Review article
https://doi.org/10.31299/hrri.62.1.9
Predictors of aggressive behaviour in children and adolescents
Krešimir Prijatelj
orcid.org/0000-0002-8056-3684
; Department of Psychology, University of Zadar, Šime Vitasovića 1, 23000 Zadar, Croatia
*
* Corresponding author.
Abstract
This narrative review synthesises evidence on predictors of aggressive behaviour in children and adolescents, with a focus on how risk and protection accumulate across development. Aggression is conceptualised broadly, including physical, relational, indirect, reactive, and proactive forms. The review integrates longitudinal studies, meta-analyses, and key theoretical contributions that address individual, family, peer, school, and broader contextual influences. Developmental research shows that physical aggression typically declines from early childhood, while a minority of youths follow stable or increasing trajectories that predict later conduct problems, peer difficulties, and risky intimate relationships. Individual-level predictors include temperamental negative emotionality, low self-regulation, specific personality facets, hostile attribution biases, dominance-oriented social goals, and reduced theory of mind and mentalisation. At the family level, harsh, inconsistent, and psychologically controlling parenting, as well as insecure attachments and high conflict climates are linked to elevated and persistent aggression, whereas warm, structured, and responsive parenting can buffer risk. Peer and school factors, such as bullying roles, status dynamics, classroom norms, and attitudes toward violence, further shape aggressive trajectories, especially when aggression is socially rewarded. The review supports a biopsychosocial perspective in which aggression emerges from transactions between vulnerabilities and environments. Implications include the need for early, multi-level interventions that combine child skills training, parentfocused components, and school-wide approaches, alongside future research that improves measurement, increases cultural diversity, and integrates biological and social levels of analysis.
Keywords
Aggressive behaviour; Children and adolescents; Risk and protective factors; Bullying and peer relations; Biopsychosocial predictors
Hrčak ID:
348366
URI
Publication date:
29.6.2026.
Visits: 0 *