Marital psychological and physical aggression and children's mental and physical health: direct, mediated, and moderated effects.
Relations between marital aggression (psychological and physical) and children's health were examined. Children's emotional insecurity was assessed as a mediator of these relations, with distinctions made between marital aggression against mothers and fathers and ethnicity (African American or European American), socioeconomic status, and child gender examined as moderators of effects. Participants were 251 community-recruited families, with multiple reporters of each construct. Aggression against either parent yielded similar effects for children. Children's emotional insecurity mediated the relation between marital aggression and children's internalizing, externalizing, and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms. No differences were found in these pathways for African American and European American families or as a function of socioeconomic status or child gender.
El-Sheikh
Mona
M
Department of Human Development & Family Studies, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA. elsehmm@auburn.edu
Cummings
E Mark
EM
Kouros
Chrystyna D
CD
Elmore-Staton
Lori
L
Buckhalt
Joseph
J
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D002667:Child Reactive Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D008347:Manifest Anxiety Scale; D009769:Object Attachment; D010552:Personality Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013179:Spouse Abuse / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D014754:Violence / Q000523:psychology