Contribution of Marital Violence to Adolescent Aggression Across Different Relationships

• NCJ Number: 206641
• Journal: Journal of Interpersonal Violence Volume: 18 Issue: 4 Dated: April 2003 Pages: 390-412
• Author(s): Laura Ann McCloskey; Erika L. Lichter
• Editor(s): Jon R. Conte
• Date Published: April 2003
• Length: 23 pages
• Grant Number(s): 90CA-1409; MH-51289
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Mental Health; National Ctr on Child Abuse and Neglect
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Special Issue on Children and Domestic Violence; see NCJ-206637-640 and NCJ-206642-644 for additional articles.

Annotation

This study examines whether teenage/adolescent youth who grow up in maritally violent homes display heightened physical aggression across various relationship contexts, such as dating, family, and peers and whether marital violence differentially contributes to higher odds of expressing physical aggression in any of these contexts.

Abstract

Due to evidence consistent with a family cycle of violence, strong concern exists that youth exposed to violence in the home will grow up to repeat this violence. This concern fuels the importance for further study on whether the seeds of adult aggression, and intimate partner violence in particular, are planted in childhood. This study included youth who, as children (age 6 to 12), witnessed their fathers’ abuse of their mothers and examined whether teenagers expressed physical aggression in three different contexts: relationships with same-sex peers, different-sex dating partners, and parents. Children were interviewed at three time points: between 6 and 12 years of age, between 14 and 15, and between 15 and 16. At each time point, mothers and children were interviewed separately and at the same time. The data indicate that children from violent homes are at risk for becoming aggressive adolescents in some relationship domains. In addition, evidence was found to support a mediating role of depression in the relationship between exposure to marital violence and adolescent aggression toward peers. Empathy was an important variable in explaining adolescent aggression toward peers and toward dating partners, although it appears to develop independently of whether a child grows up in a maritally violent household. The study contributes to existing research by considering aggression in several relationship contexts and by placing psychological constructs, depression, and empathy, as links between early violence exposure and aggression in youth. Tables, appendix, references