Proactive Aggressive Behavior Research Articles

The Val158Met Polymorphism in 8-Year-Old Boys and Girls Moderates the Influence of Parenting Styles on Proactive Aggression: Testing the Sensitivity to the Environment.

The aim of the study was to explore the possible vulnerability (diathesis-stress), susceptibility (differential susceptibility), or vantage (vantage sensitivity) properties of COMT gen Val158Met polymorphism to adverse and favorable parenting styles from both parents in relation to children's reactive and proactive aggressive behavior. Within 279 eight-year-old children (125 girls and 154 boys) from Spain, reactive and proactive aggressive behavior was measured through the "Reactive and Proactive Questionnaire" (RPQ). Saliva samples were collected to genotype for the COMT Val158Met polymorphism via real-time PCR. Finally, parenting styles were assessed using the "Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire" (PSDQ). The results revealed that for boys, the Met allele was a vulnerability factor for proactive aggression in response to low-authoritative parenting from the father. For girls, it was the Val allele, the vulnerability variable to the high authoritarian style of the father, and the susceptibility factor to the authoritative style of the mother over proactive aggression. The results are discussed, considering possible sex differences. Our results indicate that the COMT Val158Met polymorphism is a biological variable that confers greater sensitivity to the environment.

Do My Reactions Outweigh My Actions? The Relation between Reactive and Proactive Aggression with Peer Acceptance in Preschoolers.

Aggressive behaviors negatively impact peer relations starting from an early age. However, not all aggressive acts have the same underlying motivations. Reactive aggression arises as a response to an antecedent behavior of someone else, whereas proactive aggression is initiated by the aggressor and is instrumental. In this study, we aim to understand the relation between reactive and proactive aggression and peer acceptance in preschoolers. Parents of 110 children aged between 3 and 6 years old rated their children's manifestation of reactive and proactive aggressive behaviors. To assess the children's peer acceptance score within their class, they completed a paired comparisons task. The outcomes confirmed that reactive aggression in particular is negatively related to peer acceptance at the preschool age. Our results provide insights for the needs and directions of future research and interventions.

The Moderating Role of Surgency, Behavioral Inhibition, Negative Emotionality and Effortful Control in the Relationship between Parenting Style and Children's Reactive and Proactive Aggression.

The principal aim of this study is to explore the moderating role of temperament in the relationship between parenting style and the reactive and proactive aggressive behavior of 8-year-old children. The participants are 279 children (154 boys and 125 girls). To measure reactive and proactive aggression, children completed the reactive and proactive questionnaire (RPQ). Child temperament and parenting styles were evaluated by both parents using the temperament in middle childhood questionnaire (TMCQ) and the parenting styles and dimensions questionnaire (PSDQ). The results revealed that boys with high surgency levels and authoritarian fathers displayed more reactive aggression, whereas behaviorally inhibited boys with mothers who scored low for authoritarian parenting displayed less reactive aggression. Finally, girls with high levels of effortful control and mothers who scored low for authoritative parenting displayed more proactive aggression. The results highlight the value of studying the moderating role of temperament in the relationship between children’s aggressive behavior and both mothers’ and fathers’ parenting styles, and underscores the importance of doing so separately for boys and girls.

Longitudinal Links of Individual and Collective Morality with Adolescents\u2019 Peer Aggression

