IMPACT OF VERBAL ABUSE OF PARENTS ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF REACTIVE AGGRESSION AMONG UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Abstract

Background:   

One of the significant adverse childhood experiences that contribute to aggressive behaviors in later life is parental verbal abuse. Social learning theory says that when children are exposed to verbal abuse, aggressive responses are developed through internalization and observation of harmful interactions. The current study aimed to investigate the association between parental verbal abuse and reactive aggression among university students

Objective:   

The current study examined the association between verbal abuse of parents and development of reactive aggression. Along with this, the study also aimed to examine the predictive role of parental verbal abuse on reactive aggression. Furthermore, the study explores the gender differences in reactive aggression among university students  

Methods:   

The study was conducted using a sample of 270 university students. The research design that was employed for this study is a cross-sectional correlational design. The instruments that were used for measuring variables are, Verbal Abuse Scale and Reactive proactive aggression scale. For testing the hypothesis of the study, correlation, independent t test and regression analysis were run. 

Results: 

For the study, a sample of 270 university students were taken, while 138 (51.1%) were females and 132 (48.9%) were male participants. The mean score on the Verbal Abuse was (62.5) whereas, on reactive agression it was (31.7). The Pearson correlation analysis showed a statistically weak and non significant relationship between the two variables r (270) =>10, p=.106.  Furthermore, the regression analysis found that parental verbal abuse didn’t significantly predict reactive aggression among university students (R²= .01, F (1,267) =2.64, p=.106). Where as independent sample t test revealed female scores higher on parental verbal abuse (M=63.8, SD=6.5) than males 

(M=61.1, SD=7.6, t (270) =-3.17, p=.002). While no gender differences were found for reactive aggression t (263.4) =1.82, p=.070.  

Conclusion:   

The outcomes suggest that verbal from parents shares no significant connection with reactive aggression in the present sample. Furthermore, parental verbal abuse did not predict reactive aggression, and reactive aggression did not differ by gender. These results indicate that other factors may play a more substantial role in explaining reactive aggression among university student