PROSPECTIVE FAMILY PREDICTORS OF AGGRESSION TOWARD FEMALE PARTNERS FOR AT-RISK YOUNG MEN

Social learning models of the intergenerational transmission of aggres sion were tested for an at-risk sample of young adult men who entered a longitudinal study (Oregon Youth Study) in Grade 4 and were assessed with a female partner in young adulthood (17-20 years old). The assoc iations of 2 family process variables-parental dyadic aggression and u nskilled parenting, assessed both in late childhood and early adolesce nce with the son's later aggression toward a partner-were examined. Pa rental antisocial behavior was hypothesized to be associated with both family process variables. Unskilled parenting was hypothesized to pla y a key role in the son's later aggression toward an intimate partner, mediated by his development of antisocial behavior by adolescence. Fu lly prospective structural equation models were tested with multimetho d, multiagent data, including both observed and reported aggression to ward the partner. Findings indicate that the major hypothesized pathwa ys through unskilled parenting practices and the boys' antisocial beha vior were implicated in the intergenerational transmission of aggressi on.