Poor Parenting Practices Research Articles

Factors Associated With Unhealthy Snacks Consumption Among Adolescents in Iran's Schools.

Background: Well-informed interventions are needed if school-based health promotion is to be effective. Among other aims, the Iranian Health Promoting School (IHPS) program that was launched in 2011, has an important aim of promoting dietary behaviors of adolescents. The present study, therefore, aimed to investigate the factors affecting unhealthy snacking of adolescents and provide evidence for a more effective IHPS program. Methods: In a cross-sectional study design, 1320 students from 40 schools in Kerman city were selected using a proportional stratified random sampling method. A modified qualitative Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) was used to gather data about unhealthy snacking behavior. Data about intrapersonal and environmental factors were obtained using a validated and reliable questionnaire. A mixed-effects negative-binomial regression model was used to analyze the data. Results: Taste and sensory perception (prevalence rate ratio [PRR]=1.18; 95% CI: 1.09-1.27), being a male (PRR=1.20; 95% CI: 1.05-1.38) and lower nutritional knowledge (PRR=0.96; 95% CI: 0.91-0.99) were associated with higher weekly unhealthy snaking. Perceived self-efficacy (PRR=0.95; 95% CI: 0.91-1.00) negatively influenced the frequency of unhealthy snaking, with this approaching significance (P<.06). In case of environmental factors, high socio-economic status (SES) level (PRR=1.45; 95% CI: 1.26-1.67), single-parent family (PRR=1.14; 95% CI: 1.01-1.30), more social norms pressure (PRR=1.08; 95% CI: 1.01-1.17), pocket money allowance (PRR=1.21; 95% CI: 1.09-1.34), easy accessibility (PRR=1.06; 95% CI:1.01-1.11), and less perceived parental control (PRR=0.96; 95% CI: 0.92-0.99) all had a role in higher consumption of unhealthy snacks. Interestingly, larger school size was associated with less unhealthy snacking (PRR=0.79; 95% CI: 0.68-0.92). Conclusion: Unhealthy snacking behavior is influenced by individual, socio-cultural and physical-environmental influences, namely by factors relating to poor parenting practices, high SES level, family characteristics, improper social norms pressure, and less knowledge and self-efficacy of students. This evidence can be used to inform a more evidencebased IHPS program through focusing on supportive strategies at the home, school, and local community levels.

Parenting Efficacy and Support in Mothers With Dual Disorders in a Substance Abuse Treatment Program

ABSTRACTObjective: Approximately 73% of women entering treatment for substance use disorders are mothers of children younger than 18, and the high rate of mental health disorders among mothers with substance use disorders increases their vulnerability to poor parenting practices. Parenting efficacy and social support for parenting have emerged as significant predictors of positive parenting practices among families at risk for child maltreatment. The purpose of the current study was to examine the impact of parenting support and parenting efficacy on the likelihood of out-of-home placement and custody status among the children of mothers with dual substance use and mental health disorders. Methods: This study examined the impact of parenting efficacy and assistance with childcare on the likelihood of child out-of-home placement and custody status among 175 mothers with diagnosed dual substance and mental health disorder and in treatment for substance dependence. Logistic regression was utilized to assess the contributions of parenting efficacy and the number of individuals in mothers’ social networks who assist with childcare to the likelihood of out-of-home placement and custody loss of children. Parenting efficacy was also examined as a mediator using bootstrapping in PROCESS for SPSS. Results: Greater parenting efficacy was associated with lower likelihood of having at least one child in out-of-home placement (B = −.064, SE = .029, p = .027) and lower likelihood of loss of child custody (B = −.094, SE = .034, p = .006). Greater number of children in the 6 to 18 age range predicted greater likelihood of having at least one child in the custody of someone else (B = .409, SE = .171, p = .017) and in out-of-home placement (B = .651, SE = .167, p < .001). In addition, mothers who identified as African American were less likely to have a child in out-of-home placement (B = .927, SE = .382, p = .015) or to have lost custody of a child (B = −1.31, SE = .456, p = .004). Finally, parenting efficacy mediated the relationship between parenting support and likelihood of out-of-home placement (effect = −.0604, SE = .0297, z = 2.035, p = .042) and between parenting support and likelihood of custody loss (effect = −.0332, SE = .0144, z = −2.298, p = .022). Conclusions: Implications for practice include the utilization of personal network interventions, such as increased assistance with childcare, and increased attention to efficacy among mothers with dual disorders.

