rs found that the behaviors of fathers and the subject's perception of the relationship between herself and her father was the strongest factor influencing aggressive behavior by the subject. The researchers also found support for the hypothesis that adolescents tend to model their behaviors after those of their parents with respect to conflict management. The modeling hypothesis was supported in relation to both aggressive and non aggressive adolescents.
2. Downey, G., & Walker, E. (1992). Distinguishing family-level and child-level influences on the development of depression and aggression in children at risk. Development & Psychopathology, 4(1), 81-95.
This article reported the results of an investigation of the influence on both depression and aggression in children of both family-level factors and child-level factors. The investigation involved a sample of 144 pre-teenaged children. The mean age of the subjects in the total sample was 9.8 years. Of the 144 subjects, 68 (47.2 percent) were female and 76 (52.8 percent) were male. The mean age of the female subjects was 9.4 years, while the mean age of the male subjects was 10.17 years. The family-level factors incorporated into the study as variables were (1) maltreatment and (2) parental psychopathology. Child-level factors incorporated into the study as variables were (1) social cognition, (2) intelligence, (3) early developmental difficulties, (4) biological sex, and (5) age. The researchers found that the child-level factors both as a group and individually were less influential as predictors of aggressive behavior on the part of the subjects than were the family-level factors both as a group and individually. The psychological maladjustment of children was found to be the greatest among subjects who resident in maltreating homes as opposed to those subjects residing in non maltreating homes.
3. Gabel, S., & Shindledecker, R. (1992). Parental substance abu...