title: Relationships between experiences of parental violence during childhood and women's self-esteem.
abstract: The interrelationships between experience of parental verbal aggression and physical violence during childhood and the development of low self-esteem during adulthood were explored separately for the father-daughter and mother-daughter relationships. Data were collected from 472 women between the ages of 18 and 45 during in-depth interviews drawn from five sources: outpatient alcoholism treatment, DWI (Driving While Intoxicated) education programs, shelter for battered women, outpatient mental health treatment, and randomly from the community. Control variables included respondents' alcohol problems and help-seeking behavior, parental alcohol problems, number of changes in childhood family (e.g., divorce), and respondents' race and social class. Controlling for these variables, experiences of father-to-daughter verbal aggression, moderate violence, and severe violence were found related to lower self-esteem in adulthood for women. Conversely, controlling for these variables, experiences of mother-to-daughter verbal aggression, moderate violence, and severe violence were not found related to lower self-esteem in adulthood for women.
authors.affiliation: Center for the Study of Adolescence, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls 50614-0401, USA.
authors.forename: W R
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Downs
authors.forename: B A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Miller
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000523:psychology; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000523:psychology*; D016241:Child of Impaired Parents / Q000523:psychology; D017579:Domestic Violence / Q000523:psychology*; D005219:Father-Child Relations; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010553:Personality Development; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012649:Self Concept