The Role of Witnessing Violence, Peer Provocation, Family Support, and Parenting Practices in the Aggressive Behavior of Rural Adolescents

Abstract

This study examined the influence of witnessing violence, peer provocation, family support, and parenting practices (monitoring and discipline) on aggression. Participants were 1,196 ninth graders at nine schools in poor, predominantly agricultural, rural communities who completed measures of these variables. Witnessing violence, peer provocation, low levels of family support, and poor parenting practices were each related to higher frequencies of aggression. Witnessing violence and peer provocation partially mediated relations between parenting and aggression, such that students who reported high levels of appropriate parenting reported lower levels of witnessing violence and peer provocation. These were, in turn, related to lower levels of aggression. The relation between family support and aggression was also mediated by peer provocation, though the degree of mediation was not as strong as for parenting. Both parenting and family support moderated the relation between witnessing violence and aggression such that this relation was stronger among adolescents who reported low family support or high levels of poor parenting. Neither parenting nor family support moderated the relation between peer provocation and aggression. Overall, parenting practices had a stronger influence on aggression than did family support. Results were generally consistent across gender. These findings have important implications for intervention efforts.

Prácticas Educativas Paternas Y Agresividad en Estudiantes Universitarios

“…Otras investigaciones han puesto de manifiesto que el excesivo tanto control conductual como psicológico o, las prácticas educativas caracterizadas por ausencia de control, también favorecen la aparición de conductas de agresividad en los hijos (Krnutson, DeGarmo y Reid, 2004;Mazefsky y Farell, 2005).…”

“…Así, diversas investigaciones han evidenciado que el control conductual, caracterizado por la exigencia de responsabilidades, el establecimiento de límites y la supervisión, se relaciona negativamente con la aparición de agresividad en los hijos. Sin embargo, cuando los padres utilizan métodos basados en el control psicológico, como es la inducción de culpa o el chantaje emocional, los hijos tienden a manifestar en mayor medida comportamientos violentos (Márquez, Villarreal, Verdugo y Montes, 2014).Otras investigaciones han puesto de manifiesto que el excesivo tanto control conductual como psicológico o, las prácticas educativas caracterizadas por ausencia de control, también favorecen la aparición de conductas de agresividad en los hijos (Krnutson, DeGarmo y Reid, 2004;Mazefsky y Farell, 2005).Un aspecto relacionado con el control por parte de los padres y que cabe mencionar, es el conocimiento que éstos tienen de distintos aspectos de la vida de sus hijos. En este sentido Kerr y Stattin (2000) indican que en ocasiones, la forma de determinar el control parental ha consistido en evaInternational Journal of Developmental and Educational Psychology…”

Cultural Protective Factors for Community Risks and Substance Use Among Rural African American Adolescents

“…Other studies have shown that characteristics related to cultural and familial interdependency are protective against smoking for late adolescent African American girls (Nasim, Corona, Belgrave, Utsey, & Fallah, 2006). For example, ethnic and racial socialization have been found to moderate the relationship between psychobehavioral risks and tobacco and other substance use behaviors (Belgrave, Brome, & Hampton, 2000;Brook & Pahl, 2005;Burlew et al, 2000;Nasim, Belgrave, Jagers, Wilson, & Owens, in press); family structure and relationship quality have been found to mediate negative neighborhood risks for substance use (Mazefsky & Farrell, 2005); and religiosity (e.g., importance, internal, external) has been found to buffer against substance use (Nasim, Utsey, Corona, & Belgrave, 2006;Oler, 1996). However, little attention has been afforded to protective factors against community risks and substance use for rural African American.…”

Harsh discipline and readiness for interpersonal aggression in Poland and the USA: the mediating role of sensitivity to provocations and frustrations

“…For example, children who report poor parenting experience more peer provocation and a greater likelihood of becoming a victim of physical assault from others, which in turn magnifies their aggression (Mazefsky & Farrell, 2005). Even the poor parental monitoring that can lead to witnessing community violence may contribute to child aggression, since it establishes a social context that provides perfect conditions for observational learning and internalizing the conviction that aggression is widely acceptable.…”