The examination of authoritarian parenting styles, specific forms of peer-victimization, and reactive aggression in Hong Kong Youth

Abstract

This study utilized a hierarchical regression model to explore the relationship between reactive aggression, forms of peer victimization, and authoritarian parenting styles. Participants included 1,021 Hong Kong youth and their parents ( N = 1,021), drawn from ten primary schools throughout the municipality. Children completed the Reactive and Proactive Aggression Questionnaire and the Multidimensional Peer Victimization Scale, while parents completed the Parental Styles Dimensions Questionnaire. Results indicated that authoritarian parenting, parental use of verbal hostility, verbal victimization by peers, social manipulation, and attacks on property by peers, all significantly contributed to the variance in reactive aggression. Conversely, physical attacks by peers, physical coercion by parents, and non-reasoning parenting styles were not found to significantly contribute to the regression model. Additionally, gender was found to predict reactive aggression with boys reporting higher scores than girls. The implications of these findings for future research, as well as the limitations of this study are discussed.