Event-specific and contextual effects on variables influencing verbal aggression in couples' conflict.

The author examined the relationship between negative attributions, anger, and verbal aggression for both event-specific and contextual effects. Participants completed a survey containing assessments of these variables over five points in time to assess within-person changes over time. It was hypothesized that negative attributions would be associated with anger, which would in turn be associated with verbal aggression. Attachment was also considered in the analysis as a potential moderator of the relationships between negative attributions and anger, and between anger and verbal aggression. Results indicated that negative attributions had significant contextual effects predicting verbal aggression, whereas anger had significant event-specific effects. Some support for mediation was found, whereas no support of moderation was observed. The results from this study were also important in distinguishing verbal aggression from general negative communication.