Do High-Risk Parents Use More Aggression During Competitive Play With Children?

Abstract

The present study examined the extent to which the aggressive tendencies of parents at risk for perpetrating child physical abuse (CPA) generalize to situations other than discipline-related encounters (e.g., a competitive gaming interaction). Participants included parents who were either low ( n = 90) or high ( n = 75) risk for CPA. Parents were led to believe that they were playing a game against a child opponent with whom they exchanged sound blasts of varying intensities. Parental sound blast selections served as a proxy for aggressive behavior. Parents were randomly assigned to high or low loss conditions. The fictitious child opponent’s responses were pre-programed so that sound blasts received by parents became louder (i.e., more provocative) over time. As predicted, high CPA risk parents exhibited higher levels of aggression than low CPA risk parents. Moreover, high-risk parents reported having higher levels of aggressive motives during the game than low-risk parents; and aggressive motives explained the link between parental CPA risk and parents’ aggressive behavior. With one exception, higher levels of child provocation during the game prompted parents to send higher levels of sound blasts. The exception to this pattern occurred among low-risk parents who experienced high rates of loss during the game. Specifically, low-risk parents in the high loss condition continued to send low levels of sound blasts even as their child opponent became more provocative. Aggressive motives (and the ability to change motives as situations change) may help explain differences in aggressive tendencies evinced by parents with varying levels of CPA risk.