Feelings about verbal aggression: Justifications for sending and hurt from receiving verbally aggressive messages

To learn more about people's feelings about verbal aggressiveness, this study investigated (a) whether receiving verbally aggressive messages was more hurtful depending on the source of that message, (b) if trait verbal aggressiveness is related to believing verbal aggression is justified, and (c) if the perceived hurt of verbally aggressive messages is related to a tendency to be verbally aggressive. The results showed that messages from friends cause more hurt than messages from acquaintances, that verbal aggressiveness is related to believing verbal aggression is justified, and that hurt from receiving verbally aggressive messages is unrelated to being verbally aggressive. Suggestions for future research are discussed.