Adolescents’ aggressive behavior has been often linked to biases in morality. However, limited knowledge is available regarding the relative strength of different moral correlates, both at the individual and class-level, in predicting different types of aggressive behavior over time. To address this gap, the present study tested the prospective associations of moral identity and moral disengagement with reactive and proactive aggression in a short-term longitudinal study. The sample consisted of 1158 Italian adolescents (48.7% females; Mage = 13.6 years, SD = 1.1). Participants completed self-report measures of moral identity, moral disengagement, perceived collective moral disengagement in the fall, and reactive and proactive aggression in the fall and in the spring. Multivariate multilevel analysis indicated that, at the individual level, after controlling for the stability of aggressive behavior, T2 (Time 2) reactive aggression was higher for students who reported lower moral identity and higher moral disengagement at T1 (Time 1). For proactive aggression, a significant interaction effect indicated that the negative association between T1 moral identity and T2 aggression was apparent only at high levels of T1 moral disengagement. Moreover, proactive aggression was significantly predicted by higher perceived collective moral disengagement. At the class-level, T1 collective moral disengagement helped explain between-class variability of T2 reactive and proactive aggressive behavior. How these results expand previous research on morality and aggressive behavior and their potential implications for prevention and intervention programs is discussed.

An experimental task to measure proactive aggression under incentive condition: A Reward-Interference Task

Proactive aggression refers to attaining personal goals or gains through aggressive means with prior deliberation and moral disengagement, and it can occur without provocation and with a low-level of anger arousal. The current study introduces a new task, a Reward-Interference Task (RIT), to induce and measure proactive aggression in the laboratory under incentive conditions and develops a task-related questionnaire (Interference/Non-interference Motivation Questionnaire, INIMQ) through four experiments. The findings reveal that instrumental motivation toward incentives and moral motivation (moral disengagement and moral inhibition) were the main motivations for participants to attack opponents during the RIT. The validity and reliability of the INIMQ were acceptable, and the RIT had good internal consistency, adequate convergence, and discriminant validity. The present results show that the RIT is a valid tool for inducing and measuring proactive aggressive behavior under incentive conditions.

Proactive and Reactive Aggressive Behaviors: Dimensionality of Self-Report Scales.

The literature distinguishes aggressive behavior as being either proactive or reactive; however, despite being highly comorbid, they appear to possess unique correlation patterns to external variables. We propose to assess the dimensionality and latent profiles that emerged based on the Peer Aggressive Behavior Scale (PAB-S) and the Peer Aggressive and Reactive Behavior Questionnaire (PARB-Q). Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) was conducted on two self-report scales in a non-representative Brazilian sample composed by 2,517 students of elementary school (1,275 girls; 50.7%), aged from seven to 16 years. CFA analyses showed inconclusive results regarding the dimensionality of the data. LPA results, for both instruments, indicated the interdependence between proactive and reactive factors. We suggest that dimensionality issues concerning human aggression might depend, at least in part, on the method used to assess the phenomenon.

Cognitive predictors of reactive and proactive aggression in a forensic sample: A comparison with a non-clinical sample

This study aimed at examining cognitive predictors of reactive and proactive aggression in a forensic-psychiatric (n = 80) and a non-clinical sample (n = 98; Brugman et al., 2015). Three different cognitive predictors were incorporated: (1) attentional bias towards aggressive stimuli (measured with Emotional Stroop task) and towards angry faces (measured with a visual search task); (2) interpretation biases (measured with Aggressive Interpretative Bias Task (AIBT) and a vignette task), and (3) implicit self-aggression association (measured with a Single-Target Implicit Association Task). To measure aggression, the Reactive-Proactive Aggression Questionnaire (RPQ) and the Taylor Aggression Paradigm (TAP) were used. An automatic self-aggression association positively predicted proactive aggressive behavior on the TAP in both samples. Furthermore, this self-aggression association predicted, increased self-reported proactive aggression (RPQ) in the forensic sample only. Pain, injury, and danger interpretations reported on the vignettes, negatively predicted self-reported proactive aggression in both samples. A stronger aggressive interpretation bias on the AIBT predicted more reactive aggressive behavior (TAP) in the non-clinical sample only. Taken together, findings show both common and distinct mechanisms in reactively vs. proactively driven aggressive behavior.

Effectiveness of Chinese Martial Arts and Philosophy to Reduce Reactive and Proactive Aggression in Schoolchildren.

