Peer-reviewed article
EFFECTS OF PERSONALITY TRAITS AND NEGATIVE LIFE EVENTS ON FATHERS’ VIOLENCE AGAINST CHILDREN
Ilija Z. Milovanović, Bojana M. Dinić, Milana Jovanov, Selka Sadiković, Jasmina Kodžopeljić ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined how fathers' personality traits and negative life events influence violence against children in Serbia. The research found that higher aggressiveness and more frequent negative life events were associated with increased violence against children. Interestingly, fathers with lower neuroticism who experienced more negative life events were also more prone to violence. The findings suggest that personality characteristics interact with stressful life circumstances to increase the risk of violence.
Key points
- Higher aggressiveness in fathers significantly predicted violence against children
- More frequent negative life events contributed to predicting violence against children
- Fathers with lower neuroticism combined with more negative life events were more prone to violence
- Personality traits should be considered in the context of situational stress factors
- Previous research had focused mainly on mothers; this study addresses a gap by examining fathers
Limitations
This is a correlational study that identifies associations rather than causal relationships. The study was conducted on a sample from the general population in Serbia, which may not represent fathers who commit more severe violence, limiting generalizability.
Abstract
Previous studies mostly explored the characteristics of mothers who showed tendency towards violence against children. However, there was a lack of research regarding the characteristics of abusive fathers. The aim of this study was to test the effects of fathers’ personality traits and frequency of negative life events, as well as their interaction on violence against children. The study was conducted on a sample of 259 fathers from the general population from Serbia. Results showed that higher Aggressiveness and more presence of negative life events contributed to the prediction of violence against children. Furthermore, the interaction between Neuroticism and negative life events was also significant, showing that fathers with lower Neuroticism and more negative life events were more prone to violence against children. The results of this study confirm that personality traits could be important determinants of violent behavior toward children, but also add to the conclusion that some of them should be considered in the context of negative situational factors.