NCJ Number
237819
Journal
Violence and Victims Volume: 26 Issue: 3 Dated: 2011 Pages: 271-282
Date Published
2011
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This study examined whether the existence of trait anger and an individual's level of emotional regulation affected the risk of female-perpetrated psychological aggression.
Abstract
Recent research has demonstrated the devastating impact of female-perpetrated psychological aggression in intimate relationships broadly and dating relationships specifically. With the perpetration of psychological aggression in dating relationships occurring at shockingly high rates, prevention programming for dating violence should target this form of aggression. Toward this end, it is important to understand the antecedent conditions that increase one's risk for perpetrating psychological aggression. This study sought to examine two possible risk factors for perpetrating psychological aggression among female undergraduates (N = 145), namely, emotion regulation and trait anger. Findings showed that difficulties with emotion regulation and trait anger were associated with increased psychological aggression perpetration, and trait anger mediated the link between emotion regulation and psychological aggression. Implications of these findings for prevention programming and future research are discussed. (Published Abstract)