Maternal psychological control and preschoolers’ aggression: The joint moderating roles of temperamental reactivity and gender

This study aimed to clarify the association between maternal psychological control and preschoolers’ aggression via examining the moderating roles of preschoolers’ temperamental reactivity and gender. Participants included 228 Chinese preschoolers (35.52 ~ 83.88 months, Mage = 57 months, SD = 14.16 months, 128 boys), their mothers (72.1% had an education degree below high school), and teachers (females with a bachelor’s or associate’s degree). Mothers rated the levels of their psychological control and preschoolers’ temperamental reactivity, and teachers reported relational and overt aggression. Results showed that the association between maternal psychological control and preschoolers’ overt aggression was moderated by preschoolers’ temperamental reactivity and gender. Concretely, maternal psychological control was consistently related to girls’ overt aggression regardless of their temperamental reactivity. While in boys, this relationship was moderated by their temperamental reactivity. Maternal psychological control was only correlated with overt aggression of the highly reactive boys. However, maternal psychological control was not associated with preschoolers’ relational aggression regardless of their temperamental reactivity and gender. These findings highlight the importance of taking preschoolers’ temperamental reactivity and gender into account when delineating the link between maternal psychological control and preschoolers’ aggression.