The developmental characteristics of proactive and reactive aggression in late childhood: The effect of parental control

Abstract Previous research has confirmed that parental control is related to children's aggressive behavior. However, few studies have focused on proactive and reactive aggression to distinguish the different effects of parental psychological and behavioral control. Moreover, additional longitudinal evidence is needed to understand these links. In the current paper, a three‐wave longitudinal study was conducted to examine the developmental characteristics of proactive and reactive aggression and the role of parental control in China. A total of 484 4th‐ and 7th‐grade students participated at wave 1 (51.65% in 4th‐grade, M age = 11.66 ± 1.52 years), 465 students (52.04% in 4th‐grade) at wave 2, and 447 children (51.90% in 4th‐grade) at wave 3. The results showed that: (1) Proactive aggression in late childhood remained stable overall, while reactive aggression displayed a clear upward trend. (2) In proactive aggression, boys and girls had a consistent developmental trend. The initial level of boys was higher than that of girls. In reactive aggression, the growth rate was inversely associated with their initial level and the initial level of boys in 7th‐grade was significantly higher than that of girls. (3) Both parental psychological and behavioral control positively predicted students’ reactive aggression in 4th‐ and 7th‐grade, whereas only parental behavioral control positively predicted proactive aggression in 7th‐grade students, with no gender differences.