ings of Suh and Abel's (1990) examination showed that some (40 percent) but not all of the victims reported that their spouse physically abused their children as well. In this regard, the authors observed that child abuse was more likely to occur in addition to maternal abuse in larger families.
Analyses of the reviewed cases also indicated that, in general, children who witnessed their mother's physical abuse were more likely to be abusive toward their siblings. However, children were more likely to behave in abusive ways toward their siblings if they had not only witnessed their mothers being abused but had also suffered from some type of physical abuse themselves.
Current research also supports earlier findings that witnessing abuse can lead to both external behavioral problems and internalizing behavior problems. In this regard, O'Keefe (1996) examined for the effects of different kinds of domestic violence on the adjustment levels of a racially, ethnically and socioeconomically mixed group of high school students. Statistical analyses, including two hierarchical regression analyses using externalizing behavior problem and internalizing behavior problem scores as the outcome variables, confirmed the hypothesis that witnessing violence predicted both externalizing and internalizing behavior problems.
Problems in terms of learning effective conflict resolution skills may be another consequence of witnessing maternal abuse. In this regard, Choice, Lamke and Pittman (1995) examined conflict resolution strategies and the intergenerational transmission of wife battering in a sample of almost 2,000 men participating in the Second National Family Violence Survey. Findings were said to suggest that men who had witnessed interparental violence (most commonly wife abuse) were more likely to have ineffective conflict resolution strategies. As a result of these ineffective strategies, when subjected to marital distress, these m...