Abstract

Aims: The mental and social health of adolescents is greatly influenced by parental monitoring. In fact, it has an important role in the affiliation of adolescents with their peers. Accordingly, this study aimed to investigate the influence of parental monitoring and affiliation with deviant peers on children's aggression. Methods: This is a correlational study done using structural equation modeling. Statistical population of the study included all male and female adolescents from military families of these, 457 were selected using cluster sampling. To collect the data, different scales such as Iranian adolescents' risk-taking scale, parental monitoring scale and affiliation with delinquent peers were used. Then, the data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Results: The obtained results showed that there was a significant difference between girls and boys in aggressive manners, parental monitoring and affiliation with delinquent peers. The direct and indirect effectiveness of parental monitoring on aggressive manners were -0.26 and -0.35 respectively. Moreover, parental monitoring the affiliation with delinquent peers could significantly affect aggressive manners. The mediating model was able to explain 19 of the variance of aggression. Conclusion: The model of this study in comparison with previous researches was suggestive of direct and indirect effectiveness of parental monitoring on aggressive behavior of adolescents. Accordingly, it is highly influential to pay attention to the parental monitoring role that decreases affiliation with delinquent peers and as a result reduces children's aggression.