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The persistence of elevated subtypes of aggression beginning in childhood have been associated with long-term maladaptive outcomes. Yet it remains unclear to what extent there are clusters of individuals following similar developmental trajectories across forms (i.e., physical and indirect) and functions (i.e., proactive and reactive) of aggression. We aimed to identify groups of children with distinct profiles of the joint development of forms and functions of aggression and to identify risk factors for group membership. A sample of 787 children was followed from birth to adolescence. Parent and teacher reports, and standardised assessments were used to measure two forms and two functions of aggressive behaviour, between six and 13 years of age along with preceding child, maternal, and family-level risk-factors. Analyses were conducted using a group-based multi-trajectory modelling approach. Five trajectory groups emerged: non-aggressors, low-stable, moderate-engagers, high-desisting, and high-chronic. Coercive parenting increased membership risk in the moderate-engagers and high-chronic groups. Lower maternal IQ increased membership risk in both high-desisting and high-chronic groups, whereas maternal depression increased membership risk in the high-desisting group only. Never being breastfed increased membership risk in the moderate-engagers group. Boys were at greater risk for belonging to groups displaying elevated aggression. Individuals with chronic aggression problems use all subtypes of aggression. Risk factors suggest that prevention programs should start early in life and target mothers with lower IQ. Strategies to deal with maternal depression and enhance positive parenting while replacing coercive parenting tactics should be highlighted in programming efforts.

This study investigated the relationships between various maternal characteristics and child outcomes in preschool age children. Participants included 128 mother-child pairs. Mothers and children participated in two observational tasks, clean-up and Tickle-Me-Elmo, which were coded for expressions of emotion, and mothers completed self-report surveys. A person-centered latent profile analysis was applied, identifying distinct maternal profiles defined by observed positive emotion expression and reported positive and negative emotionality, depressive symptoms, and parenting stress. Four profiles were identified, labeled Happy, Melancholic, Stressed, and Struggling. These profiles were found to be associated with child outcomes, including observed positive and negative emotion expression and problem behaviors. Specifically, the Melancholic and Struggling profiles tended to be negatively related to child emotion expression, while the Stressed and Struggling profiles tended to be related to greater child problem behaviors. The results highlight meaningful distinctions between concurrent, interacting maternal characteristics that contribute to child emotion socialization, and they suggest significant differentiations in the factors that contribute to child risk.

Objective: The present study investigated several components of a social information-processing model of child physical abuse. The main objective was to examine the extent to which high-risk, relative to low-risk, mothers differed in their evaluations, attributions, negative affect, and disciplinary choices for children's behavior, and to explore whether these differences may be expressed in interactions between risk status and mitigating information., Method: Nineteen high- and 19 matched low-risk mothers' evaluations of children transgressions, attributions, affect, and choices of disciplinary techniques were examined using six vignettes depicting a child engaging in moral, conventional, and personal transgressions. One-half of the vignettes contained mitigating information and one-half did not. High- and low-risk mothers were chosen based on their potential for physical child abuse. A three-factor (2 x 3 x 2) design was used to assess the dependent variables., Results: As expected, high-risk, relative to low-risk, mothers reported more hostile intent, stable and global attributions, aversiveness, annoyance, and use of power-assertion discipline. A risk group by type of transgression interaction was found for evaluation and indifference and a risk group by mitigating information interaction was found for evaluation of wrongness, internal attributions, and aversiveness. A risk by type of transgression by mitigating information interaction was found for global/specific attributions, aversiveness, and indifference toward child transgressions., Conclusions: Results support a social information processing model of child physical abuse, which suggests that high-risk, compared to low-risk, mothers process child-related information differently and use more power-assertive disciplinary techniques.