Respecting others and being respected can reduce aggression in parent–child relations and in schools.

This chapter examines the role that respect plays in mitigating aggression in two developmental contexts: parent–child relations and schools. The role of respect in reducing aggression and violence has been discussed and examined primarily by social psychologists who study adult relationships. In marriages, legal proceedings, politics, and intergroup conflicts, respect has been recognized as an important form of positive regard that helps to diffuse aggressive impulses. Building on conceptualizations in the literatures of philosophy and social psychology, we propose a conceptual framework for the study of respect in developmental contexts. In the following sections, we discuss two kinds of respect, unconditional and contingent, and distinguish between four related but distinct ways in which respect and disrespect are involved in preventing or fostering aggression: (a) respecting others, (b) being respected, (c) being disrespected or humiliated, and (d) respecting oneself. We then examine the role of respect in parent–child relationships and at school. Although respect per se, under that particular name, has rarely been examined in these contexts, several core characteristics of respect have been considered and discussed, and their association with aggression and the misuse of power has been investigated. In a final section we advocate an increased emphasis on respect in parent–child relationships, schools, and other contexts, because of its potential for reducing aggression and violence. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)