We also found that, although authoritarian parenting was associated with a greater level of HED at age 12 years among African American youth compared to the balanced parenting style, the slope was negative. As shown in Figure 2, African American youth with authoritarian parents decreased their level of HED as age increased yearly relative to African American youth with a balanced parenting style who had lower levels of HED at age 12, but increasing HED as age increased yearly. For Caucasians, there was no statistically significant difference in level of HED at age 12 or as age increased yearly between those with authoritarian parents relative to those with a balanced parenting style; adolescence with parents who had these two parenting styles showed similar HED trajectories. A potential explanation might be related to cultural norms or expectations that were not included in our model. Lansford et al. (2005) found that perceived cultural normativeness and acceptance of a discipline strategy can moderate the association between experiencing stricter parental discipline and children’s aggression. That is, given that an authoritarian parenting style might be
