Childhood emotional maltreatment and psychological aggression in young adult dating relationships: The moderating role of emotion communication

Abstract

This study examines childhood emotional maltreatment as a developmental predictor of psychological aggression perpetration in young adult dating couples, using a dyadic framework to account for individual and partner effects. We further investigate observations of skillful emotion communication (i.e., discussion of emotional experiences, including emotion identification and disclosure) as potential moderator. In a sample of 60 young adult romantic couples, actor–partner interdependence model analyses found significant actor effects of emotional maltreatment on psychological aggression perpetration, but no partner effects. Consistent with hypotheses, observations of higher skillful emotion communication attenuated associations between childhood emotional maltreatment and young adult psychological aggression, but only for female participants. Findings are discussed in the context of implications for prevention and intervention for couples at risk of psychological aggression.