characteristics of the relationship, as well as paths that originated in or flowed through indicators of the marital relationship. Implications for intervention through marital therapy, individual therapy, or both are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of juvenile aggression and violence: Some common misconceptions and controversies.

This article addresses 5 misconceptions and controversies concerning the development of aggression and violence: (a) the misconception that high stability coefficients of aggression over time imply that discontinuity of aggression from childhood to early adulthood is negligible; (b) the misconception that all serious forms of violence have an origin in aggression during early childhood; (c) the controversy about whether a single pathway or multiple pathways best represent individuals' development of antisocial behavior, including violence; (d) the controversy about whether causes of violence are similar to the causes of property offending; and (e) the assumption that the development of violence in women is very similar to that in men. Each of the points is discussed against empirical findings. Theoretical, research, and applied implications of the 5 points are discussed (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship of TV viewing habits and aggressive behavior in children.

Information about TV habits, (a) length of time watched and (b) extent of violence in favorite programs, was obtained from 689 mothers and 522 fathers in individual interviews having to do with the psychosocial antecedents of aggressive behavior in their children. This information was related to ratings of aggressive behavior of 3rd-grade children made by their peers. It was found that there was a significant positive relationship between the violence ratings of favorite programs as reported by both mothers and fathers and aggressive behavior of boys as rated in school. Also there was a significant negative relation between total time watched by boys as reported by mothers and aggressive behavior. The results for fathers' reports in this latter case were in the same direction, although not significant. No consistent relationships were noted between girls' TV habits as reported by either mother or father and aggression as rated in school by the peers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Correlates of expressed and received violence across relationship types among men and women substance abusers.

This study examined expressed and received violence among men and women in substance abuse treatment. Rates of past-year partner violence (PV) did not differ by gender, although men reported markedly higher rates of nonpartner violence (NPV). Compared with PV, NPV was associated with more demographic and background factors (e.g., childhood aggression and conduct problems, family history of violence). The most consistent correlates of violence across relationship types were age, minority status, drug-related consequences, psychiatric distress, and frequency of childhood aggression. Only a few gender-specific correlated were identified; most notably, witnessing father-to-mother violence was related to received PV only for women. Identification of correlates of expressed and received violence in partner and nonpartner relationships is essential for the assessment and treatment of individuals in substance abuse treatment settings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychometric properties of family members' reports of parental physical aggression toward clinic-referred children.

This study examined (a) differences among mothers', fathers', and children's reports of parental physical aggression toward children; (b) the reliability and validity of family members' reports of aggression using confirmatory factor analysis; and (c) the discriminant validity of the construct of mother–child and father–child aggression. Participants were 72 dual-parent families in which the parents were seeking clinical services for their children's (ages 7–9 years) conduct behavior problems. Each participant completed the parent–child version of the Conflict Tactics Scale (P-CTS). Results indicate that children reported lower levels of mother–child and father–child aggression than either mothers or fathers reported. Although the reliability (total systematic variance accounted for by observed variables) of family members' reports on the P-CTS ranged from moderate to high, convergent validity was generally low. The constructs of mother–child and father–child aggression were highly correlated but could be distinguished from each other when relationships among rater effects were considered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Multivariate models of mothers' and fathers' aggression toward their children.

Multivariate, biopsychosocial, explanatory models of mothers' and fathers' psychological and physical aggression toward their 3- to 7-year-old children were fitted and cross-validated in 453 representatively sampled families. Models explaining mothers' and fathers' aggression were substantially similar. Surprisingly, many variables identified as risk factors in the parental aggression and physical child abuse literatures, such as income, unrealistic expectations, and alcohol problems, although correlated with aggression bivariately, did not contribute uniquely to the models. In contrast, a small number of variables (i.e., child responsible attributions, overreactive discipline style, anger expression, and attitudes approving of aggression) appeared to be important pathways to parent aggression, mediating the effects of more distal risk factors. Models accounted for a moderate proportion of the variance in aggression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intervening variables in the TV violence–aggression relation: Evidence from two countries.