A Study on Risk Taking Behaviour among Adolescents and Their Attachment with Parents and Peers

The present study examined the role of attachment level of adolescents with parents and peers and their indulgence in risk taking behaviour. Several studies have been reviewed on parental relationship with adolescents and adolescents risk taking behaviour. Researches over last few years have shown that indulgence of adolescents in risk taking behaviour and sexual activities is due to poor parenting practices and one of the prevailing factors is peer attachment. Since no studies related to attachment level of adolescents with parents and indulgence of adolescents in risk taking behaviour have been reviewed in Indian context. Thus to see the status of parent and peer attachment and risk taking behaviour among adolescents, this study was done on a sample of 100 undergraduate students that comprise of 50 males and 50 females. The results showed that females were more attached with their parents and peers in comparison to males. Risk taking behaviour and sexual activities were found to be higher among males than females. It was found that in females the desire of indulging in substance use and sexual activity was low as compared to males. First time indulgence in such behaviour was reported in presence of peers and due to peer pressure. Males reported that they faced ridicule because of not engaging in sexual activities and substance use. Thus positive peer pressure was found helpful in keeping females away from risk taking behaviour.

Role of Temperament, Parenting Behaviors, and Stress on Turkish Preschoolers’ Internalizing Symptoms

AbstractChild‐ and family‐related factors that predict internalizing symptoms are understudied in preschool years and have a negative influence on children's functioning. We examined observational assessments of preschoolers' temperamental fearfulness and exuberance, mother reports of negative control, warmth, and parenting stress in a sample of 109 Turkish preschoolers. High temperamental fearfulness and low joyful/exuberant positive affectivity in addition to low warmth and high parenting stress had significant effects on internalizing symptoms. Parenting stress had both direct and indirect relations to internalizing symptoms via lower maternal warmth. When comorbid elevations in externalizing symptoms were controlled, the results were consistent with the interpretation that poor parenting practices and stress associated with the parenting role predict maladaptation in general but that the specific form of maladaptation may be best predicted by individual differences in children's temperamental characteristics. This study contributes to our understanding of risk and protective factors that predict preschoolers' internalizing symptoms with a sample from a non‐Western population. These findings can guide early prevention and intervention programs to address internalizing problems in a culturally‐sensitive way.

A model for the development of mothers' perceived vulnerability of preterm infants.

Some mothers of preterm infants continue to view them as vulnerable after their health has improved. These exaggerated perceptions of vulnerability lead to poor parent-child interactions and, subsequently, to adverse child outcomes. However, there is no theoretical model to explain why these exaggerated perceptions develop in only some mother-child dyads. Data for this study come from a randomized trial of an intervention to reduce distress in mothers of preterm infants. A total of 105 mothers older than 18 years of infants aged 25-34 weeks, weighing >600 g and with clinically significant anxiety, depression, or trauma symptoms, were recruited and randomized. Women were assessed at baseline, after intervention, and at 6 months after birth. The outcome for these analyses was perceptions of infant vulnerability as measured by the Vulnerable Baby Scale (VBS) at 6 months after birth. A theoretical model developed from the extant literature was tested using the MacArthur Mediator-Moderator Approach. A dysfunctional coping style, high depression, anxiety, or trauma symptoms in response to the preterm birth, and low social support were related to 6-month VBS scores. Maternal response to trauma was directly related to VBS, and an important precursor of maternal response to trauma was a dysfunctional coping style. This model suggests that maternal responses to trauma are critical in the formation of exaggerated perceptions of vulnerability as are dysfunctional coping styles and low social support. Women with these characteristics should be targeted for intervention to prevent poor parenting practices that result from exaggerated perceptions of vulnerability.

Intergenerational offending in Liverpool and the north-west of England, 1850–1914

Using contemporary sources from the north-west of England in the Victorian period, the authors examine the putative connections made by contemporaries which linked together ‘bad’ parenting and the transmission of criminal traits. Poor parenting practices were a prevalent explanation for juvenile (leading onto sustained) delinquency, especially in the mid to late nineteenth century. Popular narratives by Charles Dickens and media opinion-formers were very influential in depicting neglectful mothers who did not socialise their children into law-abiding, useful members of society, and criminal fathers who inducted their children into their own criminal affairs and organisations. This article examines the reality of intergenerational offending (using prison- and court-generated data) to show that there is very little convincing research that proves direct intergenerational transmission of offending practices (i.e. parent-to-child-offending transmission). The authors then examine other possible routes of intergenerational offending using case studies and archival research, and the article concludes that environmental/socio-economic conditions and wider familial/neighbourhood relationships were, in fact, the main trigger for onset of offending, and the maintenance of criminal careers, rather than direct familial transmission. The article is therefore an important marker in understanding the processes which inhibit/generate criminality in a significant number of juvenile offenders in this period.

