| The family is one of the most central influences in child development. This study, via secondary analysis, explored the relation between a number of family factors and child aggression. Using parent and teacher reports of child aggression, the association between four aspects of the parent relationship, negotiation, strain, minor aggression and severe aggression, and child aggression was examined. Subsequently, mediational analyses tested whether the relation between parent relationship quality and child aggression could be accounted for by family functioning. Five parenting and family relationships characteristics, discipline, monitoring, cohesion, structure and beliefs, were evaluated for their role in the relation between parent relationship quality and child aggression. The sample in this study consisted of 107 1ow-income, ethnic minority families residing in inner-city Chicago.;The findings confirmed the importance of the relationship between parents for overall family functioning. Strain between adult caregivers was negatively related to all but one of the parenting a family relationships characteristics. Each of the other parent relationship quality factors, negotiation, minor aggression and severe aggression, were related to one or more of the family functioning variables. Of the five family functioning factors, shared family beliefs and parental monitoring were significantly associated with child aggression. Parent relationship quality and child aggression were modestly related. The hypotheses of mediation were not supported. Severe aggression between parents was associated with increased child aggression, in part because of reduced parental monitoring. Both inter-parent strain and minor psychological aggression between parents had indirect effects on child aggression through shared family beliefs. Ethnicity accounted for some unique effects in the model, especially with regard to shared family beliefs. The relations in the model did not vary by gender or ethnicity, which suggests that the family factors involved in the development of aggressive behavior in children are similar for boys and girls, as well as African American and Latino children. Unexpected findings, as well as the limitations and implications of the study, are reviewed. |
