Child-related disagreements, verbal aggression, and children's internalizing and externalizing behavior problems.
Dual-income parents (N = 122 couples) with an oldest child 18-60 months of age completed the Child-Rearing Disagreements Scale (E. N. Jouriles et al., 1991), the Child Behavior Checklist (T. M. Achenbach & L. A. Rescorla, 2000), and the Verbal Aggression subscale of the Conflicts and Problem-Solving Scale (P. K. Kerig, 1996). Replicating the results of E. N. Jouriles et al. (1991) and extending these findings to daughters and fathers, the authors found links between child-related disagreements and parental ratings of child behavior problems in this low-risk sample. There were no links between fathers' reports of verbal aggression and child behavior problems. Among mothers, however, use of verbal aggression mediated the link between child-related disagreements and ratings of sons' internalizing problems. Verbal aggression did not moderate the link between child-related disagreements and child behavior problems for either mothers or for fathers.
Lee
Catherine M
CM
Centre for Psychological Services, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada. cmlee@uottawa.ca
Beauregard
Christine
C
Bax
Karen A
KA
D000328:Adult; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology*; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D002668:Child Rearing / Q000523:psychology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012737:Sex Factors