Cumulative Effects of Maternal Age and Unintended Pregnancy on Offspring Aggression

Research on physical aggression often points to teen motherhood as being a primary contributor in the development of aggressive tendencies among young children. As a result of poor parenting practices, limited education, and a lack of emotional, physical, and financial resources, children born to young mothers often exhibit high levels of aggression across the life course. Meanwhile, unintentional pregnancy and young motherhood are likely to share many of the same risk factors and negative consequences for offspring, yet there is a dearth of research examining pregnancy intentionality and offspring aggression. Using the Fragile Families and Wellbeing Study, our study examines how mother's age and pregnancy intention status influence aggression among their 5-year-old children. We find that young motherhood and unintended births, despite being likely to co-occur, each provide distinct mechanisms for the formation of aggressive behavior in childhood.

The Role of Stress Exposure and Family Functioning in Internalizing Outcomes of Urban Families.

Although research suggests that stress exposure and family functioning are associated with internalizing problems in adolescents and caregivers, surprisingly few studies have investigated the mechanisms that underlie this association. To determine whether family functioning buffers the development of internalizing problems in stress-exposed families, we assessed the relation between stress exposure, family functioning, and internalizing symptoms among a large sample of inner-city male youth and their caregivers living in poverty across five waves of data collection. We hypothesized that stress exposure and family functioning would predict development of subsequent youth and caregiver internalizing problems and that family functioning would moderate this relation, with higher functioning families demonstrating greater resiliency to stress exposure. We used a longitudinal, prospective design to evaluate whether family functioning (assessed at waves one through four) activated or buffered the effects of stress exposure (assessed at wave one) on subsequent internalizing symptoms (assessed at waves four and five). Stress from Developmental Transitions and family functioning were significant predictors of depressive symptoms and anxiety in youth; however, family functioning did not moderate the relation. Family functioning mediated the relation between stress from Daily Hassles and internalizing outcomes suggesting that poor parenting practices, low structure, and low emotional cohesion activate depression and anxiety in youth exposed to chronic and frequent everyday stressors. Surprisingly, only family functioning predicted depressive symptoms in caregivers. Results validate the use of a comprehensive, multi-informant assessment of stress when investigating internalizing outcomes in youth and support using family-based interventions in the treatment and prevention of internalizing.

Personal and family attributes of pregnant teenagers: findings from a community-based study in Sri Lanka

Teenage pregnancies are associated with negative outcomes. Prevention requires understanding them and their families. This study aimed to describe personal and family attributes of pregnant teenagers in Sri Lanka. This was a community-based study in Sri Lanka among 510 pregnant teenagers. Half (50%) of the subjects were 19 years of age at the time of pregnancy. A majority (79.8%) had studied up to grades 6-11. Confidence in decision-making (80.7%) and in refusing unnecessary requests (88.3%) was "excellent" in a majority. Mean age of marriage/co-habiting was 17.6 years. For 31%, marriage/cohabiting was a sudden decision taken jointly with their partner (81.6%) and 83% reported being "legally" married. Substantial proportions of mothers (17.6%) and fathers (13.9%) had not attended school, and 33.1% mothers had worked abroad. Teenagers reported the death of a parent (14.1%), parental separation (10.9%) and being brought up by relatives (20%). Only a few rated strictness of rules/regulations (32.4%), freedom to discuss problems regarding puberty (25.5%), love affairs (12.7%) and sexuality (26.7%) as excellent/good. Of the spouses, 12.9% were <20 years, 71.9% had low education and 98.8% were employed. A majority had "planned" the pregnancy, and for 79.8%, the reason was "husband's wish to have a baby". Pregnant teenagers were mostly in their late teens, from poor families and with low formal education. Though teenagers showed confidence in decision-making, the decision to have a pregnancy had mostly been their spouses. Parents and spouses of the teenagers were also young, less educated and poor. There was evidence of poor parenting practices.

