Relationships between self-efficacy, parental attachment, peer attachment and aggression among adolescents in Selangor, Malaysia

Aggression has been recognized as a significant social problem worldwide especially when it is affecting the foundation of a country, which is the young generation. Due to the rising awareness on the severity of this chronic problematic behavior and increasing astonishing cases reported occasionally in Malaysia, more studies are imperative to identify the factors and remedies pertaining to this situation in order to effectively ameliorate this issue that has spread throughout the entire country. The manifestations of aggression among the younger generations nowadays have contributed several social problems such as substance abuse, antisocial problems, peer rejection and academic failure which each and every one of those must not be neglected by the society. Therefore, this study is essential and necessary to investigate the relationship between self-efficacy, parental (father and mother) attachment, peer attachment and aggression among adolescents in Malaysia. This study is a quantitative study and utilized a correlational design. Total of 471 adolescents aged 14 were selected from eight secondary schools in Selangor, Malaysia, recruited using multistage cluster sampling method. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaires consisted of the revised version of the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA), Self-Efficacy Questionnaire for Children (SEQ-C) and Reactive-Proactive Aggression Questionnaire (RPQ). The results revealed that self-efficacy, parental (father and mother) attachment, peer attachment were significantly related to adolescent’s aggression. Multiple regression analysis showed that self-efficacy was significantly contributed to adolescent’s aggression. Among the independent variables studied, only self-efficacy appeared to be the predictor for adolescent’s aggression in this study. These results highlighted the important role of self-efficacy in preventing aggression among adolescents. A series of multiple regression analysis was carried out to examine the mediation effect of self-efficacy on the relationship between parental (father and mother) attachment, peer attachment and adolescent’s aggression. The current study found that the relationship between father attachment and aggression was partially mediated by self-efficacy while the relationship between mother attachment and aggression also found partially mediated by self-efficacy. In addition, self-efficacy fully mediated the relationship between peer attachment and adolescent’s aggression. The findings of this study emphasized the important influences of personal factors (self-efficacy) and environmental factors (parental attachment and peer attachment) of aggression among Malaysian adolescents. The result of the study was found to strengthen previous findings which explain that parents and peers have a direct and indirect influence on the social and behavioral development of adolescents