This study examined the effectiveness of Chinese martial arts in reducing reactive and proactive aggressive behavior among schoolchildren with a cluster-randomized trial. A screening questionnaire was completed by 3511 schoolchildren of Grades 2 to 5 from 13 sites in Hong Kong. We shortlisted 298 children who scored z ≥ 1 on the total score of the Reactive-Proactive Aggression Questionnaire in their respective sites to participate in the experiment. They were divided into 31 clusters that were blinded and randomly assigned to one of the 4 conditions: skills only, philosophy only, skills and philosophy, and physical fitness (placebo). Subjects were assessed at baseline, posttraining, and 6 months after training using aggression scales. Results from the linear mixed model indicated that the time × training interaction effects were significant for aggressive behavior (reactive and proactive), delinquent behavior, anxiety/depression, and attention problems. Although all measures declined in all conditions over time, only the skills-and-philosophy condition showed a significant reduction at posttraining and/or 6-month follow-up compared with the placebo. The results provided a theoretical proof for the relationship between aggression and sport involvement combined with children's moral reasoning. This study gives practical implications to intervention that solely playing sports or teaching moral lessons is not effective enough for high-risk schoolchildren with aggressive behavior. However, combined traditional Chinese martial arts skills and moral philosophy training could be considered in the school curriculum to reduce school violence and facilitate creation of harmonious schools.

Lack of correspondence between the reactive proactive questionnaire and the impulsive premeditated aggression scale among forensic psychiatric outpatients.

The most studied bimodal classifications of aggressive behavior are the impulsive/premeditated distinction measured with the Impulsive Premeditated Aggression Scale and the reactive/proactive distinction measured with the Reactive Proactive Questionnaire. The terms of these classifications are often used interchangeably, assuming that reactive aggression is equivalent to impulsive aggression and that proactive aggressive behavior is the same as premeditated aggression. The correspondence or discrepancy between both aggression classifications/questionnaires, however, is understudied. Therefore, the current study investigated the correspondence between the RPQ and IPAS in a sample of 161 forensic psychiatric outpatients (FPOs) with severe aggressive behavior. Correlation analysis revealed a limited correspondence between the RPQ and IPAS. Cluster analyses derived three clusters from the RPQ as well as the IPAS: these clusters did not match in 60.3% of the cases. Furthermore, the notion that the RPQ measures trait aggression whereas the IPAS assesses state aggression could not be verified. The present study indicates that aggression subtypes as measured by use of the RPQ and IPAS correspond only partially and should not be used interchangeably. Furthermore, it was suggested that RPQ focuses more on actual aggressive behavior and the IPAS more on emotions and their regulation. Future research is needed to elucidate the applicability of both questionnaires in further detail.

Proactive aggression in early school-aged children with externalizing behavior problems: A longitudinal study on the influence of empathy in response to distress.

The course of proactive aggressive behavior may be affected by empathy in response to sadness and distress of others. The aim of the current study is to examine empathy in response to sadness and distress and its relation to proactive and reactive aggression in a clinical sample of children with externalizing behavior problems. At baseline (T1) and 12 months later (T2), parents and teachers of 104 six- and seven-year-old children completed the Instrument for Reactive and Proactive Aggression. At T1, parents and teachers also reported empathy in response to sadness and distress on the Griffith Empathy Measure. Findings show that low levels of parent-reported empathy at baseline were specifically associated with high parent-reported proactive aggression but not with reactive aggression. Similarly, low teacher-reported empathy was specifically related to high teacher-reported proactive aggression. Furthermore, high parent-reported but not teacher-reported empathy at baseline was associated with low proactive aggression at 12 months after controlling for proactive aggression at baseline. The conclusions support the notion that in the study of the course of aggression in clinical groups, the distinction between proactive and reactive aggression as well as the study of empathy in response to distress is relevant for a better understanding and might be taken into account in the development of future interventions. (PsycINFO Database Record

