Wounding Words: Maternal Verbal Aggression and Children's Adjustment

• NCJ Number: 215885
• Journal: Journal of Family Violence Volume: 21 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2006 Pages: 89-93
• Author(s): Timothy E. Moore; Debra J. Pepler
• Date Published: January 2006
• Length: 5 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Mothers in violent and nonviolent families were compared on their use of various verbal aggression tactics in order to determine whether various forms of maternal verbal aggression were linked to children's psychological maladjustment.

Abstract

The findings indicate that in violent families, insults by the mother toward a child are a strong predictor of the child's psychological adjustment. Children from violent families were three times more likely to have serious clinical problems if their mothers reported the frequent use of insults compared to mothers who never used insults. As the primary caretaker, mothers' remarks to their children may be more influential in affecting the child's feelings than negative remarks by fathers. Possible psychological consequences of maternal insults toward a child are self-blame and emotional insecurity. Participants were children 6 to 12 years old and their mothers. Data were collected on 110 children of mothers who lived in several shelters for battered women (violent group) and 100 children of mothers living with intimate partners in nonviolent relationships (nonviolent group). Individual interviews were conducted separately and simultaneously with mothers and children. The Conflict Tactics Scale (Straus, 1979) measures the use of verbal aggression and physical violence between family members during the previous year. Verbal aggression was defined as the use of insulting remarks or swearing directed at the child; sulking or refusing to talk with the child; stomping out of the room or house; doing or saying something to spite the child; threatening to hit or throw something at the child; and throwing, smashing, hitting, or kicking something. The Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach and Edelbrock, 1983) measured mothers' perceptions of their children's behavioral problems during the previous 6 months. 3 figures, 2 tables, and 14 references