PARENTAL INFLUENCE ON AGGRESSIVE CHILD BEHAVIOR
The increasing levels of aggression that characterize modern societies creates an imperative for the development of an understanding of the causes of such behavior. This research is an effort to better understand the sources and causes of aggressive behavior in children.
Possibly the best approach to reducing the levels of violent behavior in society is the development within children of non violent approaches to problem solving. Parents are in the best position to influence the behavioral development of their children. This current research represents an attempt to discover what has been reported in the literature in relation to links between aggressive behavior by children and parental influences on children.
1. Bjorkqvist, K., & Osterman, K. (1992). Parental influence on children's self-estimated aggressiveness Aggressive Behavior, 18(6), 411-423.
This article reported on a study that measured parental influence on the self-estimated aggressiveness of a sample of adolescents. The sample was drawn from a Finnish population. The mean age of the members of the sample was 13.6 years. The size of the sample was 174 subjects, of which 85 (48.9 percent) were female and 89 (51.1 percent) were male. Subjects were asked to complete a questionnaire in which they evaluated both their own behavior and that of their parents when angry. Subjects were also asked to assess the emotional relationships that existed between themselves and each of their parents. Subjects also completed selected parts of the Buss-Durkee Hostility-Guilt Inventory. The researchers found that, for male subjects, the emotional relationships (as these relationships were perceived by the subjects) between themselves and their parents was a more influential determinant of aggressive behavior by the child than was the actual behavior of the subject's parents. With respect to female subjects, the researche...