Intimate partner psychological aggression and child behavior problems.

The present study examined the relationship between intimate partner psychological aggression and children's behavior problems in a community sample of families (N = 470 children). The results showed that psychological aggression experienced by the mother has adverse effects on children's externalizing and internalizing behavior problems over and above the effects of physical aggression. The association between psychological aggression and child behavior problems was partially mediated by maternal distress. Exposure to psychological aggression appears to have unique direct and indirect adverse effects on children.