comparative conflict resolution patterns among parent-teen dyads of four ethnic groups in hawaii

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Pergamon Child Abuse & Neglect, Vol. 19, No. 6, pp. 681-689. 1995 Copyright © 1995 Elsevier Science Ltd Printed in the USA. All rights reserved 0145-2134/95 $9.50 + .00 0145-2134(95)00026-7 COMPARATIVE CONFLICT RESOLUTION PATTERNS AMONG PARENT-TEEN DYADS OF FOUR ETHNIC GROUPS IN HAWAII DIANE T. HARTZ Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA Abstract--Ninety-six high school students reported their own behavior and the behavior of their parents in the resolution of conflicts during the previous year, using the Conflict Tactics Scale (Straus, 1979). Parent-teen dyadic aggression levels for Americans of European, Japanese, Polynesian, and Filipino ancestry were compared in a series of orthogonal contrasts. The adolescent children of Polynesian American parents reported significantly higher parent aggression levels than did adolescents with parents of other ethnicity. Parent aggression was the best predictor of teen aggression directed toward parents. Subjects reciprocated with counteraggression toward European American parents significantly more often than toward parents of other ethnicity. Aggression by one parent was highly correlated with aggression by the other parent. Aggression by either parent was more highly correlated with teen aggression toward the mother, than with teen aggression toward the father. Key Words~hild abuse, Family violence, Aggression, Adolescents. INTRODUCTION IN RECENT YEARS, family violence research has experienced explosive growth. As a conse- quence, violence directed toward children by their parents presently looms upon the public health horizon as an issue worthy of profound concern. In 1968, it was reported that more children under the age of 5 perished from the deliberate acts of their parents than from the whole gamut of childhood diseases (Straus, Gelles, & Steinmetz, ! 980). The socially sanctioned infliction of corporal punishment--acts which would be regarded as criminal assault if perpe- trated by a stranger--may lie at the core of such statistics. Indeed, by self-report, a large majority of Americans perceive the act of slapping or spanking a 12-year-old child as "neces- sary," "normal," and "good" (Straus, Gelles, & Steinmetz, 1980). In line with these attitudes, 84% to 97% of parents use some form of physical punishment on their children (Gelles, 1978). Though the link between "ordinary" physical punishment and child abuse has been disputed (Gelles, 1991), child battering appears to occur more often in families where physical punishment is excessive (Berger, 1980), and parents utilizing the highest levels of physical punitiveness in the discipline of their children express the greatest fear that abuse might occur (Straus, 1983). It is worth noting that the extent of physical harm resulting from a violent act rests heavily on haphazard or random elements, such as physical agility and state of the target, aim of the perpetrator, or objects in the way of a fall. Additionally, some view the occurrence of physical harm as only the apparent tip of an iceberg of damaging and dysfunctional parent-child interactions which are characterized by verbal and physical Received for publication July 14, 1994; final revision received October 24, 1994: accepted October 28, 1994. Reprint requests should be addressed to Diane T. Hartz, Psychiatry Service, 116W, VA Medical Center, 4150 Clement Street, San Francisco, CA, 94121. 681

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Page 1: Comparative conflict resolution patterns among parent-teen dyads of four ethnic groups in Hawaii

Pergamon Child Abuse & Neglect, Vol. 19, No. 6, pp. 681-689. 1995

Copyright © 1995 Elsevier Science Ltd Printed in the USA. All rights reserved

0145-2134/95 $9.50 + .00

0145-2134(95)00026-7

COMPARATIVE CONFLICT RESOLUTION PATTERNS AMONG PARENT-TEEN DYADS OF FOUR ETHNIC

GROUPS IN HAWAII

DIANE T. HARTZ

Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA

Abstract--Ninety-six high school students reported their own behavior and the behavior of their parents in the resolution of conflicts during the previous year, using the Conflict Tactics Scale (Straus, 1979). Parent-teen dyadic aggression levels for Americans of European, Japanese, Polynesian, and Filipino ancestry were compared in a series of orthogonal contrasts. The adolescent children of Polynesian American parents reported significantly higher parent aggression levels than did adolescents with parents of other ethnicity. Parent aggression was the best predictor of teen aggression directed toward parents. Subjects reciprocated with counteraggression toward European American parents significantly more often than toward parents of other ethnicity. Aggression by one parent was highly correlated with aggression by the other parent. Aggression by either parent was more highly correlated with teen aggression toward the mother, than with teen aggression toward the father.

