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Correlates of verbally aggressive communication in adolescents a

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Charles Atkin , Sandi Smith , Anthony Roberto , Thomas b

Fediuk & Thomas Wagner

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Department of Communication at Michigan State University , Sandi b

Department of Communication at Michigan State University

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Department of Communication at the University of Kentucky

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School of Communication Studies at Kent State University Published online: 10 Jan 2011.

To cite this article: Charles Atkin , Sandi Smith , Anthony Roberto , Thomas Fediuk & Thomas Wagner (2002) Correlates of verbally aggressive communication in adolescents, Journal of Applied Communication Research, 30:3, 251-268, DOI: 10.1080/00909880216585 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00909880216585

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Journal of Applied Communication Research Vol. 30, No. 3, August 2002, pp. 251–268

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Correlates of Verbally Aggressive Communication in Adolescents Charles K. Atkin, Sandi W. Smith, Anthony J. Roberto, Thomas Fediuk, and Thomas Wagner ABSTRACT This investigation identifies demographic, media, and social correlates of verbally aggressive communication in adolescence. Mail surveys were completed and returned by 2,300 adolescents between the ages of 13 and 15. These adolescents were asked about the prevalence of verbal and physical aggression, the context in which it occurred, demographics, and the interpersonal and media influences in their lives. The results indicate that verbal aggression is widespread, that committing and experiencing verbal aggression is largely reciprocal, that there is a strong relationship between committing verbal and physical aggression, and that peer social influence and listening to violently oriented music are mildly related to verbal aggression in adolescents. These findings suggest more resources should be allocated to teaching adolescents to understand and control verbal aggression. Further, they provide important answers to many prevention and intervention programmatic questions, including context, content, and targeting concerns. Since the negative consequences of verbal aggression are severe and long lasting, decreasing this destructive communication behavior should significantly improve the lives of many adolescents. These and other practical implications are expanded upon and discussed. KEY WORDS: Verbal aggression, physical aggression, prevention of aggression, adolescent, peer social influence, violently oriented music. “Bullies shove their way into the nation’s schools.” (Peterson, 1999a) “Bullies, victims grow into roles that can last a lifetime.” (Peterson, 1999b)

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eadlines similar to the above often appear in the national press, and indicate that verbal and physical aggression are a fact of life for many school children in the United States. One large survey conducted by the Parents’ Resource Institute for Drug Education (Gleaton, 2001) questioned over 114,000

Charles K. Atkin (Ph.D., University of Wisconsin) is University Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Communication at Michigan State University. Sandi W. Smith (Ph.D., University of Southern California) is Professor in the Department of Communication at Michigan State University. Anthony J. Roberto (Ph.D., Michigan State University) is Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Kentucky. Thomas Fediuk (M. A., Illinois State University) is a Doctoral Student in the Department of Communication at Michigan State University. Thomas Wagner (M. A., University of Central Florida) is a Doctoral Student in the School of Communication Studies at Kent State University. An earlier version of this manuscript was presented at the annual meeting of the National Communication Association, Chicago, IL 1999. This research was sponsored by a grant from the Michigan Public Health Institute to Charles Atkin. Contact the first author at [email protected]. Copyright 2002, National Communication Association

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students in 28 states and found that almost 40 percent of those surveyed had threatened physical violence against another student between sixth and twelfth grade. Approximately one-fourth reported that they were afraid another student would hit them, and almost as many reported that they had actually been the victim of physical violence in that they had been hit, slapped, or kicked. Other research indicates that percentages of bullying and victimization are dramatically higher when verbal aggression is included (e.g., name-calling, mean and nasty personal comments, swearing, etc.). Many severe and negative outcomes are associated with either being a perpetrator or a victim of bullying, including conduct, academic, physical, social, and emotional problems (Nansel, Overpeck, Pilla, & Ruan, 2001; Spivak & Prothrow-Spivak, 2001). For example, Olweus (1992) reported that former bullies were four times more likely to engage in criminal behavior by their mid-twenties, and that former victims were more likely to be depressed and to have poor self-esteem when they reached their midtwenties. Clearly, both verbal and physical aggression are pervasive problems for many adolescents in our society. Spivak and Prothrow-Stith (2001) note that “violence prevention, including bullying as a component, must be a priority for all who are concerned about the health of children and youth” (p. 2131). This investigation seeks to identify the correlates of verbally aggressive communication, including physical aggression, to heed this call. Further, since the majority of research on bullying has been conducted in Europe and Australia (Nansel et al., 2001), it is important to examine a United States sample to see if previous findings are generalizable to this culture.

