Understanding aggression through attachment and social emotional competence in Korean middle school students

Abstract

In recent years, increase in adolescent crime in the Republic of Korea has put adolescent aggression in the spotlight. This study examines whether the quality of attachment to parents and peers influences aggressive behaviors and whether social emotional competencies serve as significant mediators for middle school students. These relationships were investigated between gender groups. A full mediational model better explained the male sample while a partial mediational model better explained the female sample. Specifically, parent and peer attachment was found to have indirect effects on aggression via behavioral self-control among boys, whereas for girls, parent attachment was found to have both direct and indirect effects on aggression via empathy and behavioral self-control. The findings of the study underscore the importance of parent and peer attachment during adolescent years. Significant implications for teachers and school psychologists as well as aggression-prevention program developers are discussed.

Keywords

adolescence aggression attachment social emotional competence South Korea

In 2012 the Youth Counseling and Social Services Center in South Korea (henceforth Korea) reported 44.8% of adolescents (sleeper risk category 26.6%, high risk category 18.2%) had issues related to aggression/impulsivity/‘not carefulness’. The National Statistics Office (2012) of Korea reports a 67.2% increase in felonies, such as murder, theft, arson, and rape over the same four-year span (1,857 cases to 3,106 cases), nation-wide. Aggressive behaviors by adolescents are not only increasing but also becoming more severe. Therefore, with urgency we investigate factors reducing behavioral aggression among children and adolescents in other cultures and countries in order to gain insight into what may help researchers, school psychologists, and other professionals to deal with the situation in Korea.

Attachment and aggression

Aggression refers to affecting another in a harmful way (Buss, 1966), and this includes both physical and psychological harm (Bandura, 1973). Generally boys are identified as being more aggressive than girls (e.g., Carlo et al., 1999), but a small number of studies found girls being more aggressive than boys (e.g., Capaldi & Crosby, 1997). The societal situation in Korea suggests an urgent need to examine behavioral aggression, and knowing that aggression can look different in girls and boys, we investigate the two groups separately.

Following previous research (e.g., Kim, Seong, & Choe, 2010; Lee, 2008; Lim, Kim, & Han, 2009) we applied attachment theory to understand aggression. Attachment refers to the strong and continuous feelings felt by an individual towards those close to him/her, and attachment theory maintains that early experiences and interactions between an individual and his/her caregivers contribute to the development of his/her internal working model (Bowlby, 1982). These internal working models become the filter through which one understands interactions with family members and social relationships. Individuals who receive support, comfort, and love from their caregivers develop positive internal working models and see others as trustworthy and dependable. In contrast, those who are rejected by their caregivers develop negative internal working models where they see others as threatening, untrustworthy, and unreliable (Bowlby, 1982).

As the individual gets older, attachment to caregivers (parent attachment) changes from actions and behaviors, such as physically comforting and caretaking, to the belief and trust that parents will support the individual when needed (Armsden & Greenberg, 1987). During adolescence, the relationship between parent attachment and aggression gets more complex. In several cross-sectional studies looking at adolescents and at-risk behaviors, parents’ affection and emotional support had negative correlations with at-risk behaviors such as acting out (Kim et al., 2010; Yoon, 2010). In contrast, a small number of studies from Korea found high levels of parent attachment to predict greater levels of aggression. Lim and colleagues (2009) surveyed eighth graders, and for justice-involved youth, high parent attachment related to high levels of aggression. A different study with similar connections between parent attachment and aggression explained this phenomenon as parent attachment being experienced by the adolescents as over-attentiveness and excessive protection, in turn leading to feelings of hostility and aggressiveness towards parents (Park, Lim, & Park, 2009). Parent attachment in the form of excessive parental attention may impede the adolescent developing autonomy. These studies emphasize further the importance of examining parent attachment in relation to adolescent aggression.

Additionally, adolescence is a time when human relationships expand beyond the family, and internal working models are applied to others. Peers become significant figures of attachment (Lee, 2008), and when close peer relationships are established, adolescents experience being acknowledged as significant persons (Laible, Carlo, & Raffaelli, 2000). Research on Korean adolescents found the relationship between peer attachment and aggression to be complex as well. One study found those who perceived secure attachment with peers were less likely to commit crimes in general, but these individuals were, at the same time, more likely to commit crimes when faced with emotional difficulties (Yang & Park, 2009). In another study surveying middle school students Lee (2008) found aggression to increase with greater levels of peer attachment.

