An exploration of the relations between parenting, children's social cognitions, and aggressive behavior

The purpose of this dissertation was to further explore the relations between parenting practices, children's social cognitions, and children's aggression. Whereas numerous researchers have theorized links between parenting practices, children's social-cognitive development, and subsequent child behavior, empirical investigations of the relations between these three constructs are rare. The current study theorized and tested a model in which children's social cognitions (i.e., attributions, social goals, and consequences) mediated the relations between parenting practices (i.e., harsh, inconsistent, and child centered parenting) and child aggression. Participants were 239 (201 aggressive and 38 non-aggressive) males and females in the second and third grade in a small, racially diverse city in the Southwest.;Results indicated that hostile social-cognitive processes (i.e., hostile attributions, dominance/revenge goals, peer reputation, and tangible consequences) were positively correlated with each other and negatively correlated with prosocial social-cognitive processes (i.e., affiliation goals and peer retaliation). As expected, hostile social-cognitive processes were positively correlated with aggression and prosocial cognitive processes were negatively correlated with aggression. In addition, negative parenting practices (i.e., harsh and inconsistent parenting) were correlated positively with children's endorsement of dominance/revenge goals, and negatively with children's affiliation goals.;Structure Equation Modeling (SEM) was use to test a mediating model. Results support a model in which the relations between parenting and child aggression is fully mediated by children's social cognitions. More specifically, the relations between parenting (i.e. harsh/inconsistent parenting) and children's aggression was mediated directly by hostile goals and indirectly through hostile attributions. Limitations of the study and implications for practice and future research are discussed.