Differentiating corporal punishment from physical abuse in the prediction of lifetime aggression

Corporal punishment and parental physical abuse often co‐occur during upbringing, making it difficult to differentiate their selective impacts on psychological functioning. Associations between corporal punishment and a number of lifetime aggression indicators were examined in this study after efforts to control the potential influence of various forms of co‐occurring maltreatment (parental physical abuse, childhood sexual abuse, sibling abuse, peer bullying, and observed parental violence). College students (N = 1,136) provided retrospective self‐reports regarding their history of aggression and levels of exposure to childhood corporal punishment and maltreatment experiences. Analyses focused on three hypotheses: 1) The odds of experiencing childhood physical abuse would be higher among respondents reporting frequent corporal punishment during upbringing; 2) Corporal punishment scores would predict the criterion aggression indices after control of variance associated with childhood maltreatment; 3) Aggression scores would be higher among respondents classified in the moderate and elevated corporal punishment risk groups. Strong support was found for the first hypothesis since the odds of childhood physical abuse recollections were higher (OR = 65.3) among respondents who experienced frequent (>60 total disciplinary acts) corporal punishment during upbringing. Partial support was found for the second and third hypotheses. Dimensional and categorical corporal punishment scores were associated significantly with half of the criterion measures. These findings support efforts to dissuade reliance on corporal punishment to manage child behavior.

     

Violent Experiences Questionnaire Predictors of Low Base-Rate Aggressive Acts

This study found elevations in low base-rate aggressive acts among college students (n = 171) who reported (via the Violent Experiences Questionnaire–Revised) exposure to extreme forms of maltreatment (i.e., parental physical abuse, domestic violence, sibling abuse, peer bullying, relational aggression) or corporal punishment during their upbringing. Low base-rate aggressive acts were identified through a separate customized questionnaire. Parental physical abuse was associated with an increased risk (three- to nine-fold) of past physical fighting, violence-related trouble, inflicting violent injury, and making a threat to kill someone. Corporal punishment was associated with elevated risk (two- to four-fold) of physical fighting or inflicting violent injury to another. Past threat(s) to kill were linked to histories of corporal punishment, sibling abuse, or domestic violence. These results illustrate that the adverse effects of childhood maltreatment extend broadly to both clinical and nonclinical samples.     

Direct and indirect relationships among posttraumatic stress disorder,depression, hostility,anger, and verbal and physical aggression in returning veterans

Hostility, anger, and aggression are conceptually related but unique constructs found to occur more often among veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) than among civilians or veterans without PTSD. However, the pathways between PTSD, depression, hostility, anger, and aggression have not been comprehensively characterized. Therefore, drawing on a sample of returning Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom combat veterans ( N = 175; 95% male; mean age 30 years), this study sought to examine the direct and indirect relationships among PTSD, depression, hostility, anger, and four types of aggression: verbal, and physical toward self, others, and objects. Functional modeling of direct effects was done using multiple least-squares regression and bootstrapped mediation analyses were carried out to test indirect effects. Results indicate that PTSD is not the overall direct contributor to different forms of aggression, supporting the mediating role of depression and trait anger. Depression symptoms explain part of the relationships between PTSD and verbal aggression, physical aggression toward objects, and physical aggression toward self and trait anger explains part of the relationships between PTSD and verbal aggression, physical aggression toward objects, and physical aggression toward others. Our findings support the importance of assessing for anger, depression, and different types of aggression among veterans presenting for PTSD treatment to develop individualized treatment plans that may benefit from early incorporation of interventions.     

Family-of-origin maltreatment, posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms, social information processing deficits, and relationship abuse perpetration

In this study, the authors examined the interrelations among family-of-origin maltreatment variables, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, social information processing deficits, and male-to-female psychological and physical intimate relationship abuse perpetration in adulthood among a community sample of 164 men and their partners. In bivariate analyses, higher family-of-origin childhood parental rejection was associated with the perpetration of psychological and physical abuse in adulthood, and childhood exposure to interparental violence was also associated with adult psychological abuse perpetration. Structural equation modeling analyses indicated that when childhood variables and other study variables were considered together, only childhood parental rejection was associated with the abuse perpetration outcomes, and these effects were indirect through PTSD symptoms and social information processing deficits. Results indicate a need for further investigation into the mechanisms accounting for the impact of early maltreatment on the development of abusive intimate relationship behavior.     

