The Relation Between Executive Function, Parenting And Adolescent’s Aggression Behavior

Aggression behaviors have been hot topics in the study of developmental psychology, it hasa significant negative impact for the physical and psychological health of children and adolescents.Executive function is a hot research field of psychology in recent years, many studies havediscussed the relationship between aggression behaviors and it, and the researches indicate thatthe executive function has a significant negative predictive effect on adolescents’ aggressivebehavior, but there are few researches considering the relationship between them is affected byenvironmental factors. Family is one of the important environmental factors that affectadolescent’s growth development, parenting is a tendency of behaviors and concepts that theparents use to raise their children, it reflects the essence of the parent-child interaction, and it hasa significant impact on the socialization of adolescent. Based on the review, this study examinedthe direct effects of parenting and executive function on adolescents’ aggression behaviors, andthe moderating effect of parenting between executive function and adolescent’s aggressionbehaviors.This study adopted the peer rating method to measure physical aggression and relationalaggression, self-report method to measure the parenting, and parents-report method to measurethe executive function. Based on the investigation of461adolescents from grade9, the mainconclusions were as follows:1, In executive function, compared with boys, girls had a higher behavioral regulation leveland the metacognition level，but we didn’t found gender difference in emotional regulation; Inparenting, girls reported more strictness/supervision from parents than boys, but we didn’t foundgender difference in involvement and psychological autonomy-granting; In aggression behaviors,boys showed more physical aggression and relational aggression than girls.2, Metacognition could significantly negatively predict adolescents’ physical aggression, and gender had a moderating effect, metacognition function could significantly negatively predict thephysical aggression of boys, but this prediction relationship didn’t exist in girls.3, Executive function couldn’t directly predict relational aggression, but further analysisfound a moderating effect of gender, matacognition function could significantly negatively predictrelational aggression of boys, but this prediction relationship didn’t exist in girls.4, The involvement of parenting could significantly positively predict adolescents’ relationalaggression, the psychological autonomy-granting and strictness/supervision of parenting couldsignificantly negatively predict adolescents’ physical aggression and relational aggression.5, Parents’ involvement could moderate the relation between metacognitive function and theadolescents’ physical aggression. Both in parents’ involvement high and low levels,metacognitive function were a negative predictor for adolescents’ physical aggression, but thepredictive relation was more powerful in the low parents’ involvement level.6, Parents’ strictness/supervision could moderate the relation between metacognitive functionand adolescents’ physical aggression/relational aggression. When parents’ strictness/supervisionin a low level, metacognitive function could significantly negatively predict adolescents’ physicalaggression/relational aggression; when parents’ strictness/supervision in a high level, thisprediction relationship didn’t exist.