Physically aggressive boys from ages 6 to 12: family background, parenting behavior, and prediction of delinquency.

Boys from low socioeconomic environments were rated on physical aggression at ages 6, 10, 11, and 12 by teachers and classified according to stability of fighting over time: stable high fighters, high fighters with late onset, desisting high fighters, variable high fighters, and nonfighters. The fighter groups differed from each other both in family background and parenting behavior. They were also significantly associated with delinquency across ages 10 to 14. A stepwise logistic regression with fighter groups, family adversity index, and parenting behavior variables as predictors showed that the Punishment x Fighter Group interaction, together with supervision, predicted self-reported delinquency. The study thus showed that the developmental pathways of physically aggressive behavior for boys in low socioeconomic environments were related to familial adversity and poor parenting, and that they predicted delinquency.