Abstract
Involvement in relationally aggressive conduct is an important contributor to maladaptive functioning in both childhood and adulthood. Decreased emotional awareness and impairments of self-control are risk factors for relational aggressiveness, while emotional awareness can also be treated as an important prerequisite for proper self-control. The aim of the study was to examine the associations between dimensions of emotional awareness (attention to emotions and emotional clarity), self-control, and relational aggressiveness. Self-control was also examined as a mediating variable between emotional awareness and relational aggressiveness. Self-report measures of trait meta-mood, alexithymia, self-control, and relational aggressiveness were completed by 214 adolescents (129 females), aged 15–23. The confirmatory factor analysis confirmed two factors of emotional awareness: (1) inattention to emotions (reflecting low attention to emotions and externally oriented thinking) and (2) a lack of emotional clarity (reflecting difficulties in identifying emotion, difficulties in describing emotion, and low clarity of emotion). Self-control and mood repair ability inversely correlated with proactive and reactive relational aggressiveness, whereas the clarity component of the meta-mood trait only inversely predicted reactive relational aggressiveness. Structural equation modeling (SEM) showed that direct relationships between inattention to emotions and relational aggressiveness, as well as between lack of emotional clarity and relational aggressiveness were non-significant. Nevertheless, a lack of emotional clarity was indirectly and significantly associated with relational aggressiveness through decreased self-control.
Highlights
IntroductionIt remains inconclusive whether attention to emotions and emotional clarity have similar or different functions for relational aggressiveness
It is hypothesized that (1) confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) would confirm a good fit of the model with two correlated dimensions of emotional awareness: attention to emotions and emotional clarity, (2) the attention subscale from the Trait Meta-Mood Scale and externally oriented thinking from the Toronto Alexithymia Scale would have high loadings on the attention to emotions dimension, and (3) the clarity subscale from the Trait Meta-Mood Scale, the difficulties identifying feelings subscale, and the difficulties describing feelings subscales from the Toronto Alexithymia Scale, would have high loadings on the emotional clarity dimension
The second goal is to examine the connections with emotional awareness, self-control, and relational aggressiveness
Summary
It remains inconclusive whether attention to emotions and emotional clarity have similar or different functions for relational aggressiveness Another substantive predictor of aggressive and deviant behavior during childhood and adolescence is the inability to maintain proper self-control (due to various impairments of self-regulation) (Denson, Capper, Oaten, Friese, & Schofield, 2011; de Ridder, Lensvelt-Mulders, Finkenauer, Stok, & Baumeister, 2012). The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to test the two-factor structure of emotional awareness (with facets of attention to emotions and emotional clarity) in Poland, since this data has never been collected, and (2) to analyze the relationships between emotional awareness, self-control, and relational aggressiveness. This study offers three new pieces of information: (1) a further analysis of antecedents seen with relational aggressiveness in adolescents, (2) an examination of two components of emotional awareness involved in self-control and relational aggressiveness, and (3) suggestions for prevention programs regarding aggression in schools
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