Citation

KeltikangasJarvinen L, AsplundPeltola RL. Aggressive Behav. 1995; 21(6): 419-429.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1995, International Society for Research on Aggression, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Agreement between social problem-solving scripts of aggressive and sociable adolescents and their parents was studied in the sample of a total of 282 subjects (94 adolescents, 94 mothers, and 94 fathers). Social problem-solving scripts were assessed by describing the subjects' three stories in which a hero was pressured by his peers into criminal or immoral behavior. The subjects were subsequently asked a series of questions focusing on their problem-solving scripts and the motivation of those scripts. In addition to their own scripts the parents were asked how they thought their children are likely to think and behave. The statistical analysis used was a personality-oriented pattern approach. The results indicated extremely low if there was any congruence between adolescents' and their parents' social decision-making scripts. Parents' expectations were, however, in line with the peer-rated behavior of their children, i.e., aggressive children were expected to have aggressive scripts while sociable children were expected to be totally 'good'. This was not true with the children's own scripts. The findings are discussed in terms of appropriate reinforcement, perceived self-efficacy, and supportive parent-child relationship.