Key Words~hild abuse, Family violence, Aggression, Adolescents.

INTRODUCTION

IN RECENT YEARS, family violence research has experienced explosive growth. As a conse- quence, violence directed toward children by their parents presently looms upon the public health horizon as an issue worthy of profound concern. In 1968, it was reported that more children under the age of 5 perished from the deliberate acts of their parents than from the whole gamut of childhood diseases (Straus, Gelles, & Steinmetz, ! 980). The socially sanctioned infliction of corporal punishment--acts which would be regarded as criminal assault if perpe- trated by a stranger--may lie at the core of such statistics. Indeed, by self-report, a large majority of Americans perceive the act of slapping or spanking a 12-year-old child as "neces- sary," "normal," and "good" (Straus, Gelles, & Steinmetz, 1980).

In line with these attitudes, 84% to 97% of parents use some form of physical punishment on their children (Gelles, 1978). Though the link between "ordinary" physical punishment and child abuse has been disputed (Gelles, 1991), child battering appears to occur more often in families where physical punishment is excessive (Berger, 1980), and parents utilizing the highest levels of physical punitiveness in the discipline of their children express the greatest fear that abuse might occur (Straus, 1983). It is worth noting that the extent of physical harm resulting from a violent act rests heavily on haphazard or random elements, such as physical agility and state of the target, aim of the perpetrator, or objects in the way of a fall. Additionally, some view the occurrence of physical harm as only the apparent tip of an iceberg of damaging and dysfunctional parent-child interactions which are characterized by verbal and physical

Received for publication July 14, 1994; final revision received October 24, 1994: accepted October 28, 1994.

Reprint requests should be addressed to Diane T. Hartz, Psychiatry Service, 116W, VA Medical Center, 4150 Clement Street, San Francisco, CA, 94121.

681

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682 D.T. Hartz

Table 1. Confirmed Child Abuse Cases in Hawaii, 1978-1979: Ethnicity of Victims and Perpetrators

General Population Percent of Perpetrators Percent of Victims

European American 27.7% 24.8% 21.0% Japanese American 26.6 4.2 3.5 Polynesian American 18.2 33.6 30.0 Filipino American 10.2 9.6 6.3 Mixed 9.2 5.9 27.8 Other' 6.3 9.7 5.7

a Other includes Americans of Chinese, Korean, Portugese, African, and Puerto Rican ancestry (Department of Social Services and Housing, 1979, 1980).

aggression (Straus, Gelles, & Steinmetz, 1980). Children who are the objects of physical or verbal aggression by their parents--behavior not commonly considered abusive--demonstrate more physical aggression, are more often delinquent, and experience more interpersonal prob- lems than other children (Vissing, Straus, Gelles, & Harrop, 1991). For these reasons, dyadic interaction style in situations of conflict between parents and their children was chosen as the subject of the current study.

In Hawaii, Polynesian Americans [PAs] (a group largely comprised of Native Hawaiian Americans and Samoan Americans) are statistically overrepresented as perpetrators of child abuse. In contrast, Japanese Americans [JAs] are underrepresented in the same statewide statistics, while European Americans [EAs] and Filipino Americans [FAs] are perpetrators in a percentage of statewide abuse cases which roughly approximates the relative size of each of these groups in the population at large (Department of Social Services and Housing, 1979, 1980; see Table 1). These comparative ratios are mirrored in arrest statistics for violent crimes, as well as in self-reported abusive behavior directed toward family members in general (Blanch- ard & Blanchard, 1983; Dubanoski, 1982; Dubanoski & Snyder, 1981).

Native Hawaiian Americans, descendants of the Tahitian explorers who first settled the islands over 1,000 years ago, maintained a Polynesian lifestyle relatively undisturbed until the latter half of the past century. Around this time, chiefly through the instigation and legal maneuvers of white settlers, the Hawaiian monarchy was overthrown and the Hawaiian people were dispossessed of historically communal lands (Blanchard & Blanchard, 1983). Similarly, Samoan Americans have enjoyed a largely untainted Polynesian way of life until relatively recently, when the end of World War II signaled their initial emigration to the Hawaiian Islands (McDermott, Tseng, & Maretzki, 1980).

