NCJ Number
228115
Journal
Child Abuse and Neglect Volume: 33 Issue: 7 Dated: July 2009 Pages: 451-460
Date Published
July 2009
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This study examined links between adolescents' experiences of psychological and physical relationship aggression and their psychological distress.
Abstract
Findings highlight the importance of considering psychological aggression in research on the psychological consequences of aggression in adolescent romantic relationships; also highlighted is the importance of measuring adolescents' appraisals of relationship aggression. Results show that adolescents' experiences of psychological and physical relationship aggression were both positively correlated with adolescents' psychological distress, although the pattern of correlations was not consistent across different symptoms of psychological distress or the two methods by which relationship aggression was measured (retrospective and cumulative). Psychological aggression, but not physical aggression was uniquely related to psychological distress when both forms of aggression were considered simultaneously in analyses. The pattern emerged across both methods of measuring relationship aggression. These finding regarding psychological aggression are consistent with research on adult women indicating that experiences of psychological aggression may be more detrimental to mental health than experiences of physical aggression. Data were collected from 125 students in grades 9 through 12 during fall and spring semester health classes at 3 public high schools. Tables and references