Verbal Aggression Verbal aggression has been defined as “an exchange of messages between two people where at least one person in the dyad attacks the self-concept of the other person in order to hurt the other person psychologically” (Infante & Wigley, 1986, p. 67). Common types of verbally aggressive messages include character attacks, competence attacks, background attacks, physical appearance attacks, teasing, ridicule, threats, profanity, and nonverbal emblems (Infante, 1987). Verbal aggression can be contrasted with argumentativeness, or advocating and refuting positions on controversial issues (Infante & Rancer, 1982), which is based on logic and keeps the focus on issues instead of the self-concept. Though Infante, Trebing, Shepherd, and Seeds (1984) argue that verbal aggressiveness and argumentativeness are unrelated conceptually, they suggest they are often perceived to be the same concept. Evidence confirming this claim, at least in adolescent populations, is suggested by the strong positive correlations observed between these two predispositions. Specifically, correlations between verbal aggressiveness and argumentativeness in adolescent populations consistently range between .29 and .49 (Rancer, Whitecap, Kosberg, & Avtgis, 1997; Rancer, Avtgis, Kosberg, & Whitecap, 2000; Roberto & Wilson, 1996; Roberto & Finucane, 1997; Roberto, 1999). While verbal aggression was once viewed as a normal part of childhood and adolescence, chronic teasing is now being viewed as a potentially dangerous social act. Recent studies reported by Shear and Salmon (1999, May 2) estimate that up to 30 percent of children, or an estimated five million U.S. elementary and junior high school students, endure verbal harassment in school. By the time they

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are in junior and senior high school, eight percent of urban students report that they miss at least one day of school each month because they are afraid to attend due to the threat of verbal and physical aggression (Shear & Salmon, 1999). Another study found that 81 percent of urban middle students had engaged in at least one act of bullying behavior in the month previous to the study (Bosworth, Espelage, & Simon, 1999). The first research question concerns the relative frequencies of the different categories of bullying in this sample:

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RQ1: How widespread are different forms of verbal aggression in the lives of adolescents between 13 and 15 year of age in terms of being a witness, victim, or perpetrator of such aggression?

The Reciprocal Nature of Verbal Aggression Recent research suggests that victims of verbal aggression are often likely to engage in verbal aggression themselves (Haynie, Nansel, Eitel, & Crump, 2001). Singer, Miller, Guo, Flannery, Frierson, and Slovack (1999) found that witnessing or being the target of physical aggression correlated strongly with children behaving violently toward others. Infante, Sabourin, Rudd, and Shannon (1990) and Sabourin, Infante, and Rudd (1993) reported a reciprocal relationship between verbally aggressive behavior of husbands and wives. Infante et al. (1990) conclude that “a norm of reciprocity operates for verbal aggression (i.e., verbal aggression begets the same)” (p. 364). Apparently, an attack by one person instigates a response, thus perpetuating a pattern over time where the interactants share the roles of perpetrator and victim. Evidence from these studies suggests that there is a reciprocal relationship between experiencing and committing verbal aggression in adult populations. Therefore, it is expected that adolescent victims of verbal aggression are likely to engage in verbal aggression themselves, although this association is untested. Thus, the first hypothesis is: H1: There will be a positive relationship between experiencing and engaging in verbal aggression.

The Relationship Between Verbal and Physical Aggression Infante and his colleagues (Infante & Wigley, 1986; Infante, Chandler, & Rudd, 1989; Infante et al., 1990; Sabourin et al., 1993) argue that verbal aggression can lead to physical aggression when people do not have the skills, such as argumentativeness, for dealing with normal frustrations and conflicts. The Argumentative Skills Deficiency Model (ASDM) posits that people who are both frustrated and low in argumentativeness will turn first to verbal aggression and next to physical violence as their only alternatives. More specifically, this model claims that individuals low in argumentativeness and high in verbal aggressiveness are more likely to resort to physical aggression than individuals with other combinations of these predispositions. The relationship between argumentativeness and verbal aggressiveness to physical aggression in adult populations has been demonstrated in several studies (Infante et al., 1989; Infante et al., 1990; Sabourin et al., 1993). Roberto and his colleagues (Roberto, 1999; Roberto & Finucane, 1997; Roberto & Wilson, 1996) have found the concepts of argumentativeness and verbal aggressiveness are applicable to and understood by adolescents. Though the ASDM has been tradi-

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tionally applied to adults, Roberto and his colleagues also looked at how well this model holds up in adolescent populations. Consistent with the ASDM, Roberto (1999) predicted that adolescent boys low in argumentativeness and high in verbal aggressiveness would be more likely to get suspended from school for fighting (assessed using school suspension records) than boys with other combinations of these predispositions. Similarly, Roberto and Wilson (1996) predicted adolescent boys low in argumentativeness and high in verbal aggressiveness would demonstrate a greater “propensity towards violence” (measured by self-report responses to three hypothetical situations) than boys with other combinations of these predispositions. In both cases, high verbal aggressiveness, but not argumentativeness, was found to predict the physically aggressive behavior under investigation. Thus, this line of research finds support for the prediction that physical aggression among adolescents is a consequence of high verbal aggression, but not for the interaction effect between low argumentativeness and high verbal aggression. Thus, the following hypothesis is advanced: H2: There will be a positive relationship between the frequency of engaging in verbal aggression and frequency of engaging in physical aggression.

Demographic Correlates Gender. Roberto and Finucane (1997) found that seventh and eighth grade boys were significantly more argumentative and more verbally aggressive than girls. These findings are consistent with those of other researchers studying adult subjects (Infante, 1985; Infante et al., 1984; Infante et al., 1990). Nansel et al. (2001) reported that boys most often identified themselves as both bullies and victims. Thus, to confirm these patterns in this sample the third hypothesis is: H3: Boys will report being significantly more verbally aggressive than will girls.

