Husbands' marital violence and the adjustment problems of clinic-referred children

This research assessed the relation between husbands' marital violence and child problems in a sample of families seeking clinical services for their children's (4 to 7 years) oppositional, noncompliant behavior. We assessed whether husbands' marital violence was associated with increased levels of child problems after accounting for parental marital discord, parent-child aggression, and wives' acts of aggression toward husbands. We also assessed the contribution of data collected from fathers in evaluating the relation between husbands' marital violence and child problems. Ninety mothers and fathers each provided data on husbands' marital violence, their children's externalizing and internalizing problems, general marital discord, parental aggression toward children, and wives' aggression toward husbands. Husbands' marital violence was associated with child problems, even after accounting for general marital discord, parental aggression toward children, and wives' aggression toward husbands. The documented relations were more a function of fathers' than mothers' reports of child problems. In fact, relations between husbands' marital violence and child problems emerged only when fathers' data were included.