Parenting styles, peer factors and indirect and physical aggression: Analyses from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth

In the present study, parenting styles and peer factors were examined in combination to determine how closely they are related to both indirect and physical aggression. Specifically of interest were three parenting behaviours, nurturance and warmth, rejection and monitoring. Peer factors of interest consisted of various antisocial and deviant behaviours; specifically school and gang related behaviours. The sample consisted of 1,976 14 and 15 year old boys and girls drawn from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, which is a national stratified sample of households across all provinces in Canada. The relation between aggression and parenting and peer factors was determined by two stepwise regression analyses. Results indicated that very little variance in indirect aggression was explained by parenting and peer factors. For physical aggression, peer factors, but not parenting factors were highly correlated.;Also gender comparisons using analyses of variance showed that although indirect and physical aggression do significantly differ between boys and girls, the difference is not meaningful. Similarly, neither type of aggression differs between 14 and 15 year olds. These results are discussed according to Brofennbrenner's theory of development, and implications for clinical programming are offered. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...