Age. Roberto and Finucane (1997) found that eighth-graders are significantly more argumentative than seventh-graders, and significantly more verbally aggressive than seventh-graders. Rancer et al. (1997, 2000) offer further support for these findings. Their research shows that while adolescents can be taught higher levels of argumentativeness, and that these higher levels of argumentativeness can be sustained for at least one year, verbal aggressiveness still increased significantly between the seventh and eighth grade. Therefore, the following hypothesis is advanced: H4: There will be a positive relationship between verbal aggression and age level among adolescents.

School performance. Grades in school can be both a predictor and a consequence of verbal aggression. Those with lower grades may perform more verbally aggressive behavior because they are less intelligent, less skilled in resolving conflict, or more frustrated by their school experience. Bronston (1999) reports that victims of teasing and bullying tend to have poorer academic performance in school. She reports that 22 percent of fourth through eighth graders have had academic difficulties because of peer abuse. Nansel et al. (2001), however, found that persons who bullied others had poorer academic achievement. These findings lead to the following research questions:

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RQ2: Do victims of verbal aggression have lower grades in school than those who are not victims of verbal aggression? RQ3: Do those who have lower grades in school perform more verbally aggressive behavior than those who have higher grades?

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Media Correlates Television viewing. Television provides people with access to a wide range of observational learning experiences. Individuals can observe how a vast array of other people behave in a response to a variety of situations (Heusmann, 1982). Verbal aggression is portrayed on television more often than physical aggression because it is a response that is more normative in our society (Worting & Greenberg, 1973). Certain genres of television content prominently feature verbal aggression, particularly confrontational daytime talk shows and music videos by “gangsta rap” or heavy metal performers. Although Infante et al. (1984) claimed that social learning may be an important source of verbal aggressiveness, Whaley (1982) did not find exposure to verbal aggression on television to lead to increased verbal aggressiveness. However, Martin, Anderson, and Cos (1993) found that viewers high in verbal aggression who did not report being hurt by verbally aggressive messages and who watched a verbally aggressive television show were more likely to express affinity for the show and the main character. Viewers who reported being psychologically hurt from receiving verbally aggressive messages in their lives showed less affinity. Thus, it appears that verbally aggressive persons may believe that verbal aggression is more socially appropriate and beneficial in achieving goals, and this might have a reinforcing effect on those viewers. In contrast to verbal aggression portrayals, physical aggression on television has been shown to impact verbal aggressiveness in viewers (Sebastian, Parke, Berkowitz, & West, 1978). Many studies have demonstrated that viewing of violence contributes to physical aggression (Paik & Comstock, 1994), and some of the same processes of vicarious learning, disinhibition, arousal, and instigation may produce a similar impact on verbal aggression. Increased toleration of real-life aggression may result from changing beliefs and attitudes toward violence following exposure to television aggression. Exposure to televised violence in the context of dramatic programs may suggest to viewers that aggressive behavior is both commonplace and an appropriate method of conflict resolution. Exposure to televised violence results in increased acceptance of aggression on the part of viewers as being both normative and morally correct in conflict situations, and it may lead to decrease in the likelihood of intervention by witnesses to others’ aggression (Thomas & Drabman, 1978). Again, certain television influence processes that shape desensitization may be extrapolated from physical aggression to verbal aggression. The portrayal of rewards and punishments is probably the most important of all contextual factors for viewers as they interpret the meaning of what they see on television. Kunkel, Wilson, Linz, Potter, Donnerstein, Smith, Blumenthal, and Gray (1995) note that “viewers who would otherwise think of a class of behaviors such as violence as bad, over time will learn that those behaviors are good (e.g., useful, successful, or desirable) if they are repeatedly and consistently portrayed as rewarded or unpunished.” They note that seventy-three percent of the inci-

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dents of television violence do not show the perpetrator being punished for committing violence, and 51 percent of violence presented is plausible or possible in real life. These portrayals of verbal aggression are likely to be even more acceptable and realistic. Based upon the foregoing discussion of media and verbal aggressiveness, the following hypothesis and research question are advanced: H5: There will be a positive relationship between exposure to violent television programming and verbal aggression.

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RQ4: Is there a relationship between exposure to verbally aggressive talk shows and verbal aggression?

Music and music video preferences. Music is a large part of youth culture. Music can be heard on the radio, television, on streets, in shopping malls, in movie theaters, and now over the Internet. With the prevalence of music in the life of an adolescent, as with television and other mass media, it is not surprising that music and music videos may play a role in verbal and physical aggression as they grow up. Where much focus has been given to television and its effects on adolescence, the picture is just beginning to emerge with regard to music and music video effects on adolescents. The answer to the research question posed below will provide evidence as to whether or not the connection between violent music and verbal aggression exists. There are claims that consumption of music and music videos has substantial impact on the lives of adolescents, and there are counter-arguments to this position as well. Christensen and DeBenedittis (1986) argued that more attention needs to be given to youth consumption of radio. They pointed out that 52 percent have radios in their rooms and 69 percent report having a favorite station. Listening to the radio is more likely to be done alone, parents are much less likely to listen to radio with their children than they are likely to watch television with them, and parents are not as concerned about the impact of popular music. Abelman and Atkin (1999) propose that there is no substantial support for arguments that are either for or against music effects, because most research in this area is anecdotal or methodologically flawed. Another difficulty they note is that the medium of music and music video changes so rapidly, that previously drawn samples are not representative of current media habits, preferences, and practices. Styles of music tend to have different levels of violence and sexual content. Abelman and Atkin (1999) found that different studies estimate that sexual and violent content occurs in anywhere from twenty percent to seventy percent of heavy metal or rap songs and videos. Regardless of which figure represents the actual frequency, it is clear that such content is occurring in music and music videos. Prinsky and Rosenbaum (1987) compared adult impressions of rock music with the impressions of teenagers. Where parents heard a lot of sex and violence, teens heard references to growing up. Conflicting reports also exist in regard to what level of awareness adolescents give to musical lyrics. Roberts (1997) states that heavy metal fans are more “fanatical” about their music. They tend to be more involved with the music and pay special attention to the music lyrics. Wanamaker and Reznikoff (1989), however, found that teenagers do not necessarily listen or tune in to the lyrics or rock music, including heavy metal. They also found no differences in aggression among those who listened to violent heavy metal,

