NCJ Number
227465
Journal
Journal of Family Violence Volume: 24 Issue: 6 Dated: August 2009 Pages: 389-396
Date Published
August 2009
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This study tested a model that examined the interrelationships among symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), intimate-relationship adjustment, and intimate-relationship aggression in a sample of 205 adult female flood victims.
Abstract
Although victimization from both physical and psychological aggression were associated with higher PTSD symptoms, poorer relationship adjustment, and the perpetration of higher aggression in intimate relationships, the effects of victimization on perpetration were primarily direct. These findings support the suggestion that the women in this sample may have engaged in aggression partly in self-defense or as a function of milder forms of mutual aggression. The association between PTSD symptoms and the perpetration of physical aggression was fully mediated by relationship adjustment. These findings are consistent with models that emphasize relationship maladjustment in the etiology of aggressive behavior against an intimate partner. Study participants were 205 female adult flood victims who were representative of the flood population in Monroe County, IL, and St. Louis, MO, as a result of the 1993 flooding of the Mississippi River and its tributaries into millions of acres of land in eight States. To be included in the study, participants had to be either married or cohabiting at the time of the flood and for at least 6 months prior to the flood. PTSD symptoms were assessed with a modified version of the National Women's Study PTSD module. Relationship adjustment was assessed with the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (Spanier, 1976). Victimization from and perpetration of intimate-partner physical and psychological aggression were measured with the eight-item Violence and six-item Verbal Aggression subscales of the Conflict Tactics Scale. 3 tables, 2 figures, and 36 references