Sheehan Michael J, Watson Malcolm W
Department of Psychology, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts 02454-9110, USA.
Aggress Behav. 2008 May-Jun;34(3):245-55. doi: 10.1002/ab.20241.
Most studies assessing the link between parental discipline and child aggression have focused primarily on discipline as a cause and aggression as an outcome. In addition to the pathway from discipline to aggression, however, aggressive behavior on the part of the child may lead to future use of discipline by the parent. In this study, structural equation modeling was used to assess reciprocal influences over time between a mothers' use of discipline and aggression in children. Data were drawn from the Springfield Child Development Project, a longitudinal study of middle childhood and adolescence, focusing on antecedents of aggression. The original sample consisted of 440 mother-child dyads living in the city of Springfield, MA. Children in the sample were between 7 and 14 years of age at the first data collection period and between 12 and 19 years of age at the final data collection period. Four hypotheses were tested: (1) a mother's use of aggressive discipline predicts an increase in later child aggression, (2) child aggression predicts an increase in later use of aggressive discipline, (3) the use of reasoning predicts a decrease in later child aggression, and (4) child aggression predicts an increase in later use of reasoning. All hypotheses except number 3 were supported to some degree. Results suggest that children's early aggressive behavior leads to an increase in their mothers' use of both reasoning and aggressive discipline; in turn, increased use of aggressive discipline leads to an increase in aggression during both childhood and adolescence.
大多数评估父母管教与儿童攻击行为之间联系的研究主要将管教视为原因,将攻击行为视为结果。然而,除了从管教到攻击行为的路径之外,儿童的攻击行为也可能导致父母未来更多地使用管教手段。在本研究中,采用结构方程模型来评估母亲管教方式与儿童攻击行为随时间的相互影响。数据取自斯普林菲尔德儿童发展项目,这是一项针对童年中期和青春期的纵向研究,重点关注攻击行为的成因。原始样本包括居住在马萨诸塞州斯普林菲尔德市的440对母子。样本中的儿童在首次数据收集时年龄在7至14岁之间,在最后一次数据收集时年龄在12至19岁之间。测试了四个假设:(1)母亲使用攻击性管教方式会导致儿童后期攻击行为增加;(2)儿童攻击行为会导致母亲后期更多地使用攻击性管教方式;(3)使用说理方式会导致儿童后期攻击行为减少;(4)儿童攻击行为会导致母亲后期更多地使用说理方式。除了假设3之外,其他假设均在一定程度上得到了支持。结果表明,儿童早期的攻击行为会导致母亲更多地使用说理和攻击性管教方式;反过来,更多地使用攻击性管教方式会导致儿童期和青春期的攻击行为增加。