A competitively designed version of the point subtraction aggression paradigm is related to proactive aggressive and psychopathic traits in males

The Point Subtraction Aggression Paradigm (PSAP) is a well-validated and frequently applied behavioral paradigm for provocation and quantification of reactive aggressive behavior in laboratory settings. Here, we design and test a newly developed PSAP version in its ability to quantify proactive aggressive behavior. A group of 119 male volunteers was allocated to the conventional PSAP and two other variants of the PSAP. The first PSAP adaptation intended to abet proactive aggression by monetary reward for aggressive actions. In the second variant, a highly competitive situation was created. In addition, two sets of aggression questionnaires, related to proactive and reactive aggressive and psychopathic traits, were used (Reactive-Proactive Aggression Questionnaire (RPQ), Psychopathic Personality Inventory-Revised (PPI-R)). Our results showed strong positive correlations among RPQ/PPI-R and aggressive behavior only for the new competitive version of the PSAP. In contrast, the scores of these scales showed weak and non-significant correlations with observed aggression in the two PSAP variants. The scores for reactive aggression were not significantly associated with any of the PSAP versions. These data indicate that aggression on the newly developed competitive PSAP design is mainly driven by proactive aggressive mechanisms.

Proactive and reactive aggressive behavior in bullying: The role of values

The study of violence and bullying in schools is a line of scientific research that has contributed significantly to knowledge on human aggressiveness, especially in children and adolescents. This article shows that there are two patterns of aggressive behavior: proactive and reactive. Both are present in bullying, as are other psychological aspects pertaining to the individuals involved, such as basic personality traits, self-esteem and values. This study links both proactive and reactive behavioral patterns to involvement and non-involvement in school bullying. The results reveal that basic personality traits, such as neuroticism, have a direct impact on proactive and reactive bullying, as do the social and individual dimensions of self-esteem and social and moral values. These findings confirm that variables relating to personal and social values are, in turn, related to proactive and reactive aggressive behavior in bullying for those involved and not involved in bullying. However, they also highlight that while aggressors engage in more proactive aggressive behavior, reactive aggression is more frequent among victims.

Examining the reactive proactive questionnaire in adults in forensic and non‐forensic settings: A variable‐ and person‐based approach

The Reactive Proactive Questionnaire (RPQ) was originally developed to assess reactive and proactive aggressive behavior in children. Nevertheless, some studies have used the RPQ in adults. This study examines the reliability of the RPQ within an adult sample by investigating whether reactive and proactive aggression can be distinguished at a variable- and person-based level. Male adults from forensic samples (N = 237) and from the general population (N = 278) completed the RPQ questionnaire. Variable-based approaches, including factor analyses, were conducted to verify the two-factor model of the RPQ and to examine alternative factor solutions of the 23 items. Subsequently, a person-based approach, i.e., Latent Class Analysis (LCA), was executed to identify homogeneous classes of subjects with similar profiles of aggression in the observed data. The RPQ proved to have sufficient internal consistency. Multiple-factor models were examined, but the original two-factor model was statistically and theoretically considered as most solid and in line with previous research. The multi-level LCA identified three different classes of aggression severity (class 1 showed low aggressive behavior; class 2 subjects displayed modest aggression levels; and class 3 exhibited the highest level of aggressive behavior). In addition, class 1 and 2 showed more reactive than proactive aggression, whereas class 3 displayed comparable levels of reactive/proactive aggression. The RPQ appears to have clinical relevance for adult populations in the way that it can distinguish severity levels of aggression. Before the RPQ is implemented in adult populations, norm scores need to be developed. Aggr. Behav. 43:155-162, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Drug use in adolescents in relation to social support and reactive and proactive aggressive behavior.