Previous research is not in agreement when it comes to gender differences in attachment. Some find female adolescents to have greater parent attachment than their male peers (e.g., Lee, 2003). Other research finds male adolescents to have greater parental attachment than their female counterparts (e.g., Choi, 2005). With regards to peer attachment, a meta-analysis on gender differences in peer attachment identified a range of individual charactisitcs such as age, numbers of close friends, and trust and communication to have significant influences on its development (Gorrese & Ruggieri, 2012), underscoring the the need to separately examine gender groups when investigating attachment.

Social emotional competence

These inconsistencies in the relationship between attachment and aggression suggest it may go beyond a direct relationship. Therefore we investigated three dimensions of social emotional competencies as mediators. Social emotional competence informs how one interacts with others and is part of the internal working model proposed by attachment theory.

One dimension of social emotional competence is emotion regulation. Emotion regulation refers to being able to control how emotions are expressed in different situations and responding appropriately to another’s emotions (Parker & Asher, 1987). Research identified links between attachment quality and emotion regulation in individuals from middle childhood (Contreras, Kerns, Weimer, Gentzler, & Tomich, 2000) to college students (McCarthy, Lambert, & Moller, 2006). Emotion regulation is linked to aggression as well. A study with Korean fifth and sixth graders found a positive relationship between poor emotion regulation (emotion explosion, aggressive expression, avoidance) and various forms of aggression (relational, responsive; Kim, 2011). Girls had higher emotion regulation than boys (Kim, 2011).

The second dimension is behavioral self-control, the ability to delay gratification, follow directions, and suppress impulsive or aggressive behaviors (Kopp, 1982). Strong, secure attachment predicts greater behavioral self-control (Flexon, Greenleaf, & Lurigio, 2012; Lu, Yu, Ren, & Marshall, 2013) and there are direct links between behavioral self-control and aggression (Dean, Duke, George, & Scott, 2007). A meta-analysis on impulsivity identified men showing significantly higher scores on behavioral risk-taking questionnaires and sensation seeking measures (see Cross, Copping & Campbell, 2011 for review).

The third dimension is empathy, the skill to know another’s thoughts, attitudes, and feelings (Park, 1994). The aspect of taking on another’s perspective is what differentiates empathy from emotion regulation. Empathy is important when understanding aggression because it allows the individual to indirectly experience another’s pain, which in turn reduces their level of aggression (Moore, 1990), and ultimately motivates prosocial behavior (Carlo, Raffaelli, Laible, & Meyer, 1999). Stronger parent attachment has been linked to greater feelings of empathy, and greater empathy has been linked to lower aggressive behaviors (Park & Lee, 2008), particularly bullying (Jolliffe & Farrington, 2011).

With regards to gender differences, some report female adolescents having higher levels of empathy compared to their male counterparts (Cho, 2009; Mestre, Samper, Frias, & Tur, 2009). In contrast, Simona, Paola, and Salmivalli (2009) found no differences in empathy levels between the two gender groups based on peer evaluations, even though self-reports found female adolescents to rate themselves as having higher levels of empathy than their male counterparts. In a recent study from South Korea, You, Lee, Lee, and Kim (2015) identified the relationship between attachment and bullying mediated by empathy and these relationships were moderated by gender. However, there is a gap in the literature regarding how different social emotional competencies mediate the relationship between attachment and behavioral aggression, particularly in middle school students.

The present study

This study examines whether adolescents’ social emotional competencies serve as significant mediators between aggression and attachment (to both parent and peer), and how these relationships differ between the gender groups in middle school students. The following questions guided the study:

Which sources of attachment (parent or peer) have significant direct effects on students’ aggression? Are there gender differences in the relationship between attachment quality and aggression?

For each gender group, which dimensions of social emotional competence have relative importance as mediators?

