Mothers' Trait Verbal Aggressiveness and Child Abuse Potential

Abstract

Child physical abuse is a serious societal problem that communication scholars have been slow to address. This study explores whether a mother's trait verbal aggressiveness (VA) is associated with her risk for child physical abuse. Participants were 42 women in predominately low-income families recruited from two social service agencies in a major metropolitan area. Participants completed Infante and Wigley's (1986) Verbal Aggressiveness Scale (VAS) and Milner's (1994) Child Abuse Potential Inventory (CAPI) as part of a larger data collection. Mothers with higher trait VA scored higher on the total CAPI, as well as on the distress, rigidity, and problems with others subdimensions. Discussion centers on implications for future research on communication and child maltreatment, as well as for treatment and prevention efforts.