Verbal Aggression Against Spouses and Children in a Nationally Representative Sample of American Families

• NCJ Number: 123208
• Author(s): M A Straus; S Sweet; Y M Vissing
• Date Published: 1989
• Length: 9 pages
• Grant Number(s): R01MH40027
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Mental Health
• Corporate Author: University of New Hampshire
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Speech Communication Association, San Francisco, November 18, 1989.

Annotation

This paper reports on the incidence of verbal/symbolic aggression by parents against children and by spouses against each other.

Abstract

Data on verbal aggression between spouses were obtained through interviews with a nationally representative sample of over 5,000 couples. Data on parent-child verbal aggression was based on interviews with more than 3,000 of the couples who had children living at home at the time of the interview (summer 1985). "Verbal/symbolic aggression" was defined as "a communication intended to cause psychological pain to another person, or a communication perceived as having that intent." The Conflict Tactics Scale, which measures three tactics used in interpersonal conflict with the family (reasoning, verbal aggression, and physical aggression), was used to measure verbal/symbolic aggression. The study found that more than two out of three American children and more than three out of four spouses are victims of verbal/symbolic aggression. Husbands and wives are equally likely to engage in verbal aggression against each other, but mothers are more likely than fathers to use such aggression against children. The effects of verbal aggression on children and spouses are also examined. 2 tables, 2 figures, 6 footnotes, 26 references.