The Association Between Relative Deprivation and Aggression: A Three-Level Meta-Analysis

Previous research regarding the association between relative deprivation and aggression has yielded inconsistent findings, and the moderating mechanisms underlying this association remain underexplored. In this study, we evaluated the association between relative deprivation and aggression among Chinese young people by using a three-level meta-analysis. A three-level random-effects meta-analysis was conducted on 73 independent studies (including 184 effect sizes; 75,758 participants) published between 2015 and 2025. The main effect analysis revealed a robust and significant positive correlation between relative deprivation and aggression. Moderation analyses demonstrated that both mean age and common prosperity index moderated this association, while gender (percentage of males), sampling methods (random vs. convenience), study designs (cross-sectional vs. longitudinal), publication types (journal articles vs. dissertations), and aggression subtypes (self-directed vs. other-directed; offline vs. online) did not moderate the association. These findings suggest the critical effects of developmental and macroeconomic factors in this association, as well as significant theoretical and practical implications for the early identification and prevention of young people's violence (other-directed) and suicidal behavior (self-directed).