Violent Behavior and Adolescents’ Appraisal and Coping Strategies 1 Development of Violent Behavior and Adolescents’ Appraisal and Coping Strategies related to Inter-parental Violence

The present review focuses on understanding the explanatory mechanisms behind the use of violence within intimate relationships, highlighting the consequences of adolescents’ exposure to Inter-parental violence and gauging the role of their (adolescents) appraisal and coping strategies. The theories reviewed stress the significant impact of close figures’ behaviors on the developing child and adolescent trough observational and imitational processes, secure and insecure attachment patterns and related internal working models as well as trough building own understanding of the world and human interrelations. The review revealed also that adolescents’ exposure to Inter-parental violence constituted an unequivocal risk factor leading to a range of consequences categorized as internalizing and externalizing problems. It however indicates that the outcome behaviors are not a result of a linear process because there is range of mediating factors that explain the association between adolescents’ exposure to Inter-parental violence and outcome behaviors. Finally, appraisal of Inter-parental violence was identified as a central mechanism that impacts both the magnitude of the consequences of exposure and the adolescents’ conception and execution of coping strategies.