Exploring the Influence of Familial Relations on Relational Aggression in Young Adults

Abstract

Families are the foundational unit of an individual’s life, for the first few years after birth a child, parents, and family are the only existing environment to observe and learn from. It is during their young adult age that they start to display their individuality, relational aggression a form of covert and hidden way to cause damage to other people has been a rather unnoticed, less researched area of study, A study on 200 Indian young adults found a significant relationship between familial relationships and relational aggression. Males had higher levels of proactive damage in context with cohesion and reactive damage and ignore in context to expressiveness. Females had higher levels of reactive and proactive damage and ignore in the conflict dimension. However, there were no significant correlations in expressiveness and conflict dimensions. The study highlights the importance of understanding the relationship between familial relationships and relational aggression in young adults to better understand and address this issue.