Aggressive behaviour in early elementary school children: relations to authoritarian parenting, children’s negative emotionality and coping strategies

Abstract

This study examined whether authoritarian parenting, children’s negative emotionality and negative coping strategies independently or jointly predict children’s aggressive behaviour at school. Participants included the teachers and mothers of 185 Hong Kong resident Chinese children (90 girls and 95 boys), aged 6–8. Teachers rated the children’s aggressive behaviour at school, and mothers reported how often they adopted an authoritarian parenting style and rated the children’s negative emotionality and coping strategies. A model predicting children’s aggressive behaviour with maternal authoritarian parenting and children’s negative emotionality affecting children’s aggressive behaviour at school through the mediating effect of children’s negative coping strategies was examined. Mother’s adoption of authoritarian parenting was not related to their perception of the children’s negative emotionality. Neither authoritarian parenting nor negative emotionality alone predicted children’s aggressive behaviour at school. The mediation model was supported. The results imply that school personnel should take children’s emotionality into consideration when offering training programmes on emotion coping strategies for children.