The Relationship between Dimensions of Physical Abuse and Aggressive Behavior in a Child Protective Services Involved Sample of Adolescents

Abstract

Although a relationship between harshness of childhood physical abuse and later aggression is well documented, researchers have rarely examined this association using information from the victim's perspective. Also, no study has controlled for the possibility that victims of harsh abuse are aggressive because they often require more invasive child protection services (CPS), and thus experience greater disruptions to their home situation. A sample of maltreated adolescents completed the Childhood Experiences of Violence Questionnaire, and a year later, answered questions on aggression. Controlling for other subtypes of maltreatment, number of moves, length of CPS involvement, and household situation, we found that frequency of physical abuse and frequency of severe physical abuse were predictive of aggressiveness. These associations remained statistically significant for females but not for males. Indicators of maltreatment chronicity, age of onset, and poly-victimization were not associated with aggression.

An Exploratory Study of Physical Abuse–Related Shame, Guilt, and Blame in a Sample of Youth Receiving Child Protective Services: Links to Maltreatment, Anger, and Aggression

“…Participants also completed the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory-2 (STAXI-2), which allowed us to explore whether PA-related shame, guilt, and blame are associated with specific anger processing styles. Our exploration included multivariate analyses (a) to examine the relative contribution of PA and EA to the prediction of shame, because these are highly interconnected forms of abuse (Ellenbogen, Trocmé, & Wekerle, 2013); and (b) to explore the possibility that a model that included guilt and a Shame × Guilt interaction term might be inversely associated with aggression. This latter analysis was a test for interaction or suppression effects, and was based on findings that shamefree guilt is indicative of constructive emotional processing and protects against behavioral problems (Tangney et al, 2007).…”

The longitudinal relations between dimensions of community violence exposure and developmental outcomes among adolescent ethnic minority males.

“…Research in the child maltreatment field has underscored the need to consider these dimensions together to evaluate their importance conditional on each other. A number of studies in this area indicate that – when considered together – the dimensions of maltreatment on child outcomes differentially relate to social, emotional and behavioral outcomes (Ellenbogen, Trocmé, & Wekerle, 2013; English et al, 2005; Manly et al, 2001).…”

Self-generated outcome expectancies concerning violence in intimate relationships: A comparison of aggressive and nonaggressive adolescents in a sample of child protective services users.

“…The CPS status of the participants was most often parent rights terminated (72%), followed by parent sharing rights (12%), parent legal guardian (12%), and other (4%). The sample is described in greater detail in the work by Ellenbogen, Trocmé, and Wekerle (in press).…”

“…This section is described in greater detail elsewhere (Ellenbogen et al, in press; Wekerle et al, 2007, 2009). CPS recipients from agencies covering a large urban area were randomly selected and contacted to participate in the study.…”