Based on previous research we hypothesized both parent and peer attachment to have direct effects on aggression. We hypothesized girls to perceive greater parent attachment than boys, but the attachment effects to be significant for both groups. We also expected all three aspects of social emotional competence to serve as mediators, and the significant mediators to vary based on gender.

Method

Participants

Recruitment of participants was done with the help of the Seoul City Government Department of Education (DOE). The school was in a predominantly middle-class area, with approximately 20% of the students being eligible for free lunch at school. Although we were not provided with the information, the DOE assured us that other socio-economic indicators were also reflective of the national distribution of socio-economic statuses. In addition to socio-economic status, academic achievement levels were considered in the recruitment process as well. With knowledge of the transactional relationship between academic achievement and peer relationships found among French students in grades two to seven (Véronneau, Vitaro, Brendgen, Dishion, & Tremblay, 2010), we consulted with the DOE to find a school that reflected the academic achievement of the nation.

Parents of all the students (approximately n = 775) in this selected middle school were sent consent forms via their children’s social studies classes. The parents of 255 seventh graders, 243 eighth graders, and 265 ninth graders (n = 763; M_age = 15.20, SD = 0.98) provided consent for their child to participate in the study. Students whose parents provided consent for them to participate were asked for their assent. A total of 730 students provided usable surveys, 448 (61.3%) from males and 282 (38.6%) from females.

Measures

Parent and peer attachment

Participants completed the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPAA: Armsden & Greenberg, 1989). Portions of the IPAA were used in order to measure the quality of parent (‘My parents trusts my judgment’) and peer attachment (‘I feel alone or apart when I am with my friends’). Each construct was measured by 25 items. Items were rated on a five-point Likert scale (1 = ‘Almost never or never’; 2 = ‘Seldom’; 3 = ‘Sometimes’; 4 = ‘Often’; 5 = ‘Almost always or Always’). Although recent research criticized the IPPA for not being an accurate measure of attachment (Van Ryzin & Leve, 2012), studies in Korea have reliabily applied the IPPA on several Korean samples and verified its reliability as a measure of attachment (e.g., Kim et al., 2010; Oak, 1998). Therefore it was considered an adequate measure for this study. For the overall sample, the Cronbach’s alpha for parent attachment was 0.94 and for peer attachment was 0.89.

Emotion regulation

Three items from the Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scale (BERS; Epstein, 2004) measured emotion regulation. Items such as, ‘When I make a mistake, I admit it’ were rated on a four-point scale (1 = ‘very false’; 4 = ‘very true’). Higher scores indicated more emotion regulation. For the overall sample the Cronbach’s alpha was 0.74.

Behavioral self-control

Five items from Child Self-Control Rating Scale (Rohrbeck, Azar, & Wagner, 1991) measured behavioral self-control. Items such as, ‘It is easy for me to calm down when I am excited’ were rated on a four-point scale (1 = ‘very false’; 4 = ‘very true’), and higher scores indicated more behavioral self-control. For the overall sample the Cronbach’s alpha was 0.75.

Empathy

Students completed the empathic concern and perspective taking subscales from the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (Davis, 1983). A 14-item empathy scale was formed by combining the two scales. Items such as, ‘I sometimes try to understand my friends better by imagining how things look from their perspective’ were rated on a five-point scale (1 = ‘very false’; 5 = ‘very true’). The overall Cronbach’s alpha for the sample was 0.86.

Aggression

Behavioral aggression was measured using seven items from the Suppression of Aggression subscale of the Weinberger Adjustment Inventory (Weinberger, 1991). Items such as, ‘I pick on people I don’t like’ were rated on a five-point scale (1 = ‘very false’; 5 = ‘very true’), and higher scores indicated more aggression. For the overall sample the Cronbach’s alpha was 0.84.

Analysis

Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to assess the hypothesized structural relationships among the latent variables. SEM was selected because it is an analytic approach that can deal with the issues of specifying directionality among variables of interest and has the flexibility to theoretically test causal relationships. Specifically, this study conducted evaluations of a hypothesized model of the relationship between two types of attachment, the three mediators, and aggressive behavior.

