Predicting child aggression: The role of parent and child endorsement of reactive aggression across 13 cultural groups in 9 nations.

Parent and child endorsement of reactive aggression both predict the emergence of child aggression, but they are rarely studied together and in longitudinal contexts. The present study does so by examining the unique predictive effects of parent and child endorsement of reactive aggression at age 8 on child aggression at age 9 in 1456 children from 13 cultural groups in 9 nations. Multiple group structural equation models explored whether age 8 child and parent endorsement of reactive aggression predicted subsequent age 9 child endorsement of reactive aggression and child aggression, after accounting for prior child aggression and parent education. Results revealed that greater parent endorsement of reactive aggression at age 8 predicted greater child endorsement of aggression at age 9, that greater parent endorsement of reactive aggression at age 8 uniquely predicted greater aggression at age 9 in girls, and that greater child endorsement of reactive aggression at age 8 uniquely predicted greater aggression at age 9 in boys. All three of these associations emerged across cultures. Implications of, and explanations for, study findings are discussed.

Effects of Parental Acceptance-Rejection on Children's Internalizing and Externalizing Behaviors: A Longitudinal, Multicultural Study.

Background: Grounded in interpersonal acceptance-rejection theory, this study assessed children's (N=1,315) perceptions of maternal and paternal acceptance-rejection in nine countries (China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States) as predictors of children's externalizing and internalizing behaviors across ages 7-14 years. Methods: Parenting behaviors were measured using children's reports on the Parental Acceptance-Rejection Questionnaire. Child externalizing and internalizing behaviors were measured using mother, father, and child reports on the Achenbach System of Empirically-Based Assessment. Results: Using a multilevel modeling framework, we found that in cultures where both maternal and paternal indifference/neglect scores were higher than average-compared to other cultures -children's internalizing problems were more persistent. At the within-culture level, all four forms of maternal and paternal rejection (i.e., coldness/lack of affection, hostility/aggression, indifference/neglect, and undifferentiated rejection) were independently associated with both externalizing and internalizing problems across ages 7-14 even after controlling for child gender, parent education, and each of the four forms of parental rejection. Conclusions: Results demonstrate that the effects of perceived parental acceptance-rejection are panculturally similar.

Perception of school climate, academic performance and risk behaviors in adolescence.

Previous studies support the relevance of students' perception of positive and negative school climate to learning processes and adolescents' adjustment. School climate is affected by both the interactions that are established within the classroom, and by the teachers' behaviors. This study has the overall objective of investigating the relationship between the perception of positive and negative school climate and students' (mal)adjustment during adolescence. Participants were 105 Italian adolescents (52.5% boys, mean age = 15.56, SD = .77) who responded for 15 consecutive days (ecological momentary assessment) to questions related to their perception of positive and negative school climate (Time 1). After one year (Time 2), students' academic performance reported by mothers and fathers and adolescents' self-reported propensity to engage in risk behaviors were examined. Four hierarchical regression models were implemented considering the mean and the instability levels (RMSSD) of the perception of positive and negative school climate as independent variables and, respectively, academic performance and risk behaviors as dependent variables. Results suggest that a higher perception of positive school climate and its instability predict higher academic performance one year later, while a higher perception of negative school climate and its instability predict higher risk behaviors. This study provides an innovative perspective to reflect on the relationship between students' perceptions of school climate and adolescents' (mal)adjustment.

Around the world, adolescence is a time of heightened sensation seeking and immature self-regulation.

The dual systems model of adolescent risk-taking portrays the period as one characterized by a combination of heightened sensation seeking and still-maturing self-regulation, but most tests of this model have been conducted in the United States or Western Europe. In the present study, these propositions are tested in an international sample of more than 5000 individuals between ages 10 and 30 years from 11 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas, using a multi-method test battery that includes both self-report and performance-based measures of both constructs. Consistent with the dual systems model, sensation seeking increased between preadolescence and late adolescence, peaked at age 19, and declined thereafter, whereas self-regulation increased steadily from preadolescence into young adulthood, reaching a plateau between ages 23 and 26. Although there were some variations in the magnitude of the observed age trends, the developmental patterns were largely similar across countries.

Neighborhood Danger, Parental Monitoring, Harsh Parenting, and Child Aggression in Nine Countries.

Exposure to neighborhood danger during childhood has negative effects that permeate multiple dimensions of childhood. The current study examined whether mothers', fathers', and children's perceptions of neighborhood danger are related to child aggression, whether parental monitoring moderates this relation, and whether harsh parenting mediates this relation. Interviews were conducted with a sample of 1,293 children (age M = 10.68, SD = .66; 51% girls) and their mothers (n = 1,282) and fathers (n = 1,075) in nine countries (China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States). Perceptions of greater neighborhood danger were associated with more child aggression in all nine countries according to mothers' and fathers' reports and in five of the nine countries according to children's reports. Parental monitoring did not moderate the relation between perception of neighborhood danger and child aggression. The mediating role of harsh parenting was inconsistent across countries and reporters. Implications for further research are discussed, and include examination of more specific aspects of parental monitoring as well as more objective measures of neighborhood danger.