Self control and aggressive behavior during the transition to adolescence: findings in a Venezuelan sample
Date
2016
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
Self-control is a multifaceted and widely researched construct within child development that has important implications for the prevention of aggressive behavior problems. Although many U.S.-based studies of child self-control are available, few have utilized multi-method and multi-informant approaches to measure this construct during the transition to adolescence. The overall goal of this study was to inform the aggression prevention literature by replicating and extending U.S. findings on self-control in the areas of: the structure of, associations among, and stability of self-control indicators during the transition to adolescence; individual differences associated with self-control; and associations between self-control indicators and aggressive behavior in a Venezuelan youth sample (N = 595; 50.9% female; M age = 11.33 years). Study measures were examined at Time 1 and 12 months later, at Time 2. Results showed that observed self-control data formed three distinct child-reported, parent-reported, and performance-based latent factors, which were significantly intercorrelated. The factors were largely stable over time, with performance-based self-control showing the highest stability coefficient. Few individual differences were associated with variation in self-control at Time 1 and from Time 1 to Time 2, although there were some significant child age and gender differences. Finally, although the self-control and aggressive behavior factors were moderately associated at both time points, only the Time 1 parent-reported self-control factor predicted Time 2 residualized change in parent-reported child aggressive behavior. Results are discussed in the context of measurement strategies to assess self-control, as well as implications for targeted aggression prevention programs during childhood and adolescence.