Polynesian peoples have long been reputed as warm, gracious, loving, expressive, and unreserved, with fluid household composition among community members (Holmes, Tall- man, & Jantz, 1978; Young, 1980). Highly socialized with close kinship ties, Polynesians have historically cherished their children and those of the entire village community. However, they have also embraced the casual, spontaneous, and uninhibited use of physical punishment in the discipline of children, congruent with their general physical and emotional expressiveness (Dubanoski & Snyder, 1981; Markoff & Bond, 1980). This traditional style of discipline was heretofore strongly mediated by the fluidity of the child's physical and social environment, as well as by the frequent intervention of elders and other adults (Weisner, 1982). With the dissolution of the extended family and larger community (Ritchie & Ritchie, 1981), social sanctions for extremity of violence in behavior may no longer be present. Also greatly reduced is social support in the form of collective responsibility for child care (Korbin, 1987; Ritchie & Ritchie, 1981), especially that provided by the peer group as the primary agent of socialization. In addition, children cannot as readily seek immediate refuge with peers or relatives in a nearby household, leaving them with far fewer opportunities for pragmatic withdrawal from

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Comparative conflict resolution patterns 683

conflict situations. Consequently, prolonged periods of forced contact, incompatible with the customary free use of physical expression, may result in higher levels of parent-child violence in PA families. As Ritchie and Ritchie (1981) state:

When the nuisance value of children has exceeded their capacity to give pleasure the way is wide open for ordinary punishment to spill over into child abuse. The urban ecology is so different from that of the islands . . . . A lonely mother is shut up with too many preschool children in an overcrowded house . . . . Where is the taro patch to which she can retire to share her troubles with other women and do useful work while a solution is being worked out? Where is the lagoon, the beach, or the reef where children have fun, find food. and escape from parental surveillance? Where are the elders who will direct that someone give assistance? Where are the dwellings of kinsfolk to whom a frightened child may run for comfort? (p. 197)

Child-abuse rates for PAs suggest a displaced culture gone awry. Apparently, fragmentary assimilation into the larger culture has catalyzed the disintegration of the Polynesian extended family system (Ritchie & Ritchie, 1981): As a result, there has been a failure in the transfer of Polynesian cultural values and child rearing styles to modern day Hawaii. An exploration of family interaction patterns in conflict situations might reveal the source of abusive behavior and suggest some solutions.

Though the child-abuse literature is vast, and some cross-cultural studies have been reported (e.g., Dubanoski, 1982; Dubanoski & Snyder, 1981; Ima & Hohm, 1991; Korbin, 1987; Kumagai & Straus, 1983; Levinson, 1989; Steinmetz, 1981), there is no research to date which investigates comparative parent- teen aggression rates during conflict situations among ethnic groups in Hawaii. This study was intended to determine the relative amounts and reciprocity of physical and verbal aggression in response to conflict between parents and teens of four ethnic groups.

METHOD

Subjects were students enrolled in the 1 lth- and 12th-grades at the University Lab School in Honolulu, Hawaii. The Lab School student body is specifically formulated to reflect state- wide distributions along the dimensions of ethnicity, achievement scores, and socioeconomic status. Ninety-six students completed the survey, with a total of 179 parents living at home. Ethnicity of parents, as indicated by their children, had the following distribution: EA = 48 (27%), JA = 46 (26%), PA = 28 (16%), FA = 14 (8%), mixed or other (excluded from analyses) = 40 (23%). Similar to national samples, abuse rates for adolescents in Hawaii appear substantial: 36.3% of confirmed cases involve adolescent victims (DSSH, 1980). Therefore, a narrow age range was chosen, making it unnecessary to statistically control for age of the child, which appears to be a factor in violent parent-child dyadic interaction (Wolfner & Gelles, 1993).

The Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS; Straus, 1979), developed in 1971 at the University of New Hampshire, served as the primary measurement tool. The CTS, in various forms, has been widely utilized by researchers in the study of family violence (e.g., Blanchard & Blanchard, 1983; Caliso & Miiner, 1992; Cantrell, Carrico, Franklin, & Grubb, 1990; Connelly & Straus, 1992; Dibble & Straus, 1980; Gelles, 1978, 1979; Kashani, Deuser, & Reid, 1991; Kumagai & Straus, 1983; Steinmetz, 1977, 1981, 1986; Straus, 1974, 1979; Straus & Gelles, 1986; Straus, Geiles, & Steinmetz, 1980; Vissing, Straus, Gelles, & Harrop, 1991; Wissow, Wilson, Roter, Larson, & Berman, 1992; Wolfner & Gelles, 1993). Items can be divided into three behavior categories: reasoning (discussion, providing information, seeking mediation), verbal aggression (includes insults, swearing, yelling, and threats to hit or throw an object), and physical aggres- sion (includes throwing objects, pushing, shoving, grabbing, slapping, spanking, kicking, biting,

