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Longitudinal Relations Between Aggression, Emotion Dysregulation, and Social Skills Across Middle Childhood: A Study

Habib Niyaraq Nobakht1, Silje Steinsbekk1, Lars Wichstrøm1

  • 1Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway.

Journal of Interpersonal Violence
|December 18, 2025
PubMed

Insights

Increased emotion dysregulation predicts aggression in children aged 6-12. However, aggression later predicts emotion dysregulation and social skill deficits, suggesting targeted interventions are crucial.

Area of Science:

  • Child Psychology
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Behavioral Science

Background:

  • Aggression in children is a significant concern.
  • Understanding predictors of aggression is vital for intervention.
  • Emotion dysregulation and social skills are potential factors.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if emotion dysregulation and social skills predict aggression in children.
  • To examine developmental trajectories of these relationships from ages 6 to 12.
  • To explore bidirectional effects between aggression, emotion dysregulation, and social skills.

Main Methods:

  • Longitudinal study using teacher reports from two birth cohorts (N=840).
  • Data collected biennially from ages 6 to 12.
  • Random intercept cross-lagged panel models analyzed developmental trends.

Main Results:

  • Emotion dysregulation predicted increased aggression from ages 6-10.
  • Social skills did not predict aggression.
  • From ages 10-12, aggression predicted increased emotion dysregulation and impaired social skills.
  • No significant gender or aggression type differences were found.

Conclusions:

  • Emotion dysregulation is an early predictor of childhood aggression.
  • Aggression can subsequently lead to emotion dysregulation and social skill deficits.
  • Interventions targeting emotion dysregulation may effectively reduce aggression in children.

Keywords:
child behavioral problemschildhood aggressionemotion dysregulationlability/negativitysex differencessocial skillswithin-person analysis

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