Aggressive behavior in adolescents, along with drug use, has become one of the great issues in education in recent years, among other things, due to its relationship with school failure and delinquency. The purpose of this paper was to find out whether social support fulfils a basic role in decision-making on drug use and the behavior of adolescents. 822 high school students participated in the study (M = 14.84, SD = 0.87). Data were collected with the Peer Conflict Scale and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, and an ad hoc questionnaire on drug use. The results show that drug use is significantly related to reactive and proactive aggressive behavior. It was also observed that higher use is significantly related to perceived social support by the peer group, and less support by family. It was shown that substance use is related to perceived social support by the adolescent’s peer group and to aggressive behavior. It is therefore necessary to intervene in both respects to avoid the presence of substance use in schools.

Effect of Intention Attribution, Emotional Attribution and Language Ability on Proactive Aggression by Preschoolers According to Age and Emotional Condition of Counterpart Child

This study investigates: (1) children`s proactive aggression according to age and the emotional condition of the counterpart child, (2) if children`s intention attribution, emotional attribution (victim and perpetrator) and language ability influences proactive aggression according to age and the emotional condition of the counterpart child. The subjects were 68 3-year-old and 70 5-year-old children. Each child was individually interviewed with picture cards. Collected data were coded and analyzed in SPSS with frequencies, percentiles, means, standard deviations, repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA), t -tests, Pearson correlations and multiple linear regression. The results showed that 3-year-old children showed more proactive aggression and physical aggression than 5-year-old children. They showed more proactive aggression when counterpart child was in a happy condition than in a fear condition. Intention attribution, emotional attribution, and language ability partially affected a children`s proactive aggression according to age and the emotional condition of the counterpart child. This study has practical implications for teachers in regards to children`s proactive aggressive behavior at child care centers. Teachers use specific to develop advantages as the basis for developing aggression prevention programs that consider emotional and cognitive factors.

The neurobiological basis of human aggression: A review on genetic and epigenetic mechanisms.

Aggression is an evolutionary conserved behavior present in most species including humans. Inadequate aggression can lead to long-term detrimental personal and societal effects. Here, we differentiate between proactive and reactive forms of aggression and review the genetic determinants of it. Heritability estimates of aggression in general vary between studies due to differing assessment instruments for aggressive behavior (AB) as well as age and gender of study participants. In addition, especially non-shared environmental factors shape AB. Current hypotheses suggest that environmental effects such as early life stress or chronic psychosocial risk factors (e.g., maltreatment) and variation in genes related to neuroendocrine, dopaminergic as well as serotonergic systems increase the risk to develop AB. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge of the genetics of human aggression based on twin studies, genetic association studies, animal models, and epigenetic analyses with the aim to differentiate between mechanisms associated with proactive or reactive aggression. We hypothesize that from a genetic perspective, the aminergic systems are likely to regulate both reactive and proactive aggression, whereas the endocrine pathways seem to be more involved in regulation of reactive aggression through modulation of impulsivity. Epigenetic studies on aggression have associated non-genetic risk factors with modifications of the stress response and the immune system. Finally, we point to the urgent need for further genome-wide analyses and the integration of genetic and epigenetic information to understand individual differences in reactive and proactive AB. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Identifying cognitive predictors of reactive and proactive aggression.

The aim of this study was to identify implicit cognitive predictors of aggressive behavior. Specifically, the predictive value of an attentional bias for aggressive stimuli and automatic association of the self and aggression was examined for reactive and proactive aggressive behavior in a non-clinical sample (N = 90). An Emotional Stroop Task was used to measure an attentional bias. With an idiographic Single-Target Implicit Association Test, automatic associations were assessed between words referring to the self (e.g., the participants' name) and words referring to aggression (e.g., fighting). The Taylor Aggression Paradigm (TAP) was used to measure reactive and proactive aggressive behavior. Furthermore, self-reported aggressiveness was assessed with the Reactive Proactive Aggression Questionnaire (RPQ). Results showed that heightened attentional interference for aggressive words significantly predicted more reactive aggression, while lower attentional bias towards aggressive words predicted higher levels of proactive aggression. A stronger self-aggression association resulted in more proactive aggression, but not reactive aggression. Self-reports on aggression did not additionally predict behavioral aggression. This implies that the cognitive tests employed in our study have the potential to discriminate between reactive and proactive aggression. Aggr. Behav. 41:51-64 2015. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Low heart rate as a risk factor for child and adolescent proactive aggressive and impulsive psychopathic behavior

