Children's Perspectives in the Assessment of Family Violence: Psychometric Characteristics and Comparison to Parent Reports

Abstract

This study examines the factor structure, consistency, stability, and validity of children's reports of violence and verbal aggression in the home. Children recruited from clinic and community settings (N = 323) and their parents or guardians were administered the Conflict Tactics Scales to represent different perspectives on the patterns and severity of family violence. Based on children's reports, violence and verbal aggression among family members were quite common and moderately stable over a 2-year period. Children reported considerably higher rates of mother-to-child violence than did mothers, but the opposite pattern occurred for child-to-mother violence. Children's reports of verbal aggression and violence between different dyads predicted forms of children's dysfunction, especially antisocial behavior, at 2-year follow-up. Child reports provided important information not available from parent reports alone. The findings suggest the need for a comprehensive assessment of violence and hostility among family members.