Aggression in childhood and long-term unemployment in adulthood: A cycle of maladaptation and some protective factors

The present study was designed to shed light on specific risk mechanisms an d protective factors in the relation between aggression in childhood and lo ng-term unemployment in adulthood. Participants were drawn from the ongoing Jyvaskyla Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development; data g athered at the ages of 8 (N = 369), 14, 27, and 36 years (n = 311) were use d in the present study. Teacher-rated aggression at age 8 was related to su bsequent long-term unemployment through a cycle of maladaptation. Specifica lly, childhood aggression predicted school maladjustment at age 14, which w as both directly and indirectly (via problem drinking and lack of occupatio nal alternatives at age 27) related to long-term unemployment. Child-center ed parenting and prosocial tendencies in an aggressive child significantly lowered his or her probability of becoming long-term unemployed in adulthoo d.