Relation Between Childhood Maltreatment and Severe Intrafamilial Male‐Perpetrated Physical Violence in Chinese Community: The Mediating Role of Borderline and Antisocial Personality Disorder Features

This study investigates the role of borderline personality disorder (BPD) and antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) features as mediators of the effects of childhood maltreatment on severe intrafamilial physical violence amongst Chinese male perpetrators. A cross‐sectional survey and face‐to‐face interview were conducted to examine childhood maltreatment, personality disorder features, impulsivity, aggression, and severe intrafamilial physical violence in a community sample of 206 abusive men in China. The results suggest that ASPD or BPD features mediate between childhood maltreatment and intimate partner violence perpetration in Chinese abusive men. These findings may yield clinical and forensic implications for assessing the psychopathology of abusive men, and may steer the intervention of intimate partner violence. Aggr. Behav. 38:64‐76, 2012. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Comparison of two aggression inventories

Two recently developed questionnaire measures of aggression, the Aggression Questionnaire [Buss and Perry (1992; Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 63:452–459]; and the Aggression Inventory [Gladue (1991a); Psychological Reports 68:675–684], were administered to a British sample (N=320) of men and women undergraduates. Both questionnaires contain subscales measuring physical and verbal aggression; the other scales of the Aggression Questionnaire measure anger and hostility, and those of the Aggression Inventory measure impulsiveness and avoidance of aggression. The factor structure of scales were assessed using confirmatory factor analysis. The interrelations of the subscales were calculated in both cases: anger was independently related to verbal and physical aggression and to hostility on the Aggression Questionnaire; impulsivity, and verbal and physical aggression were associated on the Aggression Inventory. Sex differences were largest on the two physical subscales, of lesser magnitude but still significantly different for the two verbal subscales, but absent for anger and hostility. This supports the hypothesis that sex differences in aggression are larger for more escalated forms of aggression. The physical and verbal subscales of the two questionnaires were each highly correlated with one another and the impulsive subscale of the Aggression Inventory highly correlated with the anger subscale of the Aggresion Questionnaire. Thus, two aggression questionnaires developed in the US not only produce similar associations between subscales and sex differences among a British undergraduate sample, but also show high correlations between their respective scales. © 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Aggression,anger and hostility: Evaluation of moral disengagement as a mediational process

This study examines how the mechanisms underlying moral disengagement serve as a mediator between anger and hostility and physical and verbal aggression. The study was carried out on 424 participants (61.1% females), aged 15 to 25 years, assessing the direct and indirect effects of the distinct variables using a hierarchical multiple regression analysis and structural equation modeling. The findings suggest that anger and hostility contribute independently and positively to physical and verbal aggression. Moreover, the relationships between anger, hostility, and aggression appear to be mediated by moral disengagement. Indeed, this process of mediation was invariant across sexes, and it tended to be stronger for physical – as opposed to verbal – aggression.     

Risk factors for male-to-female partner physical abuse

We review the risk and protective factors for male-to-female partner physical abuse and present effect sizes. We distinguish among the various operationalizations of physical aggression (e.g., men in court mandated abuse programs, men identified through a single item on the CTS). Overall, however, several risk factors showed moderate to strong effect sizes. Perpetrator factors include SES, education, history of child sexual victimization, exposure to parental physical and/or verbal aggression, violent adult models in childhood, non-family aggression by parent, elevated levels of state and trait anger and hostility; various personality disorders; various Axis I psychopathology, particularly depression alcohol and drug abuse; deficits in spouse-specific assertiveness; and attitudes that condone abuse. Risk factors for women being victimized included less education, unemployment, and history of child emotional/verbal victimization.     

