Elsevier

Child Abuse & Neglect

Volume 33, Issue 7, July 2009, Pages 451-460
Child Abuse & Neglect

Experiences of psychological and physical aggression in adolescent romantic relationships: Links to psychological distress

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2008.11.005Get rights and content

Abstract

Objective

This research examined links between adolescents’ experiences of psychological and physical relationship aggression and their psychological distress. Experiences of psychological and physical aggression were expected to correlate positively with symptoms of psychological distress, but experiences of psychological aggression were expected to partially account for the association between experiences of physical aggression and psychological distress. In addition, psychological aggression was hypothesized to be perceived as more unpleasant and less playful than physical aggression.

Method

Participants were 125 high school students. Relationship aggression was assessed over an 8-week period using two methods: (1) a retrospective method based on a single assessment at the end of the 8-week period, and (2) a cumulative method based on multiple assessments conducted during the 8-week period. Adolescents’ appraisals of the aggression were also measured, as were their reports of symptoms of psychological distress.

Results

Adolescents’ experiences of psychological and physical relationship aggression correlated positively, but inconsistently, with their symptoms of psychological distress. In analyses considering both forms of aggression simultaneously, psychological aggression was related to adolescents’ distress, but physical aggression was not. This finding emerged across both methods of assessing for relationship aggression. Psychological aggression was more likely than physical aggression to be rated as unpleasant, and less likely to be attributed to the partner “playing around.”

Conclusions

The study of adolescent relationship aggression will benefit by expanding the focus of aggression to include psychological aggression as well as physical aggression, and by examining adolescents’ appraisals of the aggression they experience.

Practice implications

The findings highlight the importance of a broad view of aggression in adolescent relationships. Psychological aggression appears to be at least as important to adolescent well-being as physical aggression in dating relationships. In addition, it may be useful to consider how adolescents’ interpret the intent of the aggression that they experience.

Section snippets

Method

The present research is a secondary analysis of existing data (Jouriles et al., 2005). Participants in this research were the same as those in Jouriles et al., and there is overlap in the measures used. Consequently, the description of the participants, procedures, and several of the measures is the same as in Jouriles et al.

Descriptive data and preliminary considerations

On the CADRI, 91% (n = 114) of participants reported experiencing at least one act of psychological aggression and 27% (n = 34) reported experiencing at least one act of physical aggression in the previous 8 weeks. On average, there were 10.6 (SD = 8.56) acts of psychological aggression and 1.1 (SD = 2.47) acts of physical aggression reported, t (125) = 13.65, p  .001.

On the RVI, almost all of the adolescents reported experiencing at least one act of psychological aggression (96%; n = 120) and slightly less

Discussion

As expected, adolescents’ experiences of psychological and physical relationship aggression were both positively correlated with adolescents’ psychological distress, although the pattern of correlations was not consistent across different symptoms of psychological distress or the two methods by which relationship aggression was measured (retrospective and cumulative). Psychological aggression, but not physical aggression, was uniquely related to psychological distress when both forms of

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    This research was supported in part by a grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (AA13228).

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