Normativeness of Violence and Associations Between Caregiver Physical Abuse and Child Aggression

Author

Global Families Research Team

Published

February 3, 2026

⬇️

This study (Ma et al., in preparation) examined the associations between caregiver physical abuse and aggressive behaviors among 3- to 4-year-old children in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

We also examined whether these associations are different or similar in contexts with high levels of macro-level violence (physical abuse, intimate partner violence, and terrorism and political violence).

We analyzed cross-sectional data from 79,806 households across 53 LMICs using the UNICEF Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys.

Multilevel logistic regression models examined main effects and interactions of household-level caregiver physical abuse and measures of country-level violence.

⬇️

The results revealed that physical abuse is associated with higher aggression in children.

There were some contextual variations in these associations.

However, findings demonstrated that both severe and moderate physical abuse are consistently associated with increased odds of child aggression across countries, underscoring the universality of this risk.

The link between physical abuse and child aggression appears to be constant, and does not appear to depend upon context.

There is some evidence from other research (Ma et al., 2025) that there is a pathway from higher levels of community or societal violence to physical abuse, and onward to child aggression.

These findings emphasize that physical abuse poses a significant threat to child development in diverse global contexts.

The findings highlight the need for contextually-responsive policy interventions aimed at reducing physically abusive practices worldwide.

flowchart LR

  classDef yellow fill:#FFC20E,stroke:#000000,stroke-width:2px,color:#000000;
  
  classDef blue fill:#374EA2,stroke:#000000,stroke-width:2px,color:#FFFFFF;
  
  classDef green fill:#00833D,stroke:#000000,stroke-width:2px,color:#FFFFFF;
  
  classDef orange fill:#D86018,stroke:#000000,stroke-width:2px,color:#FFFFFF;
  
  classDef red fill:#9A3324,stroke:#000000,stroke-width:2px,color:#FFFFFF;
  
  abuse[physical abuse]:::red --> |"???"| aggression[child aggression]:::yellow

  linkStyle 0 stroke:#000000,stroke-width:3px,font-size:36px,color:black;



flowchart LR

  classDef yellow fill:#FFC20E,stroke:#000000,stroke-width:2px,color:#000000;
  
  classDef blue fill:#374EA2,stroke:#000000,stroke-width:2px,color:#FFFFFF;
  
  classDef green fill:#00833D,stroke:#000000,stroke-width:2px,color:#FFFFFF;
  
  classDef orange fill:#D86018,stroke:#000000,stroke-width:2px,color:#FFFFFF;
  
  classDef red fill:#9A3324,stroke:#000000,stroke-width:2px,color:#FFFFFF;
  
  subgraph lowerviolence [lower violence]
  
  direction LR

  abuse0[physical abuse]:::red --> |"???"| aggression0[child aggression]:::yellow
  
  end
  
  subgraph higherviolence [higher violence]
  
  direction LR

  abuse1[physical abuse]:::red --> |"???"| aggression1[child aggression]:::yellow
  
  end

  linkStyle 0,1 stroke:#000000,stroke-width:3px,font-size:36px,color:black;

  style lowerviolence fill: #F2F2F2

  style higherviolence fill: #F2F2F2

Countries in UNICEF MICS Data

multilevel logistic regression

flowchart LR

  classDef yellow fill:#FFC20E,stroke:#000000,stroke-width:2px,color:#000000;
  
  classDef blue fill:#374EA2,stroke:#000000,stroke-width:2px,color:#FFFFFF;
  
  classDef green fill:#00833D,stroke:#000000,stroke-width:2px,color:#FFFFFF;
  
  classDef orange fill:#D86018,stroke:#000000,stroke-width:2px,color:#FFFFFF;
  
  classDef red fill:#9A3324,stroke:#000000,stroke-width:2px,color:#FFFFFF;
  
  abuse[physical abuse]:::red --> aggression[child aggression]:::yellow

  linkStyle 0 stroke:#000000,stroke-width:3px,font-size:36px,color:black;



flowchart LR

  classDef yellow fill:#FFC20E,stroke:#000000,stroke-width:2px,color:#000000;
  
  classDef blue fill:#374EA2,stroke:#000000,stroke-width:2px,color:#FFFFFF;
  
  classDef green fill:#00833D,stroke:#000000,stroke-width:2px,color:#FFFFFF;
  
  classDef orange fill:#D86018,stroke:#000000,stroke-width:2px,color:#FFFFFF;
  
  classDef red fill:#9A3324,stroke:#000000,stroke-width:2px,color:#FFFFFF;
  
  subgraph lowerviolence [lower violence]
  
  direction LR

  abuse0[physical abuse]:::red --> aggression0[child aggression]:::yellow
  
  end
  
  subgraph higherviolence [higher violence]
  
  direction LR

  abuse1[physical abuse]:::red --> aggression1[child aggression]:::yellow
  
  end

  linkStyle 0,1 stroke:#000000,stroke-width:3px,font-size:36px,color:black;

  style lowerviolence fill: #F2F2F2

  style higherviolence fill: #F2F2F2



flowchart LR

  classDef yellow fill:#FFC20E,stroke:#000000,stroke-width:2px,color:#000000;
  
  classDef blue fill:#374EA2,stroke:#000000,stroke-width:2px,color:#FFFFFF;
  
  classDef green fill:#00833D,stroke:#000000,stroke-width:2px,color:#FFFFFF;
  
  classDef orange fill:#D86018,stroke:#000000,stroke-width:2px,color:#FFFFFF;
  
  classDef red fill:#9A3324,stroke:#000000,stroke-width:2px,color:#FFFFFF;
  
  abuse[physical abuse]:::red --> aggression[child aggression]:::yellow

  macroviolence[higher levels of <br>social or community violence]:::orange --> abuse

  linkStyle 0,1 stroke:#000000,stroke-width:3px,font-size:36px,color:black;



flowchart TB

  classDef yellow fill:#FFC20E,stroke:#000000,stroke-width:2px,color:#000000;
  
  classDef blue fill:#374EA2,stroke:#000000,stroke-width:2px,color:#FFFFFF;
  
  classDef green fill:#00833D,stroke:#000000,stroke-width:2px,color:#FFFFFF;
  
  classDef orange fill:#D86018,stroke:#000000,stroke-width:2px,color:#FFFFFF;
  
  classDef red fill:#9A3324,stroke:#000000,stroke-width:2px,color:#FFFFFF;
  
  abuse[physical abuse]:::red -->  |"reduce"| aggression[child aggression]:::yellow

  interventions:::green --> |"reduce"| abuse

  linkStyle 0,1 stroke:#000000,stroke-width:3px,font-size:12px,color:red;

References

Ma, J., Grogan-Kaylor, A., Han, Y., Ward, K. P., Chang, O. D., Cuartas, J., Pace, G. T., McCoy, D. C., & Boyle, E. H. (in preparation). Normativeness of micro- and macro-level violence as moderators of associations between caregiver physical abuse and child aggression.
Ma, J., Grogan-Kaylor, A., Ward, K. P., Boyle, E. H., Chang, O. D., & Pace, G. T. (2025). Spillover of macro-level violence to parental physical abuse of children in low- and middle-income countries. Child Abuse & Neglect, 164, 107468. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2025.107468