Parent ’ s Knowledge and Attitudes towards Children with Epilepsy

Background: Parent’s attitudes toward children with epilepsy are influenced by the degree of their knowledge. Misinformation and misconceptions should be identified and corrected for optimal care and management. Our objectives were to study the parent’s knowledge and attitudes and identify contributing factors to negative attitudes. Methods: Consecutive parents were included prospectively through the pediatric neurology out-patient clinic of King Abdulaziz University hospital, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. A structured 40-item questionnaire was designed to examine their demographics, knowledge and attitudes toward children with epilepsy. Results: A total of 117 parents were interviewed, 57% were mothers. The ages of their epileptic child ranged from 1-16 years (median 6.6), mostly (65%) boys. Although most parents (70%) felt informed about epilepsy and recognized various treatment modalities, many believed that epilepsy is a mental disorder (48%), correlates with evil (44%), and affects the child’s intelligence (38%). Up to 53% admitted that they treat their epileptic child differently and avoid upsetting or punishing him/her. This behavior was less likely if they achieved college or university education (p=0.01). Some parents (29%) admitted to using non-medical treatments, usually traditional herbs and religious practices. Those parents were more likely to believe that epilepsy is a mental disease (p=0.002) or correlates with evil (p=0.015). Conclusions: The level of knowledge and understanding about epilepsy among parents of epileptic children needs improvement. Many parents have significant misconceptions, negative attitudes, and poor parenting practices. Increased awareness and educational programs are needed to help improve the quality of life of these patients and their families.

The association between parent early adult drug use disorder and later observed parenting practices and child behavior problems: Testing alternate models.

This study tested the association between parent illicit drug use disorder (DUD) in early adulthood and observed parenting practices at ages 27-28 and examined the following 3 theoretically derived models explaining this link: (a) a disrupted parent adult functioning model,(b) a preexisting parent personality factor model, and (c) a disrupted adolescent family process model. Associations between study variables and child externalizing problems also were examined. Longitudinal data linking 2 generations were drawn from the Seattle Social Development Project (SSDP) and The SSDP Intergenerational Project (TIP), and included 167 parents and their 2- to 8-year-old child. Path modeling revealed that parent DUD in early adulthood predicted later observed low-skilled parenting, which was related to child externalizing problems. The preexisting parent personality factor model was supported. Parent negative emotionality accounted for the association between parent early adult DUD and later parenting practices. Parent negative emotionality also was related directly to child externalizing behavior. Limited support for the disrupted transition to adulthood model was found. The disrupted adolescent family process model was not supported. Results suggest that problem drug use that occurs early in adulthood may affect later parenting skills, independent of subsequent parent drug use. Findings highlight the importance of parent negative emotionality in influencing his or her own problem behavior, interactions with his or her child, and his or her child's problem behavior. Prevention and treatment programs targeting young adult substance use, poor parenting practices, and child behavior problems should address parent personality factors that may contribute to these behaviors.

A Public Health Approach to Safeguarding in the 21st Century

Recent government policy has focused on the provision of a safe environment for all children. Parenting support is increasingly being recognised as a core method of safeguarding children, and this is of particular importance, given the widespread prevalence of maltreatment and poor parenting practices, the overwhelming number of child protection referrals and the inherent flaws in risk assessment. Until recently, there was no formulation of an overall model of practice based on these changes. In this paper, we present compelling reasons for believing that a public health approach to safeguarding is the only way of ensuring that all children are protected within a population, including children at high risk. The rationale for the delivery of such a model is presented alongside the application of one such evidence‐based population‐level strategy, which has been demonstrated to reduce population‐level indicators of maltreatment. Novel approaches to the delivery of parenting interventions including media‐based strategies are discussed in terms of their potential for reaching families who may be missed by traditional services. The economic aspects of a public health model are discussed, and their relevance for middle‐ and low‐income countries. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.‘Parenting support is increasingly being recognised as a core method of safeguarding children‘

Repertoires of ADHD in UK newspaper media

This article takes a discursive approach to examine how Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder has been represented and debated in UK newspapers in the last decade. Two repertoires of ADHD were identified as the biological and the psychosocial. Subject positions such as problem child, abnormal or ordinary naughty child and ineffectual or neglectful parents are embedded in these alternative versions of ADHD. The biological repertoire justifies and encourages drug treatment for problem children while the psychosocial repertoire makes available the subject position of ordinary naughty child and supports moral judgements about poor parenting practices in a 'sick society'. Such representations have challenged the media medicalization of ADHD common in a previous decade. Although the biological and the psychosocial repertoires are competing explanations for ADHD, they both perform a common function in representing families as in need of regulation.

