Childhood verbal versus physical aggression and the long-term repercussions on adult psychopathology

Abstract

Abstract : This thesis explored Naval recruit self-reported childhood verbal and physical aggression and the possible relationship to anxiety and depression in adulthood. In a cohort of 11.195 Navy recruits entering the Navy between 1966 and 1997, measures of aggression found that an average of 69% of the recruit reported they had experienced some level of physical aggression by their parents and 86% reported parental verbal aggression. Measures of clinical anxiety and depression revealed that 6% of the recruits reported anxiety above the clinical cut-off and 8% reported clinical depression. Finally, significant relationships were found between childhood physical aggression and adult anxiety for all recruits. However, childhood physical aggression was significant in predicting clinical depression for females only. A significant relationship was found between childhood verbal aggression and clinical depression when analyzing all recruits, but no significance was found when genders were analyzed separately. The implications of these findings are discussed.