758 children in the US and 220 children in Finland were interviewed and tested in each of 3 yrs in an overlapping longitudinal design covering Grades 1–5. Parents of 591 US Ss and 193 Finnish Ss were also interviewed. For girls in the US and boys in both countries, TV violence viewing was significantly related to concurrent aggression and significantly predicted future changes in aggression. The strength of the relation depended as much on the frequency with which violence was viewed as on the extent of the violence. For boys, the effect was exacerbated by the degree to which the boy identified with TV characters. Path analyses suggested a bidirectional causal effect in which violence viewing engendered aggression, and aggression engendered violence viewing. No evidence was found that those Ss predisposed to aggression or those with aggressive parents were affected more by TV violence. However, a number of other variables (e.g., strong identification with aggressive characters) were correlates of aggression and violence viewing. A multiprocess model in which violence viewing and aggression affect each other and, in turn, are stimulated by related variables is used to explain the findings. (74 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Backstage, frontstage: an analysis of work and leisure roles of women recreational softball players

The interrelationships between experience of parental verbal aggression and physical violence during childhood and the development of low self-esteem during adulthood were explored separately for the father-daughter and mother-daughter relationships. Data were collected from 472 women between the ages of 18 and 45 during in-depth interviews drawn from five sources: outpatient alcoholism treatment, DWI (Driving While Intoxicated) education programs, shelter for battered women, outpatient mental health treatment, and randomly from the community. Control variables included respondents' alcohol problems and help-seeking behavior, parental alcohol problems, number of changes in childhood family (e.g., divorce), and respondents' race and social class. Controlling for these variables, experiences of father-to-daughter verbal aggression, moderate violence, and severe violence were found related to lower self-esteem in adulthood for women. Conversely, controlling for these variables, experiences of mother-to-daughter verbal aggression, moderate violence, and severe violence were not found related to lower self-esteem in adulthood for women.     

Physical aggression toward boys and girls in families characterized by the battering of women.

Forty-eight families (mothers and children) participated in a study on physical aggression toward boys and girls in households characterized by the battering of women. In each family, the mother had sought shelter because of relationship violence and had a son and daughter between 4 and 14 years. Mothers completed measures of physical marital violence directed at themselves, aggression toward children, and children's externalizing behavior problems. Older children completed measures of aggression directed at themselves. Results indicated that child gender moderates the relationship between the battering of women and aggression toward children. In families characterized by "more extreme" battering, boys were more often victims of aggression than girls, boys exhibited more externalizing problems than girls, and gender differences in externalizing problems helped account for the differential aggression directed at boys and girls. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aggressive behavior among Israeli elementary school students and associated emotional/behavioral problems and self-control.

This study aimed to identify aggression patterns among students, compare teachers' and students' reports on aggressiveness, and examine whether emotional and behavioral problems and self-control intercorrelate with aggression and can explain it among students. The study investigated 363 students aged 8 to 11 years and their 12 homeroom teachers in two elementary schools in central Israel. As expected, students reported higher verbal aggression than physical without gender differences in the general tendency. Also, students reported a higher rate of others' aggression toward them than their own aggression toward others. Similarities emerged between students' and teachers' reports. Four types of students were classified: the aggressive initiator (proactive), the aggressive responder (reactive), the passive victim, and a neutral type. An important outcome was the significant negative association of aggressiveness with self-control. Students with higher rates of self-control skills presented lower rates of aggressive behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intergenerational transmission of relationship aggression: A prospective longitudinal study.

The present study examined whether physical and verbal aggression in the family of origin were associated with similar patterns of aggression in young adult couples. Hypotheses were tested using a sample of 213 focal individuals who were followed from adolescence to adulthood. Results suggested that aggression in the family when focal participants were adolescents predicted aggression with romantic partners when participants were adults. The association between interparental aggression and later aggression in adult romantic unions was partially mediated through parents' aggression to focal participants when they were adolescents. Both physical and verbal aggression revealed the same pattern of findings. All together, these findings are consistent with a developmental-interactional perspective (Capaldi & Gorman-Smith, 2003) concerning the developmental origins of aggression in intimate relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Community Violence, Family Conflict, and Preschoolers' Socioemotional Functioning.

This study examined the relations among family conflict, community violence, and young children's socioemotional functioning and explored how children's social cognition and mothers' psychological functioning may mediate the outcomes associated with this exposure. Mothers of 431 Head Start preschoolers completed questionnaires about their family demography, exposure to community violence, family conflict, and children's distress symptoms. Children were administered a social cognition assessment, and teachers rated their behavior. Results showed that mothers' reports of children's co-witnessing of community violence were positively associated with police department crime rates, children's distress symptoms, and teachers' ratings of aggression. A path analysis revealed that children's social awareness and mothers' depressive symptoms partially mediated the effects of community violence and family conflict on outcomes for children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Promoting changes in attitudes and understanding of conflict resolution among child witnesses of family violence.