Parenting practices and problem behavior across three generations: Monitoring, harsh discipline, and drug use in the intergenerational transmission of externalizing behavior.

Using data from grandparents (G1), parents (G2), and children (G3), this study examined continuity in parental monitoring, harsh discipline, and child externalizing behavior across generations, and the contribution of parenting practices and parental drug use to intergenerational continuity in child externalizing behavior. Structural equation and path modeling of prospective, longitudinal data from 808 G2 participants, their G1 parents, and their school-age G3 children (n = 136) showed that parental monitoring and harsh discipline demonstrated continuity from G1 to G2. Externalizing behavior demonstrated continuity from G2 to G3. Continuity in parenting practices did not explain the intergenerational continuity in externalizing behavior. Rather, G2 adolescent externalizing behavior predicted their adult substance use, which was associated with G3 externalizing behavior. A small indirect effect of G1 harsh parenting on G3 was observed. Interparental abuse and socidemographic risk were included as controls but did not explain the intergenerational transmission of externalizing behavior. Results highlight the need for preventive interventions aimed at breaking intergenerational cycles in poor parenting practices. More research is required to identify parental mechanisms influencing the continuity of externalizing behavior across generations.

Postnatal Depression and Infant Health Practices Among High-Risk Women

Women’s postnatal depressive symptoms have been associated with many adverse outcomes for children. The current study examined the frequency association with relative risk between postnatal depressive symptoms and mothers’ use of preventative infant health practices. The study used the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and Parental Health and Depression Questionnaire (PHDQ) to identify women’s depressive symptoms in a prospective longitudinal sample of 134 high-risk non-white mothers receiving well-baby health services. Unadjusted frequency comparisons examined the effect of women’s postnatal depressive symptoms on infant outcomes. Results found that compared to 60 women without postnatal depressive symptoms, 74 women with symptoms engaged in significantly fewer well-child health-visits, were less likely to use home safety devices or place their infants in the preferred back-to-sleep position, and did not complete immunizations. Depressed women were also more likely to lack knowledge of nurturing and sensitive parenting, use corporal punishment and inappropriate foods, and to show poor parenting practices. These findings provide additional supportive evidence that more efforts are needed to identify and assess women’s depressive symptoms to promote health and safety of young children. Methodological limitations and recommendations for future research are addressed.

A Framework for Understanding the Association Between Food Insecurity and Children’s Developmental Outcomes

ABSTRACT— Food insecurity, defined as limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways, is still a problem in the United States. It is associated with poor parenting practices, poor health, and socioemotional and cognitive/academic difficulties in children. This review synthesizes some of these findings and suggest links among these outcomes. In this endeavor, it describes the concept of food insecurity and propose a mediational framework to anchor our discussions. Finally, it examines the implications of the review for research and policy.

Direct and Passive Prenatal Nicotine Exposure and the Development of Externalizing Psychopathology

The association between maternal smoking during pregnancy and childhood antisocial outcomes has been demonstrated repeatedly across a variety of outcomes. Yet debate continues as to whether this association reflects a direct programming effect of nicotine on fetal brain development, or a phenotypic indicator of heritable liability passed from mother to child. In the current study, we examine relations between maternal smoking and child behavior among 133 women and their 7-15-year-olds, who were recruited for clinical levels of psychopathology. In order to disentangle correlates of maternal smoking, women who smoked during pregnancy were compared with (a) those who did not smoke, and (b) those who did not smoke but experienced significant second-hand exposure. Second-hand exposure was associated with increased externalizing psychopathology in participant mothers' offspring. Moreover, regression analyses indicated that smoke exposure during pregnancy predicted conduct disorder symptoms, over and above the effects of income, parental antisocial tendencies, prematurity, birth weight, and poor parenting practices. This is the first study to extend the findings of externalizing vulnerability to second hand smoke exposure.

Review of The Development and Treatment of Girlhood Aggression.

