Long-term psychological and social impact of witnessing physical conflict between parents

A community sample of 617 adult women completed a questionnaire about witnessing interparental physical conflicts before the age of 16. One hundred and twenty-three (20%) of the respondents reported witnessing some type of physical conflict between their parents. The mean age when physical conflict was first observed was 8. Women who had witnessed parental physical conflict exhibited higher levels of current psychological distress on the General Severity Index of the Brief Symptom Inventory and lower levels of social adjustment as measured by the Social Provisions Scale. The differences in adult psychological and social adjustment between the witness and nonwitness groups persisted even after individually covarying for the influence of witnessing parental verbal conflict, childhood physical abuse, and perceived parental caring. Conceptual and methodological difficulties involved in trying to isolate the effects of witnessing parental physical conflicts from the effects of multiple overlapping family risk factors are discussed.