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Christian heavy metal, and non-aggressive rock. However, Smith (1995) found that subjects’ exposure to lyrics with violent content led them to administer greater levels of shock than those not exposed to the violent content lyrics in a modification of the Buss Aggression Paradigm. Rap music has an audience that is more racially diverse than heavy metal (Roberts, 1997). Rap songs tend to elicit more angry responses than heavy metal songs (Ballard & Coates, 1995). However, over twenty percent of males and sixty percent of females in the heavy metal fan group report that they have tried to harm themselves in the previous six months (Martin, Clarke & Pearce, 1993). It is unclear as to whether listening to heavy metal generates this behavior or whether heavy metal attracts such fans (Abelman & Atkin, 1999). When discussing the effects of music on aggression, it is difficult to separate music and music videos. Roberts (1997) states that exposure to video is stronger than exposure to music audio alone. As with other music research, the effects of music video are unclear. Walker’s (1987) results suggest that Music Television viewing was not related to perceived levels of violence in society. However, enough evidence from other research suggests that music and music videos do lead to a desensitizing of violence. Greeson and Williams (1986) found that a high impact video group expressed lower levels of disapproval toward violence. Hansen and Hansen (1990) found that even a relatively brief exposure to antisocial videos desensitized viewers to violence and altered their assessment of others’ violent behavior. Johnson, Jackson, and Gatto (1995) found that subjects who saw violent videos were more likely to condone violent acts. In a review of the literature, Abelman and Atkin (1999) concluded that viewers more heavily exposed to violent rap videos were more likely to express greater acceptance of the use of violence. They also reported a higher probability that these viewers would engage in violent acts themselves. Viewers of aggressive music videos tend to be more antagonistic toward women and are more likely to condone violence in themselves (Roberts, 1997). Due to the conflicting claims and findings of previous research on the impact of music and music videos on aggressive behavior, the following research question is advanced: RQ5: Is there a relationship between preference for verbally aggressive music and music videos and performance of verbally aggressive behavior?

Social Correlates Peer experiences and verbal aggressiveness. A considerable amount of recent research (Huesmann & Guerra, 1997; Henry, Guerra, Huesmann, Tolan, VanAcker, & Eron, 2000) indicates that normative beliefs concerning aggression correlate highly with aggressive behavior. Friends may display certain behaviors that have direct or indirect implications for acting aggressively. Peers who behave in an unhealthy or deviant manner serve as role models or instigators, and set normative standards that may influence verbal aggression and increase the probability of victimization. Observation of verbal aggression may lead to greater frequency of performing verbal aggression. Two other potentially influential peer behavior patterns are substance use (i.e., drinking, smoking, drug use) and legal deviancy (i.e., getting in trouble with police). Thus, the following hypothesis and research questions are advanced:

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H6: A positive relationship will exist between observing peer verbal aggression and engaging in verbal aggression. RQ6: Is there a relationship between verbal aggressiveness and substance abuse by friends? RQ7: Is there a relationship between verbal aggressiveness and legal deviancy by friends?

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Method This study used a mail survey to gather information from a representative sample of 2,300 male (n ⫽ 1,110) and female (n ⫽ 1,190) adolescents between the ages of 13 and 15 (M ⫽ 14.03, SD ⫽ .85). Of the total, 1,146 resided in Michigan and the rest were sampled from Ohio (n ⫽ 550) and Illinois (n ⫽ 604). The total number of African-American youth was n ⫽ 307, and the total number of Hispanic youth was n ⫽ 85. Thus, 17 percent of the sample was comprised of minority youth, while 83 percent (n ⫽ 1,908) were European-American youth. Questionnaires were sent to 3,285 adolescents and 2,300 were returned, for a response rate of 70 percent. Sampling error was less than plus or minus two percent for this large sample. The respondents completed a survey instrument containing 107 items and sub-items.1 The mail survey was selected as the most effective and efficient approach form of data collection because it enabled maximum confidentiality and validity and because the sampling via mail provides good geographical dispersion (as opposed to data collection at a single site). To reach a typical cross-section of the population and assure a high return rate for the questionnaires, the field work was performed by the National Family Opinion Research organization.2

