Jungeun Olivia Lee

We examined whether adolescent normative beliefs about aggression (NBA) functioned as a mechanism through which parental psychological control (PPC) predicted physical aggression in emerging adulthood via secondary data analyses with the Child Development Project longitudinal data. Fathers’ psychological control (fPC) that adolescents reported at age 13 predicted NBA at age 16, which then predicted their aggression at age 18, after controlling for harsh parenting, earlier NBA, aggression, and SES at age 13 and adolescent gender. However, mothers’ psychological control (mPC) that adolescents perceived at age 13 did not predict NBA at age 16. Our results suggest that fPC at age 13 uniquely predicts NBA at age 16, and that adolescents are able to distinguish fPC from mPC. Moreover, no differences in the mediational paths were found based on the gender of the adolescents, emphasizing the detrimental impacts of PPC regardless of the gender of the adolescents. Our findings suggest that adolescents may receive the message from their psychologically controlling fathers that it is okay to hurt others for one's own gain, and then the resulting belief that aggression is appropriate predicts their physical aggression in their emerging adulthood.