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684 D. T. Hartz

Table 2. CTS Scores by Ethnicity: Means and Standard Deviations

Fathers Mothers

European American M 20.5 31.5 SD 29.9 47.4

Japanese American M 10.8 11.2 SD 12.5 17.9

Polynesian American M 49.5 129.8 SD 78.5 124.5

Filipino American M 28.9 26.0 SD 54.7 26.7

hitting). At the request of the Lab School, items referring to the actual or threatened use of a gun or knife were omitted from the survey. Scores were based on a weighted sum of the number of occurrences of each item. In this computation, reasoning items received a weight of 0, verbal aggression items a weight of 1, and physical aggression items a weight of 2. In addition to the CTS, subjects completed a brief demographic questionnaire in which they were asked to categorize parents (with whom they currently resided) by ethnicity.

RESULTS

Mean CTS scores by ethnic group and parent gender are presented in Table 2. JA parents received the lowest scores, PA parents the highest, with the largest gender differences in the latter group. Zero-order correlations between CTS scores and dummy coded ethnicity variables (see Table 3) suggested the series of orthogonal contrasts used in a multiple regression analysis (see Table 4). In this model, ethnicity and parent gender predict CTS scores (R 2 = .28, p < .0001), With a significant interaction between ethnicity and gender for the PA group. Mothers of any ethnicity (F = 4.8, p < .05), PA parents (F = 4.6, p < .05), and especially PA mothers (F = 10.5, p < .01), utilized verbally and physically aggressive behaviors more frequently than did other parents during conflict situations with their teenage child.

A similar model (see Table 5) predicting teen aggression toward parents was significant (R 2 = .38, p < .0001), with parent CTS scores being the strongest predictor (F = 101.7, p < .0001), and a significant interaction between CTS score and EA ethnicity (F = 21.5, p < .0001).

Table 3. Correlations Among Some Predictor and Outcome Variables

1. 2. 3. 4.

I. Parent Aggression Score 2. Number of Parent Responses .92*** 3. Aggression Rate Per Response .69*** .11 4. Subject Aggression Score .53*** .62*** .40*** 5. Parent = Mother (vs. Father) .09 .11 .04 .17" 6. Subject = Male (vs. Female) - . 0 6 .01 - . 1 4 - . 12 7. EA Parent (vs. all others) - . 08 - . 03 .02 .12 8. JA Parent (vs. all others) - . 2 1 " * - . 23** - . 1 7 " - . 1 2 9. PA Parent (vs. all others) .29*** .28*** .24** .07

10. FA Parent (vs. all others) - . 0 4 .02 - . 04 - . 05

* p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001. Note. EA, JA, PA, and FA respectively signify European, Japanese, Polynesian, and Filipino Americans.

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Comparative conflict resolution patterns

Table 4. Simultaneous Partitioning of Variation in Parent CTS Scores

685

d f SS MS F p R 2

Model 6 144988.68 24164.78 Error 129 253256.59 1948.13 Total 135 526516.88

8.17 .0001 .2754

Raw Regression Simultaneous Coefficient Sum of Squares F

Gender Variables Subject = Male (vs. Female) 9.38 2869.41 0.97 Parent ~- Mother (vs. Father) 20.66 14285.17 4.83*

Ethnicity Variables FA (vs. EA) -0.04 69.97 0.21) JA (vs. EA + FA) -0.14 6214.51 2.10 PA (vs. EA + FA + JA) 0.25 13445.90 4.55*

Interaction PA × Parent = Mother 0.55 30398.96 10.45"*

* p < .05; **p < .01. Note. EA, JA, PA, and FA respectively signify European, Japanese, Polynesian, and Filipino American Parents.

Correlations between CTS scores of mothers, fathers, and their teenage children are presented in Table 6. Reciprocal aggression appears in dyads of both parent gender: Subjects with high maternal CTS scores reported more aggressive behaviors toward their mothers (r = .59, p < .0001), and subjects with high paternal scores reported more aggression toward their fathers (r = .39, p < .001). In cross-comparisons, however, results were not parallel: While subjects with high paternal CTS scores reported more aggressive behavior toward their mothers (r = .53, p < .0001), subjects with high maternal scores did not report more aggressive behavior toward their father (r = . 16, p = n.s.). Maternal and paternal CTS scores were also significantly correlated (r = .72, p < .0001).

