Parental Physical and Psychological Aggression: Psychological Symptoms in Young Adults

• NCJ Number: 226367
• Journal: Child Abuse & Neglect Volume: 33 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2009 Pages: 1-11
• Author(s): Cindy L. Miller-Perrin; Robin D. Perrin; Jodie L. Kocur
• Date Published: January 2009
• Length: 11 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined the link between various levels of parent-child physical violence and psychological symptoms reported by college students, while controlling for demographic variables, the severity and frequency of violence, and co-occurrence of parental psychological aggression.

Abstract

Study findings indicated that individuals who reported experiencing the most severe forms of parent-child violence experienced poorer psychological outcomes compared to respondents who reported experiencing no violence or corporal punishment. Psychological outcomes were measured by completion of the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), which includes nine subscales that measure anxiety, depression, hostility, interpersonal sensitivity, obsessive-compulsive, paranoid ideation, phobic anxiety, psychoticism, and somatization, as well as a total score that indicates general psychological adjustment (Global Severity Index). Individuals who experienced the most severe form of parent-child violence were more likely to have BSI scores within the clinically significant range compared to those individuals in the no-violence group and groups that experienced both types of corporal punishment (“spanked me on the bottom with hand” and “hit me on the bottom with something like a belt, hairbrush, a stick, or some other hard object"). In addition, the study found minimal differences in psychological outcomes between the two levels of corporal punishment and between the corporal punishment and no-violence groups. Further, in a multiple regression analysis that included frequency scores for psychological aggression, corporal aggression, and severe physical assault as independent variables, the only consistently significant predictor of elevated BSI scores was the frequency of parental psychological aggression, defined as a “repeated pattern of behavior that conveys to children that they are worthless, unloved, unwanted, only of value in meeting another’s needs, or seriously threatened with physical or psychological violence" (Hart, Brassard, and Karlson, 1996). Study participants were 298 college students, ages 18-27. Levels of parent-child aggression were measured with the Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scale. 4 tables and 61 references