Project Details
Projekt
Self-Regulatory Competences as Predictors of (Sexually) Aggressive and Antisocial Behavior from Childhood into Emerging Adulthood
Applicant
Professorin Dr. Rebecca Bondü
Subject Area
Developmental and Educational Psychology
Term
since 2021
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 426314138
Aggressive and antisocial behavior (AAB) is highly stable and often persists into adulthood. Some expressions of AAB, such as sexual aggression, are particularly relevant in this age range. Inadequate self-regulatory competences promote AAB, because they impede controlling negative behavioral impulses and showing long-term adaptive behavior. Thus, they can be considered important risk factors for this behavior. Insights into their detailed effects and their relative importance for different AAB facets as well their long-term developmental trajectories and specific patterns can, therefore, help to derive intervention needs and opportunities. In addition, examining associations between self-regulatory competences and AAV during emerging adulthood is important, because self-regulatory competences develop well into this age range, because the potential long-term effects of even early self-regulatory deficits may only show at later stages of development, because the transition from adolescence into emerging adulthood is a pivotal stage for the further stabilization of AAB, and because AAB trajectories and profiles tend to further differentiate in this period. Therefore, the present project aims to highlight the relative importance of a broad range of self-regulatory competences for the long-term trajectories, profiles, and profile transitions of a broad range of AAB facets using data from 1.657 participants and from five data waves spanning a 13-year period from middle childhood into emerging adulthood. In addition, the project will pay specific attention to sexual aggression and examine the relative importance of self-regulatory competences for this form of aggression beyond other pertinent risk factors. Finally, the potential long-term effects of the AAB facets on specific self-regulatory competences that may add to explaining the stability of AAB itself will be investigated. Thus, the project results can add to a better understanding of the long-term trajectories and patterns of AAB, to the early detection of intervention needs, and to deriving tailored prevention and intervention measures.
DFG Programme
Research Units
