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Social and economic antecedents and consequences of adolescent aggressive personality: Predictions from the interactionist model

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 October 2015

Rand D. Conger ,
Monica J. Martin ,
April S. Masarik ,
Keith F. Widaman  and
M. Brent Donnellan
Rand D. Conger*
Affiliation:
University of California, Davis
Monica J. Martin
Affiliation:
University of California, Davis
April S. Masarik
Affiliation:
University of California, Davis
Keith F. Widaman
Affiliation:
University of California, Davis
M. Brent Donnellan
Affiliation:
Texas A & M University
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Rand D. Conger, Family Research Group, 202 Cousteau Place, Suite 100, University of California, Davis, CA 95616; E-mail: rdconger@ucdavis.edu.
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Abstract

The present study examined the development of a cohort of 279 early adolescents (52% female) from 1990 to 2005. Guided by the interactionist model of socioeconomic status and human development, we proposed that parent aggressive personality, economic circumstances, interparental conflict, and parenting characteristics would affect the development of adolescent aggressive personality traits. In turn, we hypothesized that adolescent aggressiveness would have a negative influence on adolescent functioning as an adult in terms of economic success, personality development, and close relationships 11 years later. Findings were generally supportive of the interactionist model proposition that social and economic difficulties in the family of origin intensify risk for adolescent aggressive personality (the social causation hypothesis) and that this personality trait impairs successful transition to adult roles (the social selection hypothesis) in a transactional process over time and generations. These results underscore how early development leads to child influences that appear to directly hamper the successful transition to adult roles (statistical main effects) and also amplify the negative impact of dysfunctional family systems on the transition to adulthood (statistical interaction effects). The findings suggest several possible points of intervention that might help to disrupt this negative developmental sequence of events.

Type
Special Section Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 27 , Issue 4pt1 , November 2015 , pp. 1111 - 1127
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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