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Moderating Effects of Gender on Outcomes Associated with Stressful Life Events Among Elementary School-Age Youth

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Abstract

Stressful life events have been associated with child and adolescent maladjustment, including elevated levels of aggression and anxiety (Attar et al. in J Clin Child Psychol 23:391–400, 1994; Fox et al. in J Adolesc 33:43–54, 2010). However, gender specific outcomes associated with stressful life events among elementary school-age youth are less known. Accordingly, the current study examined the role of gender in the associations between stressful life events and anxiety and proactive and reactive aggression. Participants included 294 elementary school-age children (M = 8.71, SD = 1.17, 50.7 % male). Regression analyses indicated that stressful life events were positively associated with anxiety and reactive, but not proactive, aggression. There were no gender differences with regard to the associations with anxiety symptoms or proactive aggression. However, gender moderated the association between stressful life events and reactive aggression, such that stressful life events were only positively associated with reactive aggression for boys. Future directions and implications of this research are presented.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Clinical Child Psychology Program and Consortium for Translational Research on Aggression and Drug Abuse (ConTRADA), University of Kansas, 2009 Dole Human Development Center, 1000 Sunnyside Avenue, Lawrence, KS, 66045, USA

    Shaquanna Brown, Paula J. Fite & Jonathan Poquiz

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  1. Shaquanna Brown
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  2. Paula J. Fite
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  3. Jonathan Poquiz
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Correspondence to Shaquanna Brown.

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Brown, S., Fite, P.J. & Poquiz, J. Moderating Effects of Gender on Outcomes Associated with Stressful Life Events Among Elementary School-Age Youth. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 47, 593–602 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-015-0592-5

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