Results Frequency of Verbal Aggression The prevalence of verbal aggression was measured in terms of swearing/insulting and saying cruel/mean/nasty comments. The introductory question asked “In the past year (during school and summer), how often do aggressive comments happen with kids you know?” The format featured a brief description of the focal behavior, labels identifying whether the respondent was personally involved or observed the behavior, gender of the parties observed in the aggressive exchange,3 and scales representing frequency of occurrence. Based on the two sets of observational measures presented in Table 1, the answer to the first research question is that verbal aggression is widespread among adolescents. About four out of five respondents report that they see other adolescents swearing, insulting, or making nasty comments at least once or twice a month. Female-targeted verbal aggression is slightly more likely to be perpetrated by girls than by boys. For the category of “swearing at someone or calling them an insulting name,” 92 percent have observed boys doing this to girls in the past year and 94 percent have seen girls doing this to other girls. These verbally aggressive incidents occur quite often, as 82 percent see boy-on-girl swearing/insulting at least once a month, 67 percent see it at least once per week, and 39 percent see it almost every day. The parallel girl-on-girl figures are 85 percent monthly, 71 percent weekly, and 43 percent almost daily.

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AUGUST 2002 TABLE 1 Observation of Verbal Aggression

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Frequency

Swearing/insulting name: Boys to girls Girls to girls Girls to boys Saying cruel/nasty things: Boys to girls Girls to girls Girls to boys

Almost Every Day

Once/Twice A Week

Once/Twice A Month

Once/Twice in Last Year

Not in Past Year

39% 43% 37%

28% 28% 26%

15% 14% 18%

10% 9% 11%

8% 6% 8%

39% 40% 33%

27% 28% 27%

17% 16% 20%

10% 9% 11%

7% 7% 9%

The prevalence is almost identical for the category of “saying cruel, mean, or nasty comments.” In the past year, 93 percent have observed boys doing this to girls and 94 percent have seen girls doing this to other girls. Boy-on-girl comments are seen at least once a month by 83 percent of respondents, while 66 percent see this at least once per week and 39 percent see this happening almost every day. Nasty comments to girls by other girls are seen monthly by 84 percent, weekly by 68 percent, and almost daily by 40 percent of the sample. In terms of frequency,4 the adolescents report seeing girls “swearing at” other girls or “calling them an insulting name” an average of 111 times per year; boys swearing at or insulting girls is observed 102 times per year, and girls doing it to boys is seen 98 times annually. The figures for observation of peers “saying cruel, mean, or nasty things” are similar: girls doing it to girls 107 times per year, boys doing it to girls 104 times, and girls to boys 91 times. Based on two sets of observational measures, verbal aggression is widespread among these younger teenagers. About four out of five respondents say they see swearing, insulting or nasty comments at least once or twice a month. On the average, they see these verbally abusive incidents directed at girls more than 200 times per year; female-targeted verbal aggression is slightly more likely to be perpetrated by girls than by boys. Indeed, girls more often verbally aggress against other girls than against boys. Following the observational reports, respondents were asked to indicate how often they personally have been the target or perpetrator of verbal aggression over the past year; the same two focal behaviors are measured, and results are again similar. As shown in Table 2, about four out of every five girls report that they experience swearing/insults (79 percent) and mean/nasty comments (80 percent) at least once per year. Each type of verbal aggression is experienced at least monthly by three-fifths of the girls (59 percent swearing/insults and 59 percent mean/nasty comments), and at least weekly by almost two-fifths (38 percent swearing/insults and 36 percent mean/nasty comments). It should be noted that 86 percent of the girls report that they experienced at least one of the two types of verbal aggression once or more often in the last year (including 72 percent who experienced both types). Moreover, 67 percent experienced at least one type at least monthly, 45 percent at least weekly, and 21 percent almost every day. The experiences of boys as targets of verbal aggression

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TABLE 2 Personal Experience with Verbal Aggression Frequency

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Swearing/insulting name: Victim Perpetrator Saying cruel/nasty things: Victim Perpetrator

Almost Every Day

Once/Twice A Week

Once/Twice A Month

Once/Twice in Last Year

Not in Past Year

18% 16%

21% 21%

22% 17%

19% 18%

20% 28%

17% 13%

19% 18%

23% 21%

21% 21%

20% 27%

are nearly identical; the only minor exception is that 42 percent of the boys report hearing swearing/insults at least once per week (compared to 36 percent of the girls). Almost as many teenagers admit that they verbally aggress against other teens, as 75 percent of the girls (73 percent of boys) report that they swear/insult at least once per year, and 73 percent of girls (72 percent of boys) say mean/nasty comments annually. Swearing once or more per month is reported by 55 percent of girls (56 percent of boys), and nasty comments are made by 50 percent of girls (53 percent of boys). Swearing at least weekly is acknowledged by 33 percent of girls (40 percent of boys), and nasty comments are made by 30 percent of girls (35 percent of boys). The results can also be examined in terms of numerical frequency. It should be noted that because a small subset are involved in almost daily verbal aggression, the mean figures are skewed and thus the median is also reported. The two types of verbal abuse happen to young teenage girls an average of about 100 times per year (the median frequency is 31 times per year). Boys are more likely to report experiencing verbal aggression: the average is 119 incidents (the median is 41). Almost as many teenagers admit that they verbally aggress against other teens: slightly more than half report that they swear/insult or say cruel/nasty comments once a month or more. The annual averages for these two types of verbal aggression are 89 committed by girls and 104 by boys (the median figures are 22 committed by girls and 29 by boys).

