Peer relationships and aggressive behaviour in adolescents: Moderation by gender and mediation by media violence

Abstract

We investigated the role of gender and media violence in adolescents’ peer relationship problems and aggressive behaviour. High school students (n = 144) from South-Eastern Nigeria participated in the study. Seventy-two completed an experiment in which they were exposed to media violence, while the other 72 served as attention controls. Following the interventions, the students completed measures of peer relationship problems and aggressive behaviour. Results from Hayes PROCESS Macro for moderated–mediation analyses indicated that peer relationship qualities predicted aggressive behaviour. Media violence exposure mediated the peer influence–aggressive behaviour relationship, such that the relationship was stronger for male participants with greater peer relationship problems. The relationship was weaker for female participants with lesser or no peer relationship problems. These findings are consistent with social learning theory, which proposes that children learn to engage in aggressive behaviour by observing the aggression of others, which could intensify over time.