Verbal aggression affects child's behavior

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., Aug. 5 (UPI) -- Parents with a propensity for being verbally aggressive also tend to try to direct and control their children during a play period, U.S. researchers said.

"What we see here is that parents who have a propensity for being verbally aggressive have a tendency to try to direct and control their children during a play period," Steven R. Wilson and Felicia Roberts of Purdue University said in a statement. "As a result, these children were less cooperative, and not only are parents setting up situations that are challenging for them to handle, but they also are subtly undermining their child's self-esteem."

The researchers found that mothers who were high in the general tendency to be verbally aggressive often tried to take control of the play period. For example, the four mothers with the highest verbal aggression scores on average were attempting to direct their child's actions once every 12 seconds, while the four mothers with the lowest verbal aggression scores tried to do so only about half as often.

The study, published in the Human Communication Research journal, found that mothers who scored highest on verbal aggression used directives to control the child and, ultimately, the way the game or activity was played.