Early Adversity and Reactive Aggression in Adulthood: A Moderated Mediation Analysis of Hostile Attribution Bias and Emotional Processing

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ABSTRACT Uncovering the underlying mechanisms involved in reactive aggression is essential to better understanding and managing this harmful behavior. Extant research has provided evidence supporting the relation between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs; e.g. abuse, neglect, witnessing interpersonal violence) and reactive aggression in adulthood. Yet, critical questions about how emotional processes might interact with cognitive biases in the relation between early adversity and later reactive aggression remain largely unanswered. The rationale of the present study was to address this gap. Participants were recruited from an undergraduate participant pool and an international crowdsourcing platform to complete an online survey. Conditional process analysis was conducted to test a moderated mediation model, which hypothesized that the relation between ACEs and reactive aggression would be mediated by hostile attribution bias (HAB) and that emotional understanding (EU) and emotion management (EM) abilities would moderate this indirect effect. The hypothesized model was partially supported (N = 225), such that higher levels of ACEs predicted higher levels of reactive aggression in adulthood, and this relation was mediated by HAB. Additionally, low and average levels of EU ability interacted with ACEs and strengthened the observed effect on HAB scores. Contrary to predictions, EM ability was not a significant moderator. Findings are reviewed in the context of understanding and supporting the social information and emotional processing of adults with historical ACEs and current reactive aggression. Theoretical and practical implications of integrating cognitive and emotional processing frameworks in this area are discussed.