Two mediational models were tested to compare and derive the best model. Model fit was assessed based on several criteria: Non-normed fit index (NNFI; Bentler & Bonett, 1980), comparative fit index (CFI; Bentler, 1990), and root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA; Steiger & Lind, 1980). Values lower than 0.08 for the RMSEA and values close to 0.95 for the NNFI and CFI were used to determine a good fitting model. All analyses were conducted using Amos 18.0 (Arbuckle, 2003). To test the significance of the mediating effects, we used the bootstrapping method outlined by Shrout and Bolger (2002). This method utilizes repeated sampling from the data set and estimating the indirect effect in each resampled data set. This approach is recommended over the traditional Sobel test since it makes no assumptions regarding the shape of the sampling distribution of the indirect effect (Hayes, 2009).

Missing data

The dataset contained missing responses. In order to obtain unbiased estimates of the parameters of interest, despite the incompleteness of the data, this study employed full-information maximum-likelihood estimation.

Results

General findings based on gender

Overall, there were significant differences in reported qualities of parent and peer attachments, with female students reporting higher qualities of both types of attachment (see Table 1). There were only significant differences reported in empathy, with female students with displaying higher empathy scores. Lastly, male students reported significantly greater aggression scores than their female counterparts.

Table 1.

Means, Standard Deviations, correlations among study variables across gender.

Boys (n = 448) Girls (n = 282)	Parent attachment^α	Peer attachment^α	Empathy^α	Emotion regulation	Behavioral Self-control	Aggression^α
Parent attachment	–	0.40**	0.26**	0.26**	0.23**	−0.04
Peer attachment	0.46**	–	0.33**	0.37**	0.28**	−0.11*
Empathy	0.33**	0.29**	–	0.31**	0.31**	0.07
Emotion regulation	0.30**	0.30**	0.27**	–	0.52**	−0.01
Behaviorl Self-control	0.30**	0.22**	0.31**	0.59**	–	−0.08
Aggression	−0.15*	−0.15*	−0.14*	−0.08	−0.12*	–
M_Girls (SD)	3.60 (0.56)	3.67 (0.56)	3.45 (0.44)	3.04 (0.45)	2.94 (0.47)	2.92 (0.77)
M_Boys (SD)	3.48 (0.66)	3.45 (0.54)	3.22 (0.44)	3.08 (0.51)	2.91 (0.53)	3.09 (0.88)

Note: **p < 0.01; *p < 0.05. ^αGender difference is significant at p < 0.01.

Significant correlations were found (see Table 1). For female students, aggression was negatively correlated with quality of parent and peer attachment, behavioral self-control, and empathy. For male students, only quality of peer attachment was negatively correlated with aggression.

Testing the mediational models

To assess the relationship between quality of attachment (parent and peer) and aggression as mediated by students’ social emotional competence, we tested two mediational models for each gender group. The initial structural model (see Figure 1) reflecting partial mediation was specified with both direct and indirect paths from quality of attachment to student aggression via three mediators. The second structural model represented the full mediational model, with only indirect effects from quality of attachment to aggression. Results indicated both models showing good fit for the sample (see Table 2).

Figure 1.

Hypothesized model of attachment, social emotional competence, and aggression.

Table 2.

Model fit indicies for full mediation and partial mediation models.

	Female		Male
Mediation	Full	Partial	Full	Partial
Fit index
χ	271.055	262.370	454.078	452.770
df	47	45	47	45
		Δχ (2) = 8.69, p < 0.05		Δχ (2) = 1.31, p > 0.05
CFI	0.980	0.981	0.974	0.974
NNFI	0.967	0.966	0.957	0.955
RMSEA	0.030	0.031	0.039	0.042

A χ² difference test was conducted to assist in choosing the better fitting model. The differences in χ² and degrees of freedom between the full mediation model and the partial mediation model informed the model selection. The χ² difference tests supported the full meditational model for the male group and the partial meditational model for the female group (see Table 2). The standardized parameter estimates for the final models are presented in Figure 2.

Figure 2.

Final structural model with standardized solution.

