Relationship between Differentiation of Self and Peer Aggression among Argentine University Students

The socio-emotional well-being of children and adolescents is a subject of interest, both for academics and researchers, as well as for parents, teachers, and educators. Initiatives on this subject promoted from the scientific and social fields are constantly increasing, and tend to have multiple objectives, among which one is to understand the dynamics of violence and aggression (which can lead to harassment situations), in order to design more effective prevention and intervention programs. Research suggests that emotional aspects are relevant to the prevention of aggression. Within this realm, we have focused on Differ-entiation of self (DoS). The Differentiation of Self is the central construct of Bowen's (1978) systemic family theory, considered from the systemic perspective as one of the most comprehensive theories of human behavior. With multiple applications in various fields, DoS is a multidimensional construct, defined as the ability to balance emotional and intel-lectual functioning-intrapsychic dimension-, and intimacy and autonomy in personal rela-tionships-interpersonal dimension-. Based on previous studies in which associations between bullying and socio-emotional compe-tencies were found, the objective of this study was to find relationships between differentia-tion of self and peer aggression.