Child Abuse Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Child Abuse, including details on family violence, examinations, long-term effects, psychiatrics disorders.

Childhood physical punishment and problem solving in marriage.

Cast AD, Schweingruber D, Berns N

Department of Psychology, Iowa State University, Ames, 50011, USA. acast@iastate.edu

Drawing from social learning theories and symbolic interactionist understandings of social life, the authors suggest that physical punishment teaches aggressive and controlling strategies for solving the problems of living together and hinders the development of important problem-solving skills, specifically the ability to role take with others. These strategies and skills become part of an individual's toolkit for problem resolution within his or her marriage. The analysis is based on 188 married couples in Washington State who participated in a longitudinal study of the first 2 years of marriage. The analysis reveals the following: Individuals who were physically punished during childhood are more likely to engage in physical and verbal aggression with their spouses, individuals who were physically punished during childhood are more controlling with their spouses, and individuals who were physically punished during childhood are less able to take their spouse's perspective.

Published 21 December 2005 in J Interpers Violence, 21(2): 244-61.
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