DISCUSSION

The results of this study suggest that styles of conflict resolution differ among the four ethnic groups compared. According to teen report, in conflict situations PA parents, and

Table 5. Simultaneous Partitioning of Variation in Subject CTS Scores

df SS MS F p R ~

Model 3 63315.75 21105.23 Error 173 103052.01 1948.13 Total 176 166367.74

35.43 .0001 .3806

Raw Regression Simultaneous Coefficient Sum of Squares F

Parent CTS Score 0.29 60597.98 101.73" EA (vs. FA + JA + PA) -0.01 38.50 0.06 EA × Parent Violence 0.00 12796.43 21.48"

* p < .0001. Note. EA, JA, PA, and FA respectively signify European, Japanese, Polynesian, and Filipino American Parents.

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686 D.T. Hartz

Table 6. Triadic Patterns in Family Aggression: Correlations in CTS Scores Within and Between Dyads

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

I. Mother Toward Subject 2. Father Toward Subject .72*** 3. Parents Toward Subject .95*** .90*** 4. Subject Toward Mother .59*** .53*** 5. Subject Toward Father .16 .39** 6. Subject Toward Parents .47*** .54***

.61"**

.27* .52***

.54*** .91"** .82***

* p < .05; **p < .001; ***p < .0001.

especially PA mothers, responded more aggressively, than did EA, FA, or JA parents. JA parents offered fewer responses than did parents in all other ethnic groups and were less aggressive than PA parents, but they were not less aggressive than EAs and FAs. These results were in general agreement with comparative rates for child abuse and for overall family aggression reported among members of these four ethnic groups in Hawaii. Teens of all ethnic groups reciprocated with counteraggression toward parents, but teens were significantly more likely to do so toward EA parents than toward parents of other ethnicity.

Additionally, the aggressive behavior of one parent was highly correlated with the aggressive behavior of the other, suggesting aggression as a family style. Teen aggression generalized more strongly toward mothers than toward fathers: When mothers were aggressive, teens were likely to behave aggressively toward their mothers but not toward their fathers. In contrast, when fathers were aggressive, teens reciprocated directly to some degree, but they were far more likely to behave aggressively toward their mothers. In short, aggression by either parent had a stronger coincidence with teen aggression toward mothers than with teen aggression toward fathers.

SPECULATION AND RELEVANCE

Two factors--traditional use of physical punitiveness as a method of behavioral control, and increased responsibility for child care resulting from social isolat ion--may have interacted to produce the relative verbal and physical aggression rates seen among these groups. Of the four ethnic groups studied, both EAs and PAs have historically demonstrated free use of physical punishment, while JAs and FAs have traditionally preferred other methods of control (Ima & Hohm, 1991; The Pan Asian Parent Education Project, 1982; Ponce & Forman, 1980). EAs and JAs, with no tradition of community parenting, have not experienced much need to alter their child-management style in the current cultural context. In contrast, both PAs and FAs are faced with the need for more direct parental involvement than was customary in their cultures of origin, where siblings, peers, elders and other group members continuously shared in the training and discipline of children. Of these latter two groups, however, only PAs encounter these new demands with a predilection toward punitive physical expression. As a result, in lieu of alternative child-management techniques, the frequency of parental aggression in PA households appears to increase directly with requirements for behavioral control.

The CTS scores of teens were strongly predicted by the CTS scores of their parents, suggesting the intergenerational transmission of a physically and verbally aggressive behavioral style in dyadic conflict situations. Although elder-directed violence appears to be on the rise in Japan (Honjo & Wakabayashi, 1988), stronger social sanctions against violence toward elders in the three Pacific rim cultures may have tempered this effect, resulting in lower counteraggression rates when compared to the teenage children of EA parents in our sample.

