The present study tested a theoretical model advanced to understand the effects of neglectful parenting, poor supervision, and punitive parenting in the developmental of aggressive behavior in young children. To test the model, 218 disadvantaged children 4-8 years of age and their mothers were recruited from counties in two states to develop a sample that was diverse with respect to degree of urbanization and ethnicity. Multi-method and multi-source indices of the predictive constructs (Social Disadvantage, Denial of Care Neglect, Supervisory Neglect, and Punitive Discipline) and multi-method and multi-source indices of the criterion construct (Aggression) were used in a test of the theory using structural equation modeling. The results established the role of care neglect, supervisory neglect, and punitive parenting as mediators of the role of social disadvantage in the development of children’s aggression. Overall the results established the importance of distinguishing between two subtypes of neglect and the need to consider the role of discipline in concert with neglect when attempting to understand the parenting as a factor in the development of antisocial behavior among disadvantaged children. Additionally, the results established the feasibility of using investigator-based direct assessments of deficient parenting in studies of child maltreatment.