Exploring the cycle of mother-child relations, maternal confidence, and children's aggression

The study examines the relationships between preschool children's aggression, mothers' confidence in managing their children's behaviour, and mother-child relations. The hypothesised model is one in which children's aggressive behaviour is associated with mothers' confidence in managing their children's behaviour. In turn, maternal confidence is proposed to be related to mother-child relations, which is hypothesised to be associated with children's aggression. It was found that children's aggression was significantly associated with lower maternal confidence, which was significantly associated with mother-child relations characterised by low respect for autonomy, guilt and anxiety, temper and detachment, and inconsistency. In turn, mother-child relations characterised by guilt and anxiety were a significant predictor of children's aggression. The study also extends current understanding of the process of young children's aggression by demonstrating the role of maternal confidence as well as the specific dimensions of mother-child relations relevant to these issues.