Children's Exposure to Marital Aggression: Direct and Mediated Effects (From Out of the Darkness: Contemporary Perspectives on Family Violence, P 90-104, 1997, Glenda K. Kantor, Jana L. Jasinski, eds. - See NCJ-171756)

• NCJ Number: 171762
• Author(s): G Margolin; R S John
• Date Published: 1997
• Length: 15 pages
• Grant Number(s): R01 36595
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Mental Health
• Sale Source: Sage Publications, Inc
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This chapter examines the effects on children of witnessing marital violence and whether children are differentially affected according to gender.

Abstract

The study attempts to determine whether marital aggression has direct effects on child outcome, marital aggression has effects that are mediated through the parent-child relationship, and the combination of direct and mediated effects accounts for more variance in children's adjustment than do the separate effect models. The study examines five constructs: marital aggression, positive parenting, power assertive parenting, children's hostility, and children's depression and anxiety. Three main findings emerge: (1) Marital aggression directly influences parenting, with notable effects between marital aggression and parenting power assertion for boys and between marital aggression and positive parenting for girls; (2) Marital aggression has some direct effects on children's adjustment, but to a large extent, those effects are mediated through parenting; and (3) Overall, the marital aggression and parenting constructs examined explain considerably more variance in boys' than girls' self-reported adjustment. Figures, tables, notes, references