Citation

Jouriles EN, Mehta P, McDonald R, Francis DJ. J. Consult. Clin. Psychol. 1997; 65(2): 309-318.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, University of Houston, Texas 77204, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1997, American Psychological Association)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

9086695

Abstract

This study examined (a) differences among mothers', fathers', and children's reports of parental physical aggression toward children; (b) the reliability and validity of family members' reports of aggression using confirmatory factor analysis; and (c) the discriminant validity of the constructs of mother-child and father-child aggression. Participants were 72 dual-parent families in which the parents were seeking clinical services for their children's (ages 7-9 years) conduct behavior problems. Each participant completed the parent-child version of the Conflict Tactics Scale (P-CTS). Results indicate that children reported lower levels of mother-child and father-child aggression than either mothers or fathers reported. Although the reliability (total systematic variance accounted for by observed variables) of family members' reports on the P-CTS ranged from moderate to high, convergent validity was generally low. The constructs of mother-child and father-child aggression were highly correlated but could be distinguished from each other when relationships among rater effects were considered.

Language: en