Perceived Relative Deprivation and Aggression Among Adolescents: Half-Longitudinal Mediating Role of Inhibitory and Initiatory Self-Control.

Perceived relative deprivation (PRD) has been associated with aggression, yet the self-control processes underlying this association remain unclear. This study examined whether inhibitory and initiatory self-control differentially accounted for the prospective association between PRD and aggression among adolescents. We conducted a two-wave half-longitudinal study with a 6-month interval among 532 adolescents, of whom 422 participated at follow-up. Half-longitudinal mediation analyses showed that baseline PRD did not significantly predict subsequent aggression after baseline aggression was controlled. However, higher baseline PRD predicted lower subsequent inhibitory self-control after controlling for baseline level, and higher baseline inhibitory self-control predicted lower subsequent aggression after controlling for baseline aggression. The half-longitudinal indirect association through inhibitory self-control was significant. In contrast, the prospective paths involving initiatory self-control and its indirect association were nonsignificant. These findings indicate that inhibitory self-control is the key mechanism linking PRD to aggression while highlighting the need to differentiate inhibitory and initiatory dimensions when examining the psychological processes associated with aggression.