Inter-parental Conflict and Reactive and Proactive Aggression in Adolescence : A Moderated Mediation Model

This study investigated how inter-parental conflict influence adolescent’s reactive and proactive aggression through self-blame, and how this mediation effect is moderated by gender of adolescent. It’s the first study, as we known, to examine how self-blame and gender contribute to the association of inter-parental conflict with adolescent’s reactive and proactive aggression. Participants were 2,269 adolescents (aged 10–16 years) and their parents recruited from three middle schools in Guangzhou, China. Adolescent’s reactive and proactive aggression was reported by self and their both parents. Inter-parental conflict, and self-blame were both reported by adolescents. The results indicated that self-blame mediated inter-parental conflict’s effect on both self- and mother-reported reactive and proactive aggression. However, this mediation effect only exists in girls rather than in boys. Findings are embedded and discussed within Grych and Fincham’s (1990) cognitive-contextual framework, which may also shed light on prevention and treatment of reactive and proactive aggression.