Although low resting heart rate has been viewed as a well-replicated biological correlate of child and adolescent antisocial behavior, little is known about how it interacts with psychosocial adversity in predisposing to both reactive-proactive aggression and psychopathy, and whether this relationship generalizes to an East Asian population. This study tests the hypothesis that low resting heart rate will be associated with aggression and psychopathic traits, and that heart rate will interact with adversity in predisposing to these antisocial traits. Resting heart rate was assessed in 334 Hong Kong male and female schoolchildren aged 11-17 years. A social adversity index was calculated from a psychosocial interview of the parent, while parents assessed their children on the Reactive-Proactive Aggression Questionnaire and the Antisocial Personality Screening Device. Low resting heart rate was significantly associated with higher proactive aggression, impulsive features of psychopathy, and total child psychopathy. Low resting heart rate interacted with high psychosocial adversity in explaining higher reactive (but not proactive) aggression, as well as impulsive psychopathy. These findings provide support for a biosocial perspective of reactive aggression and impulsive psychopathy, and document low resting heart rate as a robust correlate of both childhood impulsive psychopathic behavior and proactive aggression. To our knowledge, this study is the first to document low resting heart rate as a correlate of child psychopathy and the second to establish low heart rate as a risk factor of antisocial behavior in an East Asian population. The findings provide further evidence for both low resting heart rate as a potential biomarker for childhood psychopathic and aggressive behavior, and also a biosocial perspective on childhood antisocial behavior.

Effects of an Early Experience Involving Training in a T-Maze Under either Denial or Receipt of Expected Reward through Maternal Contact

The mother is the most salient stimulus for the developing pups and a number of early experience models employ manipulation of the mother-infant interaction. We have developed a new model which in addition to changes in maternal behavior includes a learning component on the part of the pups. More specifically, pups were trained in a T-maze and either received (RER rats) or were denied (DER) the reward of maternal contact, during postnatal days 10–13. Pups of both experimental groups learn the T-maze, but the RER do so more efficiently utilizing a procedural-type of learning and memory with activation of the dorsal basal ganglia. On the other hand, the DER experience leads to activation of the hippocampus, prefrontal cortex, and amygdala in the pups. In adulthood, male DER animals exhibit better mnemonic abilities in the Morris water maze and higher activation of the hippocampus, while they have decreased brain serotonergic activity, exhibit a depressive-like phenotype and proactive aggressive behavior in the resident-intruder test. While male RER animals assume a reactive coping style in this test, and showed increased freezing during both contextual and cued memory recall following fear conditioning.

The role of emotion regulation in the predictive association between social information processing and aggressive behavior in adolescents

The primary aim of this study was to assess the moderating role of emotion regulation in the relationship between some components of social information processing (hostile interpretation and anger) and aggressive behavior. The secondary aim was to assess whether emotion regulation, hostile interpretation, and anger account for gender differences in aggressive behavior. A total of 1,125 adolescents (627 girls) filled out the social information processing questionnaire to assess hostile interpretation, anger, and emotion regulation. Reactive and proactive aggressive behaviors were assessed by self- and peer reports. The results showed that adaptive regulation negatively predicted aggressive behavior and moderated the relationship between anger and reactive aggressive behavior. Boys’ higher scores for aggressive behavior were accounted for by their higher scores for anger and lower scores for emotion regulation. However, the strength of the relationships among variables was similar for both boys and girls. Findings of this study indicate the importance of emotion regulation as a target for aggressive behavior interventions.