Corporal Punishment in Adolescence and Physical Assaults on Spouses in Later Life: What Accounts for the Link?

There is considerable evidence that corporal pwtishment is associated with the subsequent oggression of children, and there is recent evidence thnt later in life this aggression includes ph]sical ossaults on spouses. Yet there hns been no direct test of either modeling of cultural norms or other processes rhat could account for the link behseen corporal punishment and partner violence. Using data on 4,401 couples +vho participated ill the National Family Violence Survey, this article reports such a test. The theoretical model specified three processes: social learning, depression, and truncated development of nonviolent conflict-resolution skills. Logistic regression was used to estimate separate models for men rind womer~. The findings are consistent with the rheoretical model. Because corporal punishment of adolescents occurs in over half of U.S. families, the findings suggest that elimination of this practice con reduce some of the psychological and social procenes that increase the likelihood offuture marital violence and perhaps other violence as well.