Aggressive and Nonaggressive Young Adolescents’ Attributions of Intent in Teacher/Student Interactions

Abstract

Young adolescents classified by teacher report as nonaggressive or aggressive were administered the Attributions Questionnaire, which consisted of 12 hypothetical teacher/student interactions depicting positive, negative, or ambiguous teacher intentions. Variables measured were (a) type of intent attributed to the teacher (i.e., hostile, benign), (b) degree of hostile and benign intent, (c) degree of anger felt, and (d) assignment of blame for negative outcomes. When the teachers’ intentions were ambiguous, aggressive adolescents were more likely than nonaggressive adolescents to attribute hostile intentions to the teachers, and they attributed a higher level of hostile intent, were more likely to blame teachers for the outcome, and reported higher levels of anger. A similar pattern of group differences emerged for situations in which the teachers’ intentions clearly were negative. However, when the teachers’ intentions were benevolent, aggressive youth responded in a manner similar to nonaggressive adolescents. Assessment of gender differences showed aggressive boys and girls to be similar in social information processing.