Citation

El-Sheikh M, Reiter SL. J. Abnorm. Child Psychol. 1996; 24(4): 401-415.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, Auburn University, Alabama 36849, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1996, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

8886938

Abstract

Children's responses to interadult arguments were examined as a function of three forms of disputes: covert, verbal, and physical. Four- to seven-year-olds' overt-behavioral responses to live enactments of arguments between a male and a female were videotaped and coded for behavioral distress and anger/aggression, and children were then interviewed. Although children exhibited overt-behavioral distress in response to all forms of disputes, physical arguments evoked the highest levels of distress. Some gender differences in responding were observed. In comparison to boys, girls exhibited more overt distress during the arguments, and wanted to stop physical arguments more frequently. The results extend findings based on the videotape methodology of the presentation of interadult arguments indicating that form of anger expression impacts children's emotional responding to interadult conflict.

Language: en