DEBRA J. PEPLER, KIRSTEN C. MADSEN, CHRISTOPHER D. WEBSTER, and KATHRYN S. LEVENE (Eds.) The Development and Treatment of Girlhood Aggression Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2005, 336 pages (ISBN 0-8058-4039-7, CDN$87.96 Cloth) Reviewed by ISABELA GRANIC This edited volume represents a compilation of papers that were presented at a 1999 symposium on girls' aggression and includes all the presenters in that symposium as well as several additional authors who contributed chapters or commentaries. It includes the pioneering work of a prestigious set of international scholars who have recently turned their research lens towards the burgeoning field of girls' aggressive behaviour. The general objectives of the book are to 1) provide up-to-date information about what is known about aggressive girls, 2) discuss prevention and intervention implications, and 3) raise new questions for future research. The collective authors meet these goals admirably. It is an ambitious volume covering a wide array of issues, disciplines and developmental phases. Each of the chapters is well written and thoughtful, highlighting current research knowledge and the large number of questions still to be answered through future studies. After each of the five sections of the book, a commentary is provided by some of the most prominent researchers in the field. On the whole, these commentaries are extremely useful in contextualizing each chapter and highlighting the key strengths, limitations, controversies, and implications associated with the papers. Aggressive girls have long been overlooked in the research literature and this set of papers makes a compelling case for why this should be, and is, no longer the case. The book provides a comprehensive sweep of what is currently known about the development and treatment of girls' aggression and, thus, it would make an excellent graduate text for students studying developmental psychopathology and clinical psychology, particularly those interested in childhood aggression and sex differences. Throughout the various chapters, a number of related themes emerge. Although these themes may be important for understanding aggression in boys as well, the authors argue convincingly that these issues are particularly salient and provide stronger predictive power for girls' aggression. First, it is clear to most of the volume's contributors that girls' aggressive behaviour should be understood and studied as a relationship problem. As highlighted in the chapters by Pepler and Madsen, Pepler and Craig, Miller-Johnson, and colleagues, Xie and colleagues, Artz, and Levene and colleagues, the most important factors that promote, maintain, and amplify aggression in girls all point to difficulties in core relationships. These relationships include those with parents, siblings, friends, peer groups, and romantic partners. A second theme that re-emerges throughout the various chapters is the importance of understanding the developmental context within which girls' aggression is embedded. The risks, long-term outcomes, and treatment implications differ substantially for 2-3-year-old girls who are physically aggressive (discussed by Baillargeon, Tremblay, & Wilms), adolescent girls who engage in fierce forms of social aggression (examined by Xie, Cairns, & Cairns as well as Artz), and antisocial women who become mothers to at-risk children (discussed by Zoccolillo and colleagues and Stack and colleagues). A third theme that is highlighted by several authors is the transactional, interactional nature of girls' aggression. That is, aggressive behaviour in these troubled girls' lives develops through a confluence of intraindividual factors, including hyperactivity/inattention, early pubertal development and social cognitions, which reciprocally and iteratively interact with risky environmental contexts such as poor parenting practices, sexual abuse, aggressive siblings, and antisocial peer contexts. The chapter by Pepler and Craig makes this point most explicitly, but the interactional framework is evident in the majority of the contributions. …

Editorial

Editorial

The Role of Witnessing Violence, Peer Provocation, Family Support, and Parenting Practices in the Aggressive Behavior of Rural Adolescents

This study examined the influence of witnessing violence, peer provocation, family support, and parenting practices (monitoring and discipline) on aggression. Participants were 1,196 ninth graders at nine schools in poor, predominantly agricultural, rural communities who completed measures of these variables. Witnessing violence, peer provocation, low levels of family support, and poor parenting practices were each related to higher frequencies of aggression. Witnessing violence and peer provocation partially mediated relations between parenting and aggression, such that students who reported high levels of appropriate parenting reported lower levels of witnessing violence and peer provocation. These were, in turn, related to lower levels of aggression. The relation between family support and aggression was also mediated by peer provocation, though the Degrees of mediation was not as strong as for parenting. Both parenting and family support moderated the relation between witnessing violence and aggression such that this relation was stronger among adolescents who reported low family support or high levels of poor parenting. Neither parenting nor family support moderated the relation between peer provocation and aggression. Overall, parenting practices had a stronger influence on aggression than did family support. Results were generally consistent across gender. These findings have important implications for intervention efforts.