Citation

Muller RT. Can. J. Behav. Sci. 1995; 27(4): 450-465.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1995, Canadian Psychological Association, Publisher Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1037/0008-400X.27.4.450

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Assessed cross-generational patterns of physical child maltreatment taking the gender of both parents and child into consideration, and the experience of shame regarding one's own physically abusive behaviors. 1536 parents (mean age 47 yrs) and their 983 children (mean age 18 yrs) were administered the Conflict Tactics Scale (M. A. Straus, 1989) along with other questionnaires to gather information on aggressive behavior, shame experienced in abusing their children and demographic data. The parents were categorized as physically abusive or nonabusive if both parent and child ratings of the parents' behavior were in agreement.

RESULTS show that parents received more physical child maltreatment from their own same gender parent than from opposite gender parents. Among the abusive parents, the more maltreatment they received as children by the same gender parent, the less shame they felt for using such punishment on their own children. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

Keywords

Child Abuse; Early Experience; Human Sex Differences; Parent Child Relations; Perpetrators; Physical Abuse