Parent-to-Child Physical Aggression, Neighborhood Cohesion, and Development of Children's Internalizing and Externalizing

Parental aggressiveness towards a child, even in a mild form, can lead to higher levels of internalizing and externalizing problems. Parent-child physical aggression characterized as physical acts which can range from slapping, spanking, beating, burning, and scalding. This study evaluated the impact of parent-child physical aggression, age and neighborhood cohesiveness on levels of internalizing and externalizing problems. Results showed that parent-child physical aggression has a positive relationship with both internalizing and externalizing problems, while cohesiveness of a child's neighborhood only reduced levels of internalizing problems for maltreated children.