Interparental violence and development of antisocial behaviors in Portuguese adolescents

Abstract

Juvenile delinquency is one of the main problems of adolescents. The objective of the present investigation was to verify the relationship between antisocial behaviors, measured by the Antisocial Conduct Questionnaire (CCA) and witnessing interparental violence assessed through the Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS). The sample consisted of 671 adolescents (12 and 20 years old) from the northern region of Portugal. The results indicated that female adolescents revealed to have witnessed higher levels of psychological aggression, perpetrated by both father and mother, compared to males. The results suggest a positive association between emotional and physical violence perpetrated by parents and the different types of antisocial behaviors. Overall, it was found that the more exposed to interparental violence, the more likely they are to develop conduct problems. The results stressed the importance of developing more intervention programs towards violence domestic to prevent violence in that context.