The Reciprocal Nature of Verbal Aggression As predicted in hypothesis one, adolescents who most often perform verbal aggression tend to be the same ones who report being targets of verbally aggressive comments. For both committing and experiencing verbal aggression, a two-item index was constructed by adding the scores for swearing/insults and mean/nasty comments. There is a very strong correlation (r (2145) ⫽ .72, p ⬍ .001, r2 ⫽ .52) between indices of committing and experiencing verbal aggression. This indicates a substantial reciprocal relationship between sending and receiving verbally aggressive comments.

The Relationship Between Verbal and Physical Aggression As predicted in hypothesis two, there is also a strong relationship between the frequency of committing physical aggression and verbal aggression (r (2117) ⫽ .56,

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Victim Media Predictor Variable

.07** .04 .10** .25**

.06** .10** .06** .16**

TV viewing time (Low 3 High) Violent program viewing index (Low 3 High) Talk show viewing index (Low 3 High) Violent music liking index (Low 3 High)

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Demographic Predictor Variable .05* .09** ⫺.05* ⫺.01 ⫺.21** ⫺.10**

.05* .03 ⫺.09** ⫺.01 ⫺.15** ⫺.09**

Gender (Female 3 Male) Age (Younger 3 Older) Race (White 3 Minority) Size of school (Small 3 Large) Grades in school (Poor 3 Excellent) Family income (Low 3 High) Social Predictor Variable

.23** .35**

.16** .24**

Peer trouble with police (None 3 Most) Peer substance use (None 3 Most)

*p ⬍ .05 **p ⬍ .01

p ⬍ .001, r2 ⫽ .31). There is also a strong relationship between being the victim of physical aggression and verbal aggression (r (2108) ⫽ .55, p ⬍ .001, r2 ⫽ .30).

Demographic Correlates As predicted in hypothesis three, teenage boys (M ⫽ 5.62, SD ⫽ 2.66) perform slightly more verbal aggression than do teenage girls (M ⫽ 5.35, SD ⫽ 2.53); though the magnitude is relatively small, the difference is statistically significant (t ⫽ 2.41, p ⬍ .05). The data were consistent with hypothesis four; involvement in verbal aggression rises slightly between the ages of 13 and 15. The answer to research question two is that those with lower grades in school verbally aggress more often than do students with higher grades. This same general pattern of correlations between these variables and the victimization index was observed to answer research question three. In fact, the largest victim correlation is found with poor grades in school. See Table 3 for more information regarding all of these comparisons.5

Media Correlates The data were not consistent with hypothesis five in that exposure to violent television programming was not significantly related to verbal aggression. Regarding research question four, an index representing exposure to three aggressively oriented talk shows (i.e., Jenny Jones, Ricki Lake, and Geraldo Rivera) is related slightly with the aggression indices. Regarding research question five, an index combining preference for the violence-oriented heavy metal and “gangsta rap” is positively associated with real-life violence experiences.

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TABLE 4 Summary of Stepwise Regression Analysis for Variables Predicting Committing Verbal Aggression

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Variable Step 1: Gender (Female 3 Male) Age (Younger 3 Older) Race (White 3 Minority) Size of school (Small 3 Large) Grades in school (Poor 3 Excellent) Family income (Low 3 High) Step 2: Peer trouble with police (None 3 Most) Peer substance use (None 3 Most) Step 3: TV viewing time (Low 3 High) Violent program viewing index (Low 3 High) Talk show viewing index (Low 3 High) Violent music liking index (Low 3 High)

B

SE B

␤

.150 .315 ⫺.695 ⫺.002 ⫺.610 ⫺.003

.116 .067 .198 .060 .077 .010

.03 .10 ⫺.08 ⫺.01 ⫺.18 .06

.005 .330

.052 .025

.02 .33

.004 ⫺.067 .223 .523

.034 .060 .079 .092

.03 ⫺.03 .06 .13

Note. R2 ⫽ .06 for Step 1; ⌬R2 ⫽ .10 for Step 2; ⌬R2 ⫽ .02 for Step 3 (all ps ⬍ .01).

Social Correlates To examine the role of peers, a set of items measured the number of friends who display certain behaviors that might directly or indirectly influence verbal aggressiveness. The data were consistent with hypothesis six. There was a strong relationship between observing peer verbal aggression and engaging in verbal aggression (r (2122) ⫽ .50, p ⬍ .001, r2 ⫽ .25). The answer to research question six is that there is a significant relationship between committing verbal aggression and the prevalence of substance use by friends (Sixty-two percent have smoker friends, 48 percent have friends who get drunk, and 38 percent have friends who use drugs; so these three items were combined into an index). The correlation of substance use with victimization is somewhat lower. The answer to research question seven is that there is a fairly sizable relationship between verbal aggression and having friends who get in legal trouble with the police. It appears that verbal aggression is part of a constellation of social experiences related to deviant behavior. Regression analyses were performed to assess the relationships between and within blocks of correlates of committing verbal aggression. In a step-wise multiple regression analysis, the demographic predictors were entered first, followed by the social correlates and then the media correlates. The six demographic variables together account for six percent of the variance in verbal aggression; ␤s within this block indicate that lower grades in school and older age are the two main predictors (Table 4). The pair of social variables account for an additional 10 percent of the variance, primarily due to peer substance abuse. When the four media predictors are added, the R2 increases by two percent. The overall R ⫽ .42 for the three blocks accounts for 18 percent of the variance in committing verbal aggression. The media variable most closely related to verbal aggression is preference for violent music; the zero-order correlation is .35, which drops to .25 when the other

