The Effects of Parenting Style and Psychological Control on Relational Aggression in African-American Girls

This dissertation explored the relationship of parenting styles and psychological control on relational aggression in African American girls. Specifically, it examined African American girls' perpetration and victimization of relational aggression and the influence of their mother's parenting style on their behavior. This study also investigated if parenting style is predictive of relational aggression and relational victimization.;This dissertation sought to answer the following questions: (a) How well do parenting style and psychological control predict relational aggression in African American girls? (b) How well do parenting style and psychological control predict relational victimization in African American girls? (c) Which is the best predictor of relational aggression: psychological control or parenting style? (d) Which is the best predictor of relational victimization: psychological control or parenting style? (e) If the possible effects of parent age and income level are controlled, are parenting style and psychological control be able to predict relational aggression? (f) If we control for the possible effects of mother's age and income level, are parenting style and psychological control still able to predict a significant amount of the variance in the relational victimization score?;I confirmed that psychological control was negatively associated with authoritative parenting style. Additionally, girls' perceptions of their mothers' degree of psychological control was not significantly related to either their daughter's use of relational aggression or their relational victimization. In contrast, parenting style was associated with relational aggression. Additionally, after controlling for age and annual household income, psychological control and parenting style did not significantly predict relational aggression. With regard to relational victimization, after controlling for age and annual household income, an authoritarian parenting style significantly predicted relational victimization.