The present study examined the direct and indirect relationships between parenting processes (parental closeness, parental monitoring, and parental peer approval), low self-control, and aggression. Participants were 546 adolescents aged 14–18 attending state high schools in Turkey. Participants completed a questionnaire that included measures of parenting processes, self-control, and aggression. Findings provided evidence of both direct and indirect effects of maternal and paternal parenting processes on aggression through low self-control. Specifically, results showed that maternal closeness, paternal peer approval and both maternal and paternal monitoring were positively and directly related to low self-control, and indirectly related to aggression through low self-control. Together, parenting processes and low self-control explained 21% of the variance in aggression. Implications for self-control theory and directions for future research are discussed.
A large body of research provides evidence for the role of aggression in negative child outcomes. Aggressive children are more likely to experience peer rejection, depression, negative self-perceptions, and are more likely to drop out of school (Crick & Grotpeter, 1995; Grotpeter & Crick, 1996; Rys & Bear, 1997). Several factors have been investigated as the antecedents of aggression; parenting processes has been identified as one of the most salient predictors (McDowell, Parke, & Spitzer, 2002; Paterson & Sanson, 1999). Also, past research has identified links among low self-control and deviance (Hay, 2001; Vazsonyi, 2003), and aggression (Krueger, Caspi, Moffitt, White, & Stouthammer-Loeber, 1996). Several studies indicate direct influences of parenting on adolescent deviance (Hay, 2001; Pratt, Turner, & Piquero, 2004; Vazsonyi & Belliston, 2007); others have found that parenting processes impact deviance, including aggression, through low self-control (Gibbs, Giever, & Martin, 1998; Hope & Chapple, 2005), indicating that ineffective parenting might result in low levels of self-control in children which in turn leads to the development of both deviant and aggressive behaviors. One influential theory that addresses these links is “Self-Control Theory” (Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990). It suggests that self-control mediates the relationship between parenting processes and adolescent aggressive behaviors. To our knowledge, few studies have specifically examined the relationship between low self-control and aggression (cf., De Kemp et al., 2009; Kim & Brody, 2005) or the links among parenting processes, low self-control, and violent behavior (Hay, 2001; Vazsonyi & Belliston, 2007; Vazsonyi & Klanjsek, 2008). We are unaware of previous work that has focused on the relationships among parenting processes, low self-control, and aggression. In addition, while empirical studies provided considerable support for self-control theory (see Pratt & Cullen, 2000), the theory was tested only in a few studies across different cultural groups (e.g., Cheung & Cheung, 2008; Miller, Jennings, Alvarez-Rivera, & Lanza-Kaduce, 2009; Tittle & Botchkovar, 2005; Vazsonyi, Pickering, Junger, & Hessing, 2001; Vazsonyi, Wittekind, Belliston, & Van Loh, 2004). So, related to the applicability of self-control theory, with some notable exceptions, most work has been conducted on Western youth, and it remains unknown to what extend propositions generalize to non-Western cultures, such as Turkey (Scarpate, Vazsonyi, Burcu, Torrente & Sheu, 2008). If the hypothesized links among parenting processes, self-control and aggression find empirical support, this would provide further evidence of the replicability of the theory in non-Western developmental contexts. Thus, the main purpose of the present study was to examine the relations between parenting processes (parental closeness, parental monitoring, and parental peer approval) and aggression, as well as the mediating role of low self-control in the links between parenting processes and aggression among Turkish youth.
Aggression was measured by the short version of the aggression questionnaires (Buss & Perry, 1992). The short form of AQ (Bryant & Smith, 2001) has 12 items in four subscales similar in structure to Buss and Perry's original AQ (see Appendix C). Physical aggression (PA), verbal aggression (VA), anger (A), and hostility (H) each have 3 items. Items are scored on a scale ranging from 1 (Not at all like me) to 5 (Completely like me). Reliability estimates for the 12-item short version of the AQ reported as follows: physical aggression (α = .80), verbal aggression (α = .77), anger (α = .71), and hostility (α = .73) ( Bryant & Smith, 2001). Consistent with previous studies ( Can, 2002) the present study's reliability coefficient for the total aggression score was found to be α = .80. Table 2 presents descriptive statistics and reliability estimates of all measures.
