Aggression, Parental and Peer Attachments, and Adolescent Self-Esteem

Osnovni je cilj ovoga rada bio ispitati povezanost privrženosti roditeljima i vršnjacima, samopoštovanja i proaktivne i reaktivne agresije na mladićima (n = 92) i djevojkama (n = 100) iz opće populacije u dobi 15–17 godina. Agresivno ponašanje, samopoštovanje, kao i privrženost roditeljima i vršnjacima su mjereni samoiskazom. Kako bi se ispitala prediktivna snaga ispitivanih varijabli za predviđanje temeljnih oblika agresivnog ponašanja kao kriterijskih varijabli, proveden je niz hijerarhijskih regresijskih analiza. Značajnim su se prediktorima agresivnog ponašanja pokazali samopoštovanje za reaktivnu agresiju, a privrženost majci, privrženost vršnjacima i samopoštovanje za proaktivnu i ukupnu agresiju. Rezultati također pokazuju efekt spola na odnos između privrženosti majci, privrženosti vršnjacima i proaktivne i ukupne agresije. Daljnja je analiza pokazala da izraženost agresivnog ponašanja s povećanjem privrženosti majci više opada kod mladića. Suprotno tome, efekti su privrženosti vršnjaka na izraženost agresivnog ponašanja bili veći kod djevojaka. Također, dobiven je značajni interakcijski efekt samopoštovanja i spola na mjeru proaktivne agresije pri čemu su za djevojke i mladiće dobiveni obrnuti obrasci. Tako kod djevojaka s porastom samopoštovanja raste i izraženost proaktivne agresije, dok kod mladića izraženost proaktivne agresija pada s porastom samopoštovanja.The current study examined the association of attachment to parents and peers, self-esteem and severity of proactive and reactive aggression in a non-referred sample of boys (n = 92) and girls (n = 100), aged 15–17. Aggressive behaviors, self-esteem, and parental and peer attachments were assessed through self-report ratings. In order to examine the predictive value of examined variables on the types of aggressive behaviors as criterion variables, several hierarchical regression analyses were performed. The self-esteem was a significant predictor of reactive aggression, whereas attachment to mother and peers were significant predictors of proactive and global aggressive behavior. It was also found that gender moderated the relationship between attachment to mother, peer attachment and proactive and global aggresion. Further investigation demonstrated that strong attachment to mother was related to a reduced risk for aggressive behaviors in boys. However, the attachment to peers had stronger effect on aggressive behavior in girls compared with boys. Furthermore, analyses yielded significant interaction between self-esteem and gender, suggesting different association patters for girls and boys. Interaction predicting proactive aggression suggests that, with the increase in self-esteem, the mean levels of proactive aggression increased in girls, and decrease in boys