Physical violence and other forms of marital aggression: Links with children's behavior problems.

Abstract

Two studies examined whether physical marital violence and other forms of marital aggression (e.g., threats, throwing objects) correlate with children's behavior problems in families marked by recent spousal violence. Study 1 included 55 families seeking marital therapy. Study 2 included 199 families at battered women's shelters. In the marital therapy sample, both physical marital violence and other forms of marital aggression correlated positively with children's externalizing problems. In the women's shelter sample, physical violence and other forms of marital aggression correlated positively with children's externalizing and internalizing problems. After accounting for the frequency of physical marital violence, forms of marital aggression other than physical violence still related to children's externalizing problems in the marital therapy sample and to children's internalizing problems in the women's shelter sample. Physical marital violence, operationalized as physical assault on an intimate partner's body, is very prevalent among families in the United States, with up to 50% of married couples experiencing spousal violence at some point during the course of their marriages (Straus & Gelles, 1990; Straus, Gelles, & Steinmetz, 1980).] Relationships between physical marital violence and children's behavior problems have been investigated with some vigor over the past decade, and empirical evidence clearly indicates that children growing up in families marked by such violence are at increased risk for clinical