NCJ Number
203024
Journal
Journal of Family Violence Volume: 18 Issue: 6 Dated: December 2003 Pages: 309-316
Date Published
December 2003
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This study tested the hypothesis that anger expression type (constructive, destructive direct, and destructive indirect) mediates the relationship between exposure to family violence and dating violence perpetrated by adolescents.
Abstract
Anger expression style refers to the way a person typically responds to anger. Children who are exposed to family violence may develop different anger expression styles than children who are not exposed to family violence. One's anger expression style may in turn influence dating violence perpetration. The current study hypothesized that exposure to family violence will be positively associated with dating violence perpetration; that exposure to family violence will be positively associated with destructive direct and destructive indirect anger expression styles and negatively associated with constructive anger expression style; that destructive direct anger expression style and destructive indirect anger expression style will be positively associated with dating violence perpetration, while constructive anger expression style will be negatively associated with dating violence perpetration; and that anger expression style will mediate the association between exposure to family violence and dating violence perpetration. Data were obtained from 1,965 self-administered questionnaires given to eighth-grade and ninth-grade students in a primarily rural county in North Carolina in 1994. The questionnaires explored dating experiences and exposure to family violence, as well as anger expression styles. The findings varied by gender and type of exposure to family violence. For females, destructive direct and destructive indirect anger expression styles mediated the relationship between experiencing family violence and dating violence perpetration. For boys, this relationship was mediated primarily by destructive direct anger expression style. The association between witnessing family violence and the perpetration of dating violence for females was mediated by destructive direct anger expression style only. Witnessing family violence was not associated with dating violence perpetration for males; therefore, it could not be mediated. The study suggests that adolescents exposed to family violence learn anger expression styles that put them at risk of being perpetrators of dating violence. Additional research is required to identify other mediators that explain how partner violence is transferred across generations. 1 figure, 5 tables, and 31 references