AccScience Publishing / HPR / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/HPR026140005
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RESEARCH ARTICLE

Social support and aggressive behavior among Chinese adolescents: The roles of control beliefs and self-control

Xiangnan Li1 ,  Yongqiang Su2,3* ,  Yan Gan4
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1 Department of Student Affairs, Center for Mental Health Education, Shaoxing University, Shaoxing, Zhejiang, China
2 Department of Psychology, Center for Brain, Mind and Education, Shaoxing University, Shaoxing, Zhejiang, China
3 Department of Psychology, School of Education and Psychology, Shaoxing University, Shaoxing, Zhejiang, China
4 Department of Psychology, College of Psychology, Sichuan Normal University, Sichuan, Chengdu, China
HPR, 026140005 https://doi.org/10.36922/HPR026140005
Received: 5 April 2026 | Revised: 17 May 2026 | Accepted: 18 May 2026 | Published online: 29 May 2026
© 2026 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution -Noncommercial 4.0 International License (CC-by the license) ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ )
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Abstract

Background: Social support has been widely recognized as a psychosocial resource associated with reduced aggressive behavior in adolescence; however, the psychological processes underlying this association remain unclear.

Objective: Guided by the general aggression model, this study examines whether control beliefs and self-control are associated with and may mediate the relationship between perceived social support and aggressive behavior among Chinese adolescents.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 491 secondary school students in China. Participants completed validated self-report measures of perceived social support, control beliefs, self-control, and aggressive behavior. Pearson correlations and serial mediation analyses were performed, controlling for age and gender. Perceived social support was associated negatively with aggressive behavior.

Results: Self-control was found to be a significant mediator of this association. In addition, a sequential association was observed: greater social support was linked to stronger control beliefs, which in turn were associated with greater self-control and less aggressive behavior. The indirect effect of control beliefs alone was not statistically significant.

Conclusion: The findings suggest that social support is associated with lower levels of aggressive behavior, partly through control beliefs processes and a self-control pathway. By clarifying how a modifiable psychosocial resource is linked to adolescent behavioral health through interconnected internal processes, this study provides evidence relevant to promoting adolescent behavioral health and early prevention.relevant to promoting adolescent behavioral health and early prevention.

Graphical abstract
Keywords
Adolescents
Aggressive behavior
Control beliefs
Self-control
Social support
Funding
This research was supported by the Teaching Reform Project of the Teaching Advisory Board of Psychology Majors, Ministry of Education of China (20251066), the National Social Science Fund of China (25FYB062), the Youth Fund Project of the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China (24YJCZH259), and the School-level Scientific Research Project of Shaoxing University.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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