Maximum likelihood bootstrapping with a 95% confidence interval (see Shrout & Bolger, 2002) was used to test whether there was a significant indirect effect from quality of attachment to aggression through the three mediating variables. Only one indirect (mediated) effect of peer attachment to aggression via behavioral self-control was significant for males (p < 0.05). For female students, two indirect (mediated) effects of parent attachment to aggression via empathy and behavioral self-control were significant for females (p < 0.05). These were partial mediations since girls’ perceived quality of parent attachment had a significant direct impact on aggression as well.

Discussion

This study examined male and female adolescents perceived relationships between the attachment they perceived to have with their parents and their peers and the behavioral aggression they admitted to exhibiting. We aimed to determine whether those significant relationships were mediated by social emotional competencies. This was a pilot study conducted with the purposes of informing teachers, school psychologists, and aggression-prevention program developers in response to the growing societal phenomon of adolescent aggression.

Consistent with previous research and our hypotheses, female adolescents overall reported higher parent attachment (Lee, 2003), peer attachment (Gullone & Robinson, 2005; You, Lee, & Kim, 2004), and empathy (Cho, 2009; Mestre et al., 2009) and lower levels of behavioral aggression (Carlo et al., 1999) than their male counterparts. Also consistent with previous research, we found there were no significant differences between male and female adolescents for emotion regulation (Kim, 2010) and behavioral self-control (Cross et al., 2011).

For female students, high parent attachment and peer attachment, empathy, and behavioral self-control were related to low levels of aggression. These associations suggest Korean adolescents with positive internal working models, high empathy and behavioral self-control, also have lower levels of aggression. The only insignificant association for this group was between aggression and emotion regulation, which suggested that by the time middle school girls act out in the form of behavioral aggression, it is no longer related to their emotions. When developing prevention programs for middle school girls, incorporating general strategies that build empathy and behavioral self-control will be important. Additionally, the findings suggest when developing programs for those who have already been identified as being aggressive, other strategies not related to emotion-regulation skills need to be considered, such as cognitive empathy. Further research is needed to examine strategies for girls who have already been identified as being behaviorally aggressive.

On the other hand, boys who reported having comparatively higher parent attachment and peer attachment also reported higher emotion regulation and behavioral self-control, compared to their male peers who had lower parent attachment and peer attachment. Only peer attachment was significantly and negatively associated with aggression for boys. Although we cannot know from this study whether having friends made boys less vulnerable to being aggressive or that those who were less aggressive also made friends easier, our findings suggest that it is important to create opportunities for adolescent boys to build strong friendships. Futher research is needed to understand the role of peer groups in male adolescent behavior.

In contrast to the full mediations identified by Carlo, McGinley, Hayes, and Martinez (2012) with Mexican American college students, the mediation models identified for each gender among Korean youth were different. For middle school girls, both empathy and behavioral self-control were significant partial mediators between parent attachment and aggression. The partial mediation suggests behavioral aggression in adolescent girls can be decreased with increased feelings of empathy and behavioral control as well as greater parent attachment. The lack of relationship between peer attachment, neither direct nor indirect, and behavioral aggression suggests middle school-aged girls may perceive themselves as being equally aggressive towards friends and those who are not their friends. This aligns with the previously discussed idea that among girls who are aggressive, emotions are no longer considered relevant to their actions.

For boys, behavioral self-control was the only significant mediator for both types of attachment and their relationship to aggression. The connection between behavioral self-control and behavioral aggression was not surprising. However, the lack of mediation by empathy and emotion regulation was unexpected, and we suggest the following explanations. Adolescent boys may not be extending their empathic feelings towards those to whom they show aggression. Also, adolescent boys may not be aggressive to their friends and are only aggressive towards others they do not consider friends, and as such, they feel justified in their aggressive actions. Further research is needed to empirically test these explanations.

Limitations

Although the current study did not find peer attachment having any significant relationships with aggression among adolescent girls, the study is limited in that it only focused on behavioral aggression. We cannot conclude that peer attachment is not meaningful when understanding other forms of adolescent girls’ aggression. Further research is needed to understand the influence of peer attachment in female adolescents, especially considering that previous research on adolescent development has identified peer relationships as being important during this time.

