中華心理衛生協會

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to examine the severity of marital violence and child maltreatment experienced by children in these families, as well as their association with children's behavior and emotional functioning.Methods: Participants in this study were 632 fifth-and sixth-grade students from 12 primary schools obtained from a proportionate stratified community sample in Taipei. The sample was stratified by 12 districts in Taipei City to increase representativeness. Data were collected through a questionnaire including five parts: demographics, Marital Conflict Scale, Children's Perception Scale, Child Maltreatment Scale, and Child Behavior Scale.Results: (1) Of the participants, 12.7% both witnessed physical marital violence and experienced physical child violence in family. The correlation between witnessing marital violence and experiencing physical violence is .45. (2) Boys and girls exhibited different adjustment problems. Boys had significantly higher exposure to marital violence and physical violence. Boys scored significantly higher on externalizing behavior problems. (3) There are significant differences in children's positive, externalizing, and internalizing behaviors among the following four groups: children experiencing no family violence, children witnessing marital violence, children experiencing physical violence, and children who were both witnesses and victims. (4) The significant predictors of children's externalizing behaviors include: the degree of child's experience of parents' verbal violence, gender, scapegoat, and the degree of child's exposure to verbal marital violence. The significant predictors of children's internalizing behaviors include: the degree of child's experience of parents' verbal violence, scapegoat, and the degree of exposure to both marital violence and physical child violence. The significant predictors of children's positive behaviors include: scapegoat, parentification, gender, and grade. Suggestions are made according to the research findings.