Unpacking the relationship between parenting behaviours and child aggression: Triangulating different causal inference models across two cohorts

Year: 2025

Type: preprint

Abstract: High or persistent levels of aggression are associated with psychopathology and difficulties with health and education as the child develops. Parenting behaviours have been frequently associated with childhood aggression, however much of this literature does not control for the shared genetics between parent and child or investigate the direction of effects. Here, we triangulated across two family-based designs, the Norwegian Mother Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) and the Early Growth and Development Study (EGDS) from the United States, both of which have comparable measures and allow for direction-of-causation analysis and control for shared genetics. Analyses were pre-registered.We found converging evidence across both studies for both genetic and environmental transmission in the relationship between parenting behaviours and child aggressive behaviour, with the association between positive parenting and lower child aggression being driven primarily by shared genetics. In MoBa, 47% of the association between inconsistent parenting and child aggression was explained by shared genetics. We found significant child-to-parent effects in both the MoBa and the EGDS samples. This work shows the strength of triangulation, allowing us to describe a pattern of intergenerational association that is not dependent on a specific sample or study design.

DOI: 10.31234/osf.io/6kq3y_v2

Authors: Joanna K Bright, Yasmin Iona Ahmadzadeh, Olakunle Oginni, Essi Viding, Jenae M. Neiderhiser, Daniel S. Shaw, Leslie D. Leve, Misaki Natsuaki, Jody M. Ganiban, Eivind Ystrom, Tom McAdams

Institutions: King's College London, University College London, Pennsylvania State University, University of Pittsburgh, University of Oregon, University of California, Riverside, George Washington University, University of Oslo

Language: English

Topic: Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development

Subfield: Clinical Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Good health and well-being, Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: green

Funders: Wellcome Trust, European Commission, Helse- og Omsorgsdepartementet, Universitetet i Oslo, Norges Forskningsråd, National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, H2020 European Research Council, HORIZON EUROPE European Research Council

OpenAlex ID: W4410538917