Examining risk and protective factors on progression of romantic relational aggression among young adults: Parental control, parental care, and peer social support

Abstract

Romantic relational aggression is related to numerous mental health consequences but risk and protective factors of perpetrating this type of aggression, historically, have been unclear. This study fills in the research gap by evaluating the impact of parental control, parental care, and peer social support on later perpetration in romantic relational aggression among 84 predominately Chinese college students. Results revealed the positive association between parental control and perpetration in romantic relational aggression, however, this association diminished in the presence of high peer social support (HSS). Despite insignificance in the main effect, parental care was negatively correlated with later perpetration in romantic relationship in the HSS group while a positive association was found in the low peer social support (LSS) group. These highlights provided evidences how parental control and parental care during childhood could be risk factors for later romantic relational aggression as well as how current social support from peer could serve as a protective factor on the negative influence from parent–child relationships.