Another limitation is related to the study design. Participants self-reported their perceptions at one time point. Those with little motivation to participate in the study could have answered in ways that exaggerate or minimize their actual experiences. Social desirability may have influenced participants to answer in ways that made them look better socially, resulting in the strong correlations among attachment and social emotional competence. In addition to the findings relying on self-reports and the recalling of behaviors, we cannot make causal inferences based on the cross-sectional nature of the data. Other methods such as longitudinal data collection and the surveying of parents and teachers need to be utilized to understand what is happening with adolescents.

Study implications

For school psychologists and teachers, the findings of the study suggest treating student behavioral aggression equitably. School psychologists and teachers can utlize knowledge that student abilities of behavioral self-control are linked to behavioral aggression among male students to work with male students in increasing behavioral self-control. Considering the nature of the academic environment in Korea of high-stakes testing and students being expected to spend time in school during the day and in cram schools (private tutoring institutions) at night, students have limited opportunities to release and/or practice healthy ways of relieving stress and pressure. So when a student is faced with stress in the form a conflict with a peer, he might be quick to resolve the conflict through physical means. Therefore, two suggestions for school psychologists and teachers are, first, to find ways that allow male students opportunities to release stress physically so that when conflict does arise male students are not quick to attempt behavioral aggression and, second, to teach students positive alternatives to being aggressive. Programs intended to reduce aggressive behaviors in boys may also include a curriculum on teaching positive alternative behaviors.

As for female students, understanding that having close relationships with parents directly influences behavioral aggression suggests that although girls may seem to mature quicker than their male counterparts, they still value the relationship they have with their parents. School psychologists and teachers may need to make greater effort to learn of the quality of the parent-child relationship and the home situation for girls exhibiting behavior aggression. Different courses of action need to be taken if the parent-child relationship is poor due to the parents working a lot versus if the parents are not around because of other reasons, such as incarceration and/or divorce. In the former situation, school psychologists may attempt to help girls understand the efforts and sacrifices their parents are making, whereas in the latter situation, the school psychologist may make efforts to build quality relationships with the students directly. Parents also may not know how to maintain and build relationships with their adolescent children (Kim & Ho, 2012). For these situations, the development of parent-child relationship building programs may be useful as well.

The academic and social environments for students in Asian countries such as China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Japan seem to overlap in several ways with that of South Korea. High-stakes testing puts a lot of pressure on students to only focus on school. Divorce rates are on the rise and greater numbers of students are growing up as only-children due to the low birthrate in Korea (CIA, 2014) and the One Child Policy in China (Huang, Hong, & Espelage, 2013). Therefore, school psychologists and teachers in these areas may want to apply some of the recommendations from this study to their own students.

Recommendations for other countries can be made more generally. School psychologists need to continue considering gender differences in regard to the previous and current relationships that students have, self-control, and feelings of empathy in relation to adolscents’ expressions of aggression. Efforts encouraging students to gain various social emotional competencies need to continue as well.

Conclusion

The present study provides important information on subfactors of attachment that may be effective at lowering aggressive behaviors among adolescents. The study identified differences between male and female studens with regards to how their previous relationships with parents and friends influence their aggressive behaviors. The identification of attachment dimensions with direct and indirect effects has important implications for students with problematic behaviors. By examining the mediation of various types of attachment on students’ social emotional competencies and in turn on aggressive behaviors, this study helps parents, school psychologists, and educators understand the characteristics of adolescents that may be affected by parents and peers. On the basis of the results of this study, we recommend school intervention programs be designed that place greater emphases on helping students develop different types of social emotional competencies.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was partially supported by the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies Research Fund.

Author biographies

Sukkyung You, Ph.D. is a Professor in College of Education, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Seoul, Korea. Her scholarly publications and conference presentations have focused on students achievement, motivation, risk and resilience, school violence, social context of education, and gender and ethnic differences in emotional and behavioral problems.

Ann Y. Kim, Ph.D. is currently a Postdoctoral Scholar at Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California. She received her Ph.D. In Education from UC Santa Barbara, with emphases in Child and Adolescent Development and Quantitative Methods in Social Sciences. Ann is interested in applying both quantitative (e.g., latent variable modeling) and qualitative methods (e.g., discourse analysis and ethnography) to conduct research on identity development and negative behaviors of adolescents.

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