Outcomes of Parental use of Psychological Aggression on Children: A Structural Model from Sri Lanka

Abstract

The objective of this study was to explore the existence and, if so, the nature of the association between parental use of psychological aggression and psychological maladjustment in a 12-year-old Sri Lankan school population. A stratified random sampling technique was used to select 1,226 children from Colombo district schools. Three instruments, validated in the Sri Lankan context, were used to collect data on children’s experience of psychological aggression, its psychological outcomes, and psychosocial correlates. The annual prevalence of psychological aggression reported by the study sample was 75%. A predictive model for psychological outcomes was examined. The experience of psychological aggression was shown to be moderately, but directly and significantly, associated with psychological maladjustment in children. This association was mediated by non–parentto- child violence—the child’s knowledge of violence between the parents, experience of teacher violence, exposure to peer violence, and violence in the child’s community. However, the child’s report of a nurturant parent–child relationship did not impact on the association between psychological aggression and psychological maladjustment. The study also indicated that greater the child’s experience of non–parent-to-child violence, the greater is his/her own level of hostility and aggression. These findings show that although many Sri Lankan parents use psychological aggression it has negative consequences for their children.