The relation between parental discipline practices, gender, and children's overt and relational aggression

Childhood aggression continues to be a significant problem, as the number of violent acts committed by today's youth continues to rise. Most research has focused on behavior that is physical in nature, as opposed to other forms of aggressive behavior. Physical aggression is commonly considered an overt form of aggression, which is more common in boys than in girls. As a result, aggressive girls and other forms of aggression, such as relational aggression, are less commonly explored. Relational aggression is more common in girls and involves harmful and intentional behavior intended to damage others' relationships or status within the peer group. There is an abundance of research that investigates the development of children's overt aggression. Parenting factors, such as discipline practices, are consistently implicated in children's overt aggression. However, there is little research that investigates similar parenting factors and their relation with children's relational aggression.;The purpose of this study was to investigate the relation between various parental discipline factors and children's overt and relational aggression. Specifically, this study investigated the relationship between parental discipline practices (i.e. poor monitoring and supervision; inconsistent and physical discipline; and positive and involved parenting), gender, and children's overt and relational aggression. Four hundred and thirty-two children (250 boys and 182 girls) between the ages of 5 and 9 years of age participated in this study. Parents (predominately mothers) of each child completed interviews and questionnaires regarding their parenting practices and their children's behavior. Teachers of each child also completed questionnaires regarding their student's overt and aggressive behavior.;Results replicated past findings that girls display more relational aggression than boys, and boys display more overt aggression than girls. Correlational and multiple regression analysis indicated that Poor Monitoring and Supervision and Inconsistent and Physical Discipline were predictive of children's overt aggression. However, this correlation was lower than expected and rather modest (e.g. R = .21). None of the three parental discipline factors were related to children's relational aggression. Implications and speculations regarding these findings are discussed in the discussion section.