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three media variables are controlled. Controlling for the six demographic variables, the ␤ is .21. Because preference for violent music is highly related to physical aggression as well as verbal aggression, this latter variable was also controlled. The .13␤ controlling for the other 11 media, social, and demographic predictors drops to .07 when physical aggression is also taken into account. Although the size of the coefficient is small, this musical variable remains significant under stringent control for spurious relationships. Considering the full array of correlates in Table 4, peer substance abuse clearly has the strongest relationship with verbal aggression (␤ ⫽ .33). Aside from violent music liking, the only other variable with a substantial coefficient is school grades (␤ ⫽ ⫺.18). It is noteworthy that the remaining nine demographic, social, and media correlates are .10 or smaller; indeed, TV viewing time, gender, size of school, and peer trouble with police are somewhat weakly related (␤ ranging from .03 to ⫺.03).

Discussion These descriptive findings clearly demonstrate that verbal aggression is widespread among young adolescents, indicating a need for improved programs on conflict resolution. It appears that committing and experiencing verbal aggression are reciprocal, such that disputes and verbal attacks escalate and perpetuate themselves over time. Verbal aggression is closely related to the more serious behaviors of physical aggression, so prevention of verbally aggressive behavior may help reduce the harmful consequences associated with other violent incidents.

Frequency of Verbal Aggression There are surprisingly small differences in verbal aggression according to gender, age, family income, race, and size of school; none account for more than one percent of the variance in committing verbal aggression. This is a further indication of the pervasiveness of verbally aggressive behavior, which saturates all demographic segments of the adolescent culture. The factor most substantially related to verbal aggression is poor performance in school, which is also associated with a variety of problematic behaviors in adolescence. Social influences from peers seem to play a major role in contributing to verbal aggression. In particular, peer substance abuse was the strongest single correlate in the regression analysis. It accounted for more variance in verbal aggression than did the full set of demographic variables. Those who interact with friends who display deviant behavior tend to display greater aggression and are more often victims of verbal abuse. This underscores the need to devise interventions focused on everyday informal interpersonal contexts in and out of school, and to target the subset of adolescents who are involved with a friendship network that uses drugs and runs afoul of the law. Finally, the impact of media on verbal aggression appears to be relatively modest. There are fairly small correlations between verbal aggression and viewing of television, violent programming, and talk shows. Although television programming portrays a substantial amount of verbal aggression, the degree of learning or disinhibition is apparently quite limited; thus, reducing exposure levels or restricting content will not produce a significant improvement in verbally aggressive responses by television viewers. The main exception is found for violently

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oriented music appearing in music videos as well as on the radio and compact disk players. This index correlates moderately with verbal aggression, and the relationship remains when other variables are controlled. Despite the conflicting claims and findings of previous research, a positive relationship between preference for violently oriented music and verbal aggression was found here. The more intense verbally aggressive language and the hostile expressions of the performers may provide an influential novel input to adolescents. Attempts to minimize access to this form of entertainment may achieve a larger payoff than efforts to control television programming.

Practical Implications First, the survey evidence showing the high prevalence of verbal aggression and the close relationship to physical aggression indicates that this form of anti-social behavior should receive greater attention from school principals and teachers, youth program leaders, parents, government officials, and media executives. Prevention of verbally aggressive communication behavior merits a greater investment of resources relative to higher-profile problems involving adolescents in our society. The school system seems the most promising venue for prevention activities. Schools might consider adopting a “zero tolerance” policy for verbal aggression, as many schools have already done for physical aggression. The reduction of verbal aggression can be readily incorporated into ongoing violence prevention and intervention programs. The potential for targeting verbal aggression in this context is highlighted by Meyer, Roberto, Boster, and Story (2001), who evaluated a 12-lesson violence prevention curriculum for seventh graders. Compared to a control school, students experiencing the intervention reported significantly less verbally aggressive acts, more negative attitude toward verbal aggression, and stronger beliefs that verbal aggression would get them into trouble. The findings from the present study provide insights into the possible content for school-based interventions. For example, the conventional male-oriented violence prevention curriculum should be adapted specifically to the target audience of females who verbally aggress on other females. The curriculum should include media literacy modules focusing on violent musical genres and television talk shows. Additional curriculum content should feature adolescent-oriented material adapted from Infante’s (1995) collegiate verbal aggression training, which focuses on enhancing students’ understanding of verbal aggression and helping students to develop and internalize strategies for controlling verbal aggression. His key approaches include distinguishing between constructive argumentativeness vs. destructive verbal aggressiveness, identifying various types of verbally aggressive messages such as character attacks and competency attacks, and discussing the detrimental effects of verbal aggression. They seem particularly appropriate to children and youth (Rancer et al., 1997, 2000; Roberto, 1999; Roberto & Wilson, 1996). There are several implications for parents, who should be made more aware of the need to address the problem of verbal aggression. Because the two strongest correlates of verbal aggression are peer substance use and violent music enjoyment, parents have another reason for discouraging their children from associat-