Women's bar‐related victimization: Refining and testing a conceptual model

A model of bar victimization is proposed that explores the relationships among a woman's exposure to the bar environment (i.e., frequency of going to bars), her intoxication in that setting (i.e., usual number of drinks), and such individual difference factors as her previous history of victimization (childhood sexual abuse, lifetime violence, and previous partner abuse) and personality characteristics (depression, social anxiety, sensation seeking, and hostility). Earlier findings from work in this area suggest that exposure to the bar environment increases a woman's risk for more severe aggression. The data being used to test the proposed model are from a survey of 198 women bar drinkers in western New York State. These women described bar‐related victimization that ranged from verbal aggression (e.g., threats) through severe physical and sexual violence (e.g., assault and rape). Younger age, history of victimization, greater negative affect, and more frequent drinking in bars were predictive of more severe bar‐related victimization during the past year. These findings are discussed in terms of women's risk for victimization in bars and needed areas of future research. Aggr. Behav. 25:349–364, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

The Relationship between Intimate Partner Violence and Suicidal Ideation among Young Chinese,Korean, and Vietnamese American Women

ABSTRACT

High depression and suicide rates are critical problems that have a significant impact on the lives of young Asian American women. Intimate partner violence (IPV) has been identified as a predictor of suicidality in general female samples, but no research study has examined the relationship between IPV and suicidality in a sample of 1.5 and second-generation Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese American women. We used data collected from 173 women (aged 18-35 years) who were screened for eligibility to participate in the development and efficacy study of Asian American Women’s Action for Resilience and Empowerment (AWARE). We measured the prevalence of (a) IPV, (b) lifetime suicidal ideation/intent, and (c) childhood abuse and tested the association between IPV and lifetime suicidal ideation/intent among study participants who completed the clinical screening assessments. The results indicated that seven out of 10 women in our sample experienced lifetime suicidal ideation/intent, psychological aggression was the most commonly reported form of IPV during the last six months, followed by sexual coercion, and history of physical and/or sexual partner violence had the most robust association with lifetime suicidal ideation/intent after controlling for demographic factors and childhood abuse. Our study suggests that suicide prevention and intervention programs for young 1.5 and second-generation Asian American women should not only address experiences of childhood abuse, but also incorporate culturally adapted behavioral health approaches to identify and target physical and sexual partner violence. Furthermore, any such programs need to integrate a systemic approach in addressing IPV within the context of various marginalized experiences of Asian American women.     

The relation between scores on the Buss–Perry Aggression Questionnaire and aggressive acts,impulsiveness, competitiveness,dominance, and sexual jealousy

This paper examines the relation of the four subscales (physical, verbal, anger and hostility) of the Buss–Perry Aggression Questionnaire (BPAQ) to act‐based aggression questionnaires (involving same‐sex or partners as opponents, and direct or indirect aggression) and evolutionarily based predictors of aggression, using an online student sample. All aggression measures were moderately correlated with one another. The BPAQ physical and verbal scales were most closely related to act‐based measures of direct aggression to a same‐sex other and the hostility scale to indirect aggression to a same‐sex other. The evolutionary variables were less closely related to the BPAQ than were the act‐based measures. Dominance and sexual jealousy were predictors of BPAQ physical, verbal and anger, and impulsiveness was a significant predictor of anger. Aggr. Behav. 32:1–10, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

A Preliminary Investigation of the Relationship Between Emotion Dysregulation and Partner Violence Perpetration Among Individuals with PTSD and Alcohol Dependence

This study examines the link between emotion dysregulation and intimate partner violence (IPV) among 77 individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and alcohol dependence. Participants were recruited from a residential substance abuse treatment program as part of the eligibility screening for an institutional review board approved clinical trial examining the efficacy of an exposure-based intervention in individuals dually diagnosed with alcohol dependence and PTSD. Participants reported on PTSD symptoms, alcohol use disorder symptoms, emotion dysregulation, and physical and verbal aggression in their intimate relationships during the past year. Findings demonstrated that difficulties with emotion regulation are associated with physical and verbal IPV perpetration in a clinical sample. Although facets of emotion regulation emerged as significant predictors of IPV in the models, alcohol and PTSD symptom severity did not emerge as predictors of IPV. These findings suggest targeted emotion regulation skills training could benefit substance abusers who engage in IPV and that emotion dysregulation might be an important target for future research aimed at understanding elevated rates of IPV perpetration in mental health samples.     

