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Intergenerational transmission of aggression: A meta-analysis of relationship between interparental conflict and aggressive behavior of children and youth

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Abstract

The intergenerational transmission of aggression indicates that conflicts between parents play a vital role in the young generation's aggressive behaviors. However, studies of the relationship between Interparental Conflict and Aggressive Behavior among children and youth remain inconsistent. The present study searched for studies published in the last 30 years via fifteen databases and conducted a meta-analysis with 35 articles. The results proved a statistically significant and positive link between Interparental Conflict and the young generation's Aggressive Behavior. Additionally, we found that this relationship was moderated by the Interparental Conflict Scale, the Reporter of Interparental Conflict Scale, and the year of publication and survey. Firstly, the results showed that Interparental Conflict Scale did moderate this correlation (rCPS < rCTS < rCPIC). Secondly, the correlation between Interparental Conflict and Aggressive Behavior was statistically significant lower for parent-report than for child-report in Interparental Conflict Scale. Thirdly, it showed a increasing trend with the increase of years. The study highlights the critical role of parental relationships on children’s externalizing problems from theoretical and empirical perspectives. Future studies may focus on the children’s perception of interparental conflicts, family prevention/intervention strategies, and moderating/mediating mechanisms between Interparental Conflicts and children’s Aggressive Behaviors.

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Data Availability

All data analyzed during this study can be found in the articles that were included in the meta-analysis in this published article.

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Funding

This research was sponsored by the Project of Social Science Foundation of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region(22CMZ018), the Project of Center for Teacher Education Research in Xinjiang(ZK202232B), and the Project of Doctoral Research Startup Fund at Xinjiang Normal University (XJNUBS201908).

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  1. Center for Higher Education Developmet Research in Xinjiang, Xinjiang Normal University, 100 Guanjing Road, Wulumuqi, People’s Republic of China

    Shunyu Li & Xiaonan Ma

  2. Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China

    Yuxuan Zhang

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  1. Shunyu Li
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Shunyu Li: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Writing—Review & Editing. Xiaonan Ma: Data Curation, Writing—Original Draft, Writing—Review & Editing. Yuxuan Zhang: Conceptualization, Data Curation, Writing—Original Draft, Writing—Review & Editing.

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Correspondence to Yuxuan Zhang.

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Li, S., Ma, X. & Zhang, Y. Intergenerational transmission of aggression: A meta-analysis of relationship between interparental conflict and aggressive behavior of children and youth. Curr Psychol 42, 32008–32023 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-04219-z

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