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ing with the “wrong crowd” and from consuming rap and heavy metal musical entertainment at a young age. Indeed, parental efforts to promote studying and improved school performance may produce a bonus payoff in terms of lower verbal aggression. Parents can also attempt to directly teach their children how to avoid initiating and escalating verbal attacks on peers. Because it appears that television and radio programming contribute to the problem of verbal aggression among youth, these institutions are responsible for devoting some public service time to prevention messages. Certain PSAs can be targeted to parents, alerting them to the importance of verbally aggressive communication patterns and suggesting how they can try to prevent it. Other broadcast spots should be aimed at adolescents to supplement the school-based training. These messages might be patterned after violence prevention campaigns, using simple messages recommending that youth break the reciprocal spiral of attack and counterattack. It should be noted that television violence, a widely blamed culprit for other youth problems, does not seem to produce verbal aggression. Thus, regulating the content or controlling the exposure to violent characters and programs is not a priority in this case. Similarly, the conventional strategy of cutting down on the total amount of television viewed by adolescents is not likely to reduce the problem. Finally, the findings of this study suggest several implications for demographic emphases of prevention efforts. Because age, sex, race, family income, and school size are not highly related to overall prevalence of verbal aggression, all segments of the youth population need to be reached rather than targeting the usual trouble-maker profiles. With respect to the focal issue of aggression against adolescent females, prevention programs must focus on female-to-female situations as well as dealing with the problem of male perpetrators.

Conclusion In conclusion, this study confirmed that verbal aggression and physical aggression are common in the lives of today’s youth across a wide variety of socioeconomic factors. The reciprocal nature of verbal aggression was also confirmed. Interestingly, verbal aggression was much more common between girls than anticipated. Since the negative consequences of this destructive communication behavior are severe and long lasting, the importance of reducing this destructive communication behavior is clear. The findings reported here not only suggest the context of possible interventions (i.e., as part of a comprehensive violence prevention and intervention program), but also provides several suggestion regarding content (i.e., normative and media components) and target audience (i.e., programs specifically targeting verbal aggression between girls) issues. These findings and implications, in tandem with the growing body of research on verbal aggression and how to prevent it, could significantly improve the lives of all adolescents.

Endnotes 1. Please contact the first author to request a copy of the questionnaire. 2. National Family Opinion (NFO) Research is a highly respected survey company that has developed a nationwide panel of a half-million families, which is the largest in the world. The carefully

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recruited panel constitutes a random sample that precisely represents the general public (sample characteristics are identical to U.S. Census figures). NFO has cultivated a cooperative and trusting relationship with participants who regularly complete mail and telephone surveys, attaining a 70 to 80 percent response rate. This organization has 50 years of experience in conducting survey research, performing about 3,000 custom studies per year for clients in 600 companies, hospitals, universities, foundations, and government agencies. In one notable study of adolescent problems several months before this survey, NFO Research conducted a national survey of 13- to 17-year-olds for widely publicized Parade magazine cover story portraying contemporary youth attitudes and behaviors.

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3. The grant was provided to study violence against adolescent girls. Therefore, the focus here is not on “Boys doing it to boys.” 4. There is a need to use “summary descriptive statistics” such as the median or average. First, the data must be converted to a quantitative scale, such as number of days per year. We have conservatively defined “almost every day” to be 200 days per year, while “once or twice per week” equals 78 days per year, “once or twice per month” equals 18 days per year, and “once or twice in past year” equals 1.5 days per year. If we compute a mean score for females experiencing offensive sexual remarks (top right-hand set of percentages), the total number of incidents for 1,000 girls equals 28,000 (assuming a maximum of one remark per day). This is based on 84 of the 1,000 girls hearing 200 annual remarks each (totaling 16,800 remarks), 111 girls hearing 78 remarks each (totaling 8,580 remarks), 132 girls hearing 18 each (2,340), 188 girls hearing 1.5 each (280) and the remaining 484 hearing 0 remarks. The mean number of remarks per year is 28 (dividing 28,000 by the 1,000 girls). Thus, the “average” number of offensive remarks heard by young teenage women is 28 per year. This is an accurate figure in the sense that the 1,000 girls heard 28,000 remarks, which averages 28 per girl per year. However, a relatively small subset of girls actually heard as many as 28 remarks each (84 heard 200 remarks each, and 111 heard 78 —the other 805 heard 18 or fewer, including half who heard none). The mean can be considered a bit misleading because the distribution is skewed, such that a few girls heard lots of remarks, while a large majority heard few or none. It may overstate the quantity. If we compute a median, which represents the experience of the “typical” girl who is in the 50th percentile (i.e., girl number 500, who is halfway between the one who heard the most remarks and the girl who heard the fewest), the figure is far smaller—less than one remark per year. Girl number 500 is on the borderline between the 0 and 1.5 categories, because almost 500 heard no remarks and the next set of 188 girls heard just one or two remarks. The median is misleading because it ignores the huge quantity of remarks heard by the girls in the higher frequency categories—the 70th percentile or the 95th percentile. This is less of a problem for more common behavior, such as insults—the median is only somewhat lower for the mean because the distribution is more even across the five frequency categories. 5. Due to the large sample size, all correlations of r ⫽ .06 or larger are significant at the p ⬍ .01 level.

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