Women's aggression in heterosexual conflicts

Using a longitudinal design, prior experience with violence as a victim and opportunity to aggress were examined as predictors of college women's verbal and physical aggression toward romantic partners. Five additional categories of predictors identified in previous research (experienced and witnessed parental aggression during childhood, attitudes accepting of aggression, aggressive/impulsive personality attributes, psychopathology, and prior use of aggression) were also examined. Blockwise hierarchical regression analyses were performed to reveal the best predictors of verbal and physical aggression during the first year of college. Significant predictors of verbal aggression were prior use of verbal aggression in heterosexual conflicts during adolescence, witnessed parental aggression, level of adolescent sexual victimization, being a target of rational conflict strategies during adolescence, and use of physical aggression in romantic adolescent relationships, as well as self-reported verbal aggression as an index of personality, weak emotional ties, number of sexual partners, and approval of sexual intimacy in many types of relationships. Significant predictors of physical aggression were prior use of physical aggression during adolescence, witnessing and experiencing parental aggression, being a victim of physical aggression in adolescent romantic relationships, weak emotional ties, low levels of alcohol/drug use, and opportunity to aggress. A developmental model of aggression in which childhood experiences with family violence contribute to the likelihood of subsequent involvement in relationship violence seems appropriate. Past experience with aggression may be particularly important for women. Cultural expectations about women's roles do not provide the social support for female aggression that is provided for male aggression. Adolescent sexual victimizations and general involvement in conflictual relationships (as target and perpetrator) predicted subsequent verbal aggression, whereas experiencing family violence and sustaining physical aggression in romantic relationships predicted subsequent physical aggression. © 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Association between measures of aggression and bullying among juvenile and young offenders

This study addresses the relationship between aggression and behaviors indicative of bullying in a sample of incarcerated male juvenile and young offenders. The study also addresses whether or not offenders who bully others and/or are bullied themselves can be identified by the type of aggression that they report. Ninety‐five juvenile and 196 young offenders completed a self‐report behavioral checklist (DIPC: Direct and Indirect Prisoner Behavior Checklist) that addressed their experience of and involvement in behaviors indicative of bullying. They also completed the Aggression Questionnaire (AQ), a measure of physical and verbal aggression, anger and hostility. Four categories of offenders were identified from the DIPC ‐ pure bullies, pure victims, those who were both bullies and victims (bully/victims), and those not‐involved in bullying behavior. As predicted, behaviors measured on the DIPC that were indicative of ‘bullying others’ correlated positively with scores on the AQ. There was no indication, however, that physical AQ and physical bullying on the DIPC were the same constructs. There was a closer association between verbal AQ scores and verbal bullying on the DIPC. Bullies and bully/victims reported higher levels of physical and verbal aggression, and bully/victims reported higher levels of hostility and anger, than the other categories. It is concluded that although there are similarities between the AQ and the DIPC, there is no evidence that they are measuring the same type of aggression, although different groups involved in bullying can be partly distinguished by their scores on the AQ. Aggr. Behav. 30:29–42, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Peer First Impressions of Childhood Maltreatment Victims

The impact of childhood maltreatment effects can extend beyond the immediate stress of abusive family environments. College students (N = 435) exposed to childhood domestic violence or parental physical abuse were expected to be viewed less favorably by their peers than their nonabused counterparts. They were expected as well to be less accurate in predicting the first impressions left on their peers after 25-minute unstructured interactions. Partial support was found for both hypotheses. Relatively harsher (d = .49) peer first impressions were found among domestic violence witnesses. Domestic violence (d = .58) and parental physical abuse (d = .49) victims overestimated peer ratings. Social anxiety during peer interactions was higher among women exposed to either form of childhood maltreatment. Men from violent families viewed themselves less favorably than their peers (r = .22, p < .05). These results further implicate childhood maltreatment as a contributing factor in peer distancing and rejection.     

