The mediating role of friendship jealousy and anxiety in the association between parental attachment and adolescents’ relational aggression: A short-term longitudinal cross-lagged analysis

Abstract

BackgroundLimited research has confirmed the effects of adolescents’ interactions with parents on adolescents’ engagement in relational aggression. Youth reporting insecure attachment with parents are more likely to be involved in Relational aggression, while the positive association of Relational aggression with emotions such as friendship jealousy and anxiety are well-documented. However, little is known about the longitudinal association between parental attachment and Relational aggression. ObjectiveThe current study expands upon previous research by investigating the short-term longitudinal associations between father and mother attachment (i.e., dependency, availability) and relational aggression, with friendship jealousy and anxiety as potential mediators of this association based on the theoretical framework of General Aggression Model. ParticipantsThe sample consisted of 2207 Greek adolescents (52.8 % girls) attending the three junior high school grades. MethodsParticipants completed a self-report questionnaire at two different time points with a six-month interval during the school year. ResultsResults showed that that higher T1 father dependency (β = 0.14) and availability (β = 0.11), and lower mother dependency (β = −0.12) and availability (β = −0.11) were associated with higher relational aggression at T2. Further, the effects of T1 father availability (β = − 0.02), mother availability (β = −0.04), mother dependency (β = −0.03) to T2 relational aggression through friendship jealousy were significant. Finally, the effects of T1 father availability (β = −0.03), father dependency (β = −0.02), mother availability (β = −0.03), mother dependency (β = −0.02) to T2 relational aggression via anxiety were also significant. ConclusionsThese findings provide an understanding of the relational aggression during adolescence by emphasizing the role of both social parameters and affective characteristics of the perpetrators.