Unique and Interactive Contributions of Parents and Peers in Predicting Adolescents’ Physical Aggression

This study examined the unique and interactive relations between parent and peer variables and changes in physical aggression in a predominantly Black sample of youth in under-resourced communities. Participants were 2,156 students ( M age = 12.2, SD = 1.02; 71.2% Black; 52% female) attending middle schools in the southeastern U.S. Students completed surveys every 3 months during the school year and during the summer. Longitudinal path models indicated that changes in physical aggression were uniquely negatively related to perceived parental support for nonviolence and positively related to parental support for fighting as sometimes necessary, physical peer victimization, and friends’ support for fighting. Parent and peer influences generally did not interact to mitigate or exacerbate risk. Findings provide support for the unique roles of parents and peers in changes in adolescents’ physical aggression and suggest the need for prevention and intervention efforts to simultaneously target parent and peer influences.