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University of Cambridge

The Examination of Protective Factors between Corporal Punishment and Adolescent Aggression

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

Objectives The development of aggression from childhood to adulthood is well-researched, and extant work has identified a large number of developmental risk factors within the individual, family, and social domains. Among them, poor parenting, including harsh practices like corporal punishment, have repeatedly been found to predict adolescent behavioural problems, that may then negatively affect adult behaviours such as violence and offending. An area of research that is becoming increasingly important is one that seeks to identify the reasons why some people do not become aggressive, even when they have been exposed to well established risk factors. What is it that has protected them from becoming aggressive later in life? The current study examined whether self-control and having a positive teacher-child relationship acted as protective factors between corporal punishment and adolescent aggression. Methods An autoregressive cross-lagged panel model was used to examine self-control and teacher-child relationships as both direct and interactive protective factors between corporal punishment and adolescent aggression. Teacher and self-reported data was used from three waves (waves 4-6) of the Zurich Project on the Social Development of Children and Youths (Z-proso), a prospective longitudinal study of adolescents in Switzerland. Results The results show that both self-control and having a positive teacher-child relationship were direct protective factors against concurrent aggression. However, the interactive protective effect of these factors differed depending on the stage of adolescence and level of exposure to risk. Furthermore, differences were found when considering males and females separately.

Degree

thesis:*
Name dc:type.qualificationname
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Level dc:type.qualificationlevel
Doctoral
Grantor dc:publisher.institution
University of Cambridge
Year dc:date.issued
2018

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Neaverson, Aimee Elizabeth
Advisors dc:contributor.advisor
  • Eisner, Manuel
  • Murray, Aja

Subjects

dc:subject × 6

Rights

dc:rights
Language dc:language
en

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Author Identifier
0000-0001-9991-2517
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:www.repository.cam.ac.uk:1810/279071

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Cambridge University
Base URL
api.repository.cam.ac.uk/server/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Neaverson, Aimee Elizabeth. The Examination of Protective Factors between Corporal Punishment and Adolescent Aggression. Doctoral thesis, University of Cambridge, 2018. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.26453