Women's Sexual Aggression Against Men: Prevalence and Predictors

In this study, we investigated the prevalence of women's sexual aggression against men and examined predictors of sexual aggression in a sample of 248 women. Respondents reported their use of aggressive strategies (physical force, exploitation of a man's incapacitated state, and verbal pressure) to make a man engage in sexual touch, sexual intercourse, or oral sex against his will. Childhood abuse, gender role orientation, ambiguous communication of sexual intentions, level of sexual activity, and peer pressure were included as predictors of sexual aggression. Almost 1 in 10 respondents (9.3%) reported having used aggressive strategies to coerce a man into sexual activities. Exploitation of the man's incapacitated state was used most frequently (5.6%), followed by verbal pressure (3.2%) and physical force (2%). An additional 5.4% reported attempted acts of sexual aggression. Sexual abuse in childhood, ambiguous communication of sexual intentions, high levels of sexual activity, and peer pressure toward sexual activity were linked to an increased likelihood of sexual aggression. The findings are discussed in relation to the literature on men's sexual aggression.     

Childhood Maltreatment Increases the Risk of Intimate Partner Violence via PTSD and Anger Personality Traits in Individuals Consulting for Sexual Problems

Childhood maltreatment is a significant risk factor for the perpetration of intimate partner violence (IPV) in adulthood. This study tested, in a clinical sample, a conceptual model suggesting that childhood maltreatment contributes to the development of anger personality traits, directly and indirectly via posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and that anger personality traits, in turn, are associated with IPV. Adults consulting for sex therapy (n = 114) completed self-report measures of childhood maltreatment, PTSD, anger, and IPV. Participants were exposed to high rates of childhood maltreatment (83%). Path analysis supported the hypothesized model: Exposure to child maltreatment was associated with anger personality traits, and this association was partially mediated by PTSD symptoms. Anger personality traits were highly correlated with IPV.     

Child physical abuse and neglect in Kenya,Zambia and the Netherlands: A cross‐cultural comparison of prevalence,psychopathological sequelae and mediation by PTSS

This study compared the prevalence of self‐reported childhood physical abuse and neglect and the associated psychopathological sequelae among Kenyan, Zambian, and Dutch university students. In addition, we sought to find out the differentiated role of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) in mediating the associations between childhood maltreatment experiences and psychopathology symptoms. The sample consisted of 862 university students from Kenya (n = 375), Zambia (n = 182), and The Netherlands (n = 305) who completed the Personal and Relationships Profile (PRP). Results showed that physical abuse was highly prevalent in Kenya (59%) and Zambia (40%), and that neglect was even more prevalent than physical abuse in Zambia and The Netherlands at 59%, 54%, and 42% for the Kenyan, Zambian, and Dutch samples respectively. Neglect was associated with psychopathological symptoms in all three samples, whereas physical abuse was associated with psychopathological sequelae in the Kenyan and Zambian samples only. PTSS mediated the association between neglect and psychopathology symptoms in the Dutch sample and between physical abuse and psychopathology symptoms in the Dutch and Kenyan samples. We conclude that physical abuse and neglect are associated with psychopathology symptoms independently of country and cultural context. However, the pathways through which physical abuse and neglect may lead to psychopathological sequelae may be dependent on perceptions of specific parental behavior in different sociocultural contexts.     

Alcohol-aggression expectancies and dispositional rumination moderate the effect of alcohol consumption on alcohol-related aggression and hostility

Alcohol consumption increases aggression, but only in some drinkers. This study extends previous work to show how expectancies for alcohol-induced aggression and dispositional rumination moderate the link between alcohol consumption and alcohol-related aggression and hostility in a sample of 285 men and women. Alcohol-aggression expectancies and quantity of alcohol interacted to predict alcohol-related hostility and aggression. Trait rumination moderated the effect of alcohol consumption on aggressive acts. Finally, women who ruminated were more likely to report alcohol-related aggression than were men who ruminated. These results suggest that alcohol expectancies for aggression and rumination constitute two important cognitive facilitators of alcohol-related aggression and hostility, and that gender plays an important role in these relations.     

Family violence: A focus on india

Finkelhor called those interested in raising consciousness regarding family violence to recognize its multifaceted nature, including several types of abuse and victims. This paper identifies the many faces of physical family maltreatment—spousal, child, elder, sibling, filial—in India. Here, traditional norms that condone violence, themes of the sanctity of the family, and patriarchal prerogatives have dominated family relationships and prevented intervention. In recent years, India has been increasingly open about the experiences of battered women, yet it is still loathe to acknowledge intrafamilial violence toward children. Elder abuse, sibling maltreatment, and filial violence in India have yet to come into the awareness of the social services.