Citation

Qi W. Child Abuse Negl. 2019; 91: 12-22.

Affiliation

Chinese Academy of Educational Big Data, Qufu Normal University, Qufu 273165, China. Electronic address: qiwanxue@126.com.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.chiabu.2019.02.007

PMID

30807871

Abstract

As the negative outcomes of harsh parenting for child development have been gradually revealed, researchers become increasingly interested in the mechanisms through which harsh parenting affects child development. This study aimed to explore the mediating role of child moral disengagement and the moderating role of negative parental attribution in the relation of harsh parenting to child aggression. A sample of 397 Chinese adolescents aged from 12 to 16 years (227 boys and 170 girls, Mage = 13.98) with their parents were recruited as participants from two public schools situated in rural areas of Shandong province in China. Data were gathered from parents reporting on their harsh parenting and negative parental attribution, adolescents reporting on their moral disengagement, and peers nominating out aggressive children.

RESULTS indicated that harsh parenting was both directly and indirectly associated with adolescent aggression via adolescent moral disengagement. Negative parental attribution was found to moderate the indirect relation of harsh parenting to adolescent aggression via moral disengagement. Specifically, harsh parenting was only significantly associated with moral disengagement for adolescents with high levels of moral disengagement was more likely to induce aggression among adolescents with high levels of negative parental attribution (bsimple = of harsh parenting to adolescent aggression, adolescent moral disengagement could mediate the association between harsh parenting and aggressive behaviors for adolescents with high levels of negative parental attribution.

Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Aggression; Harsh parenting; Moral disengagement; Negative parental attribution