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Background Verbal and Physical Anger: A Comparison of Children's Responses to Adult‐Adult and Adult‐Child Arguments
Author(s) -
ElSheikh Mona,
Cheskes Jaime
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8624.1995.tb00882.x
Subject(s) - psychology , anger , developmental psychology , adult male , young adult , intervention (counseling) , adult development , nonverbal communication , clinical psychology , psychiatry , medicine
Children's responses to adult‐child conflict were examined and compared to their responses to adult‐adult conflict. These responses were further analyzed in relation to 2 forms of anger expression: verbal and physical. 6–7‐ and 9–10‐year‐olds were interviewed after viewing videotaped segments of angry arguments. Although children were distressed by both adult‐child and adult‐adult conflict, the participants in conflict and form of anger expression moderated some of their responses. In adult‐child conflict, children were more scared in response to physical versus verbal arguments. For verbal arguments, some children felt both more scared and mad during adult‐adult conflict in comparison to adult‐child conflict; however, the percentage of children reporting fear and anger was small. Intervention in conflict through siding with one party occurred more frequently in adult‐child conflict versus adult‐adult conflict. Responses were further moderated by the age and gender of the subject.