U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Contribution of Marital Violence to Adolescent Aggression Across Different Relationships

NCJ Number
206641
Journal
Journal of Interpersonal Violence Volume: 18 Issue: 4 Dated: April 2003 Pages: 390-412
Author(s)
Laura Ann McCloskey; Erika L. Lichter
Editor(s)
Jon R. Conte
Date Published
April 2003
Length
23 pages
Annotation
This study examines whether teenage/adolescent youth who grow up in maritally violent homes display heightened physical aggression across various relationship contexts, such as dating, family, and peers and whether marital violence differentially contributes to higher odds of expressing physical aggression in any of these contexts.
Abstract
Due to evidence consistent with a family cycle of violence, strong concern exists that youth exposed to violence in the home will grow up to repeat this violence. This concern fuels the importance for further study on whether the seeds of adult aggression, and intimate partner violence in particular, are planted in childhood. This study included youth who, as children (age 6 to 12), witnessed their fathers’ abuse of their mothers and examined whether teenagers expressed physical aggression in three different contexts: relationships with same-sex peers, different-sex dating partners, and parents. Children were interviewed at three time points: between 6 and 12 years of age, between 14 and 15, and between 15 and 16. At each time point, mothers and children were interviewed separately and at the same time. The data indicate that children from violent homes are at risk for becoming aggressive adolescents in some relationship domains. In addition, evidence was found to support a mediating role of depression in the relationship between exposure to marital violence and adolescent aggression toward peers. Empathy was an important variable in explaining adolescent aggression toward peers and toward dating partners, although it appears to develop independently of whether a child grows up in a maritally violent household. The study contributes to existing research by considering aggression in several relationship contexts and by placing psychological constructs, depression, and empathy, as links between early violence exposure and aggression in youth. Tables, appendix, references