Children in shelters for battered women are at an increased risk of adjustment problems due to their family circumstances. Early intervention procedures that hold promise for promoting the child's recovery following family violence and disruption are discussed, with particular emphasis on methods that are sensitive to the child's developmental level and needs. It is argued that early intervention should focus on children's attitudes about aggression and family behavior as well as skills for resolving interpersonal problems. A study in which 10 weekly group-counseling sessions were held with 18 8–13 yr olds who were recent residents of shelters for battered women found that there was an attitude change concerning violence in most Ss after the sessions. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Husband alcohol expectancies, drinking, and marital-conflict styles as predictors of severe marital violence among newlywed couples.

The prospective effects of husband drinking, husband alcohol expectancies, and couple's marital-conflict style on husband alcohol-related aggression and severe violence in the 1st year of marriage were examined. Drinking predicted alcohol-related aggression, but husband's expectancy that alcohol causes aggression did not. Alcohol expectancies did predict severe violence in the marriage; however, the husband's belief that alcohol causes aggression was negatively related to the amount of severe violence. Alcohol expectancies interacted with marital conflict such that high amounts of severe violence were associated with men in high conflict marriages who did not have the expectancy that alcohol causes aggression. Additionally, in high conflict marriages, husband drinking was related to the amount of severe violence. Results are discussed in terms of alcohol-expectancy measures tapping general constructs of tolerance and attitudes toward antinormative behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Harsh Parenting in Relation to Child Emotion Regulation and Aggression.

This study presents a model of harsh parenting that has an indirect effect, as well as a direct effect, on child aggression in the school environment through the mediating process of child emotion regulation. Tested on a sample of 325 Chinese children and their parents, the model showed adequate goodness of fit. Also investigated were interaction effects between parents' and children's gender. Mothers' harsh parenting affected child emotion regulation more strongly than fathers', whereas harsh parenting emanating from fathers had a stronger effect on child aggression. Fathers' harsh parenting also affected sons more than daughters, whereas there was no gender differential effect with mothers' harsh parenting. These results are discussed with an emphasis on negative emotionality as a potentially common cause of family perturbations, including parenting and child adjustment problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of intermittent ozone exposure on peak expiratory flow and respiratory symptoms among asthmatic children in Mexico City

PURPOSE: The purpose of this research was to study adolescents' perceptions of violence in their communities and schools and examine the relationship between these reports and their emotional and behavioral functioning, controlling for the effects of family violence and other sociodemographic variables. METHODS: Respondents included 935 urban and suburban high school students who completed the Youth Self-Report (YSR) as well as measures assessing their perceptions of community, school, and family violence. RESULTS: This sample of high school students was exposed to high levels of violence in their communities and schools. Over 45% of the students reported witnessing severe forms of violence such as a shooting or stabbing in their communities or schools during the year prior to the study. Hierarchic regression analyses revealed that for males, exposure to community and school violence was a significant predictor of aggressive acting-out behaviors, even when controlling for the effects of family violence and other sociodemographic variables. For girls, only exposure to school violence was a significant predictor of aggression. The results for internalizing scores (depression, withdrawal) were less impressive, particularly for males. CONCLUSIONS: The high levels of violence exposure of adolescents in their communities and schools and the associated increase in behavior problems suggest the need for developing school and community intervention programs to treat violence and its impact.     

Predictors of domestically violent men's aggression toward children: A prospective study.

This research examines predictors of domestically violent men's aggression toward children after the children and their mothers sought help at an emergency shelter for domestic violence victims. Participants were 62 women who had sought refuge at a domestic violence shelter and who had at least one child between 4 and 9 years old. During their shelter stay, women provided data on partner–child aggression that occurred before shelter entry. After leaving the shelter, they also provided data on postshelter partner–mother intimate partner violence (IPV), children's postshelter contacts with their mothers' partners, and postshelter partner–child aggression on 5 occasions after their shelter departure (4, 8, 12, 16, and 20 months postshelter). Consistent with our hypotheses, the level of partner–child aggression before the family entered the shelter, the level of partner–mother IPV after shelter departure, and the frequency of children's contacts with the partners after shelter departure each predicted postshelter partner–child aggression. Clinical and policy implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)