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Comparative conflict resolution patterns 687

Aggression as a family style was indicated by reciprocity between parents and teens, and by the strong relationship between CTS scores of parent dyads. Importantly, the CTS scores of both parents were more highly coincident with teen aggression toward the mother, than with teen aggression toward the father. This gender difference may reflect differential inhibition due to physical size, it may be a result of aggressive behavior toward mothers being modeled by fathers, or it may flow from larger cultural influences regarding the victimization of women. Further research is needed to determine why aggressive behavior appears to generalize more toward mothers than toward fathers.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

In agreement with comparative child abuse rates and overall family aggression patterns, tactics used to resolve conflict between parents and their teenage children differ among the four Hawaiian ethnic groups studied. By teen report, Polynesian American parents exhibited more verbally and physically aggressive behavior toward their children than did European, Japanese, or Filipino American parents. Teens reciprocated with counter aggression, but more strongly toward their mothers than toward their fathers, and more toward European American parents than toward parents of other ethnicity. Parental conflict resolution strategies were the best predictor of aggressive teen behavior toward parents.

Polynesian Americans are unique among these four ethnic groups in that they both (a~ have a tradition of spontaneous, punitive, physical expression toward children, and (b) experience a radical departure from the historic child-rearing environment, which was characterized by intensive, extended family, community, and peer group involvement. Today, physically isolated and restrictive housing precludes fluid movement within the extended family and greater community, now literally truncated by high-rise apartment walls, Large families place intolera- ble demands on parents deprived of village community support and the socialization function it previously provided.

Child abuse has been associated with unemployment (Cantrell, Carrico, Franklin, & Grubb, 1990), poverty (Gelles, 1989), unhappiness (Caliso & Milner, 1992), psychosocial stress (Wis- sow, Wilson, Roter, Larson, & Berman, 1992), and social isolation (Garbarino, 1977; Ima & Hohm, 1991; Korbin, 1987; Levinson, 1989). Polynesian American parents cite continuous child care as a major factor in abusive incidents (Dubanoski, 1982; Dubanoski & Snyder, 1981), suggesting that sequestered parents are comparatively unprepared for the consignment of sole and perpetual management of children in the urban setting. Novel methods are required to restore community care, in order to compensate for the discontinuity of traditional social support.

Acknowledgement--The author wishes to thank the University of Hawaii Laboratory School for the participation of its junior and senior high school students in this project.

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R~um6----L'6tude porte sur la facon dont 96 6tudiants au niveau secondalre, ainsi que leurs parents, se comportent pour r6gler leurs conflits familiaux. L'6tude portalt sur l'ann6e pr6c&lente et s'est bas6e sur le Conflict Tactics Scale (Straus 1979). On a compar6 les niveaux d'agression entre parents et adolescents dans des families am6ricalnes de descendance europ6enne, japonaise, polyn6sienne et filipinoise. Les adolescents de descendance polynont 6sienne r6v616 des niveaux d'agression beaucoup plus 61ev6s que les autres groupes. L'agression des parents s'est av&~e le meilleur indice pour pr&lire l'agression des adolescents envers leurs parents. Les adolescents de descendance europ6enne 6taient plus port6s a d6montrer une r6action agressive envers leurs parents que les jeunes appartenant a d'autres groupes ethniques. On a not6 une relation tr6s marqu6e entre l'agression chez un parent et l'agression chez l'autre. Lorsqu'il y avait agression entre un parent ou l'autre et I'adolescent, le jeune 6tait plus port6 a la diriger conlxe sa m/~re que son pbre.

Resumen---Noventa y seis estudiantes de la escuela superior proporcionaron informaci6n acerca de su propia conducta y la conducta de sus padres/madres en la resoluci6n de conflictos durante el afio anterior, utilizando la "'Conflict Tactics Scale" ("Escala de Tficticas de Conflicto") (Straus, 1979). Se compararon, en una serie de contrastes ortogonales, los niveles de agresi6n en diadas norteamericanas padre/madre-joven de ascendencia europea, japonesa, polinesia, y filipina. Los hijos adolescentes de padres polinesio-norteamericanos informaron de unos niveles de agresi6n parental significativamente mils altos que los hijos adolescentes de padres de otras etnias. La agresi6n parental fue el mejor predictor de la agresi6n de los adolescentes hacia sus padres. Los hijos de padres europeo-norteamericanos respondfan con mayor frecuencia a la agresi6n de sus padres con otra agresi6n, en comparaci6n a los padres de otras etnias. La agresi6n de un padre/madre estaba altamente correlacionada con la agresi6n pot parte del otro padre/madre. La agresi6n por parte de cualquiera de los padres correlacionaba de manera mils intensa con la agresi6n del adolescente hacia la madre, que con la agresi6n del adolescente hacia el padre.