Becoming Verbally Aggressive Toward One's Child: A Study of the Mother's Perspective

In this study, a qualitative, case-based method of research was used to study how mothers experience becoming verbally aggressive toward their children. The objective of the study was to explicate the mother's perspective and articulate it as a coherent whole. Ten mothers (ages 25–66) provided descriptions of becoming verbally aggressive toward their children that were analyzed using the Giorgi method of empirical-phenomenological analysis (e.g., Giorgi, 1985 Giorgi, A. 1985. “Sketch of a psychological phenomenological method”. In Phenomenology and psychological research, Edited by: Giorgi, A. 8–22. Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press. [Google Scholar], 2009 Giorgi, A. 2009. The descriptive phenomenological method in psychology: A modified Husserlian approach, Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press. [Google Scholar]). The aim of the study was to elucidate the qualitative significance of becoming verbally aggressive toward one's child as lived by the mothers themselves. How the results might shed light on maternal verbal aggression as a form of psychological maltreatment (i.e., verbal abuse) was also considered.