Proactive Relational Aggression Research Articles

Forms and Functions of Aggression in Adolescents: Validation of the Portuguese Version of the Peer Conflict Scale

Aggression in adolescence may assume different forms and functions, and is often associated with maladjustment. To adequately assess aggression in adolescence, instruments need to evaluate both its forms and its functions, as is the case with the Peer Conflict Scale. This research presents and evaluates the Portuguese version of this instrument, and evaluates levels of aggression in an adolescent community sample (n = 785; 63.6 % female, mean age of 15.97 years old). The four factor structure originally proposed for the instrument (i.e. proactive overt, reactive overt, proactive relational and reactive relational aggression) represented a satisfactory solution for the data, and for both girls and boys. Results also have shown adequate reliability. Regarding levels of aggression, boys reported being overall more aggressive than girls. When aggression is impulsive/ reactive, both boys and girls practice its overt form. It is only when the aggression is pondered upon (proactive) that boys and girls chose to use different forms of aggression. Accurately evaluating different forms and functions of aggression has implications for designing, implementing and evaluating adequate and tailored interventions.

Identity Exploration, Commitment, and Existential Anxiety as Predictors of the Forms and Functions of Aggression

This study explores the unique linkages among identity exploration, identity commitment, existential anxiety, and the different forms (relational and overt) and functions (proactive and reactive) of peer aggression in youth. Participants were high school students (N = 133) aged 15 to 19 years. In terms of zero-order associations, existential anxiety was positively associated with each of the four types of aggression whereas identity exploration and identity commitment were only associated (negatively) with proactive overt aggression. However, in terms of unique associations, identity exploration was negatively associated with proactive aggression (overt and relational) whereas existential anxiety was positively associated with all but proactive relational aggression. Identity commitment was not uniquely associated with any of the forms and functions of aggression. Findings are discussed in terms of consistency with theory as well as unique and possible suppressor relationships. Avenues for additional research on the role of identity development in mitigating peer aggression are explored.

Prospective associations between forms and functions of aggression and social and affective processes during early childhood

The central goal of this study was to examine the prospective associations between forms (i.e., physical and relational) and functions (i.e., proactive and reactive) of aggressive behavior with social (i.e., peer rejection) and affective (i.e., anger, emotion regulation skills) processes during early childhood (N=96, mean age=42.80 months, SD=7.57). A cross-lagged path analysis revealed that proactive relational aggression was uniquely associated with decreases in peer rejection, whereas reactive relational aggression was associated with increases in peer rejection over time. Proactive relational aggression predicted decreases in anger, whereas reactive relational aggression tended to be associated with increases in anger. Proactive relational aggression uniquely predicted increases in emotion regulation skills, whereas reactive relational aggression tended to be associated with decreases in emotion regulation skills over time. Finally, anger was significantly associated with increases in several subtypes of aggressive behavior. In sum, the findings provide further support for the distinction between subtypes of aggressive behavior in young children.

아동의 성(性)과 사회정보처리 해석과정이 공격성의 형태 및 기능에 미치는 영향

This study aimed to examine the influences of children's sex and the social information interpretation(intentional/incidental) on aggressions (form/function). The subjects were 363 fifth and sixth graders from 6 elementary schools in Busan and the data were analyzed with two-way ANOVA. The research findings were as follows: First, children's sex had significant influence upon their overt aggression, and children's interpretation of social information had significant influences upon their overt aggression and relational aggression alike. Second, children's sex and interpretation of social information had significant influences upon their proactive aggression and reactive aggression. Finally, children's sex had significant influences upon proactive-overt aggression, reactive-overt aggression and proactive-relational aggression.

초등학생 고학년 남아의 자기통제력, 부모의 양육행동, 부모간 갈등이 공격성에 미치는 영향

This research was conducted in order to find out the effects of boys' self-control, their parents' behaviors and marital conflict on boys' aggression. Subtypes of aggression in the present research consist of dimensions of the functions and forms (proactive-overt, proactive-relational, reactive-overt, reactive-relational). The participants of this study were 237 boys in the fifth and sixth grades in elementary schools located in Seoul and Gyeonggi province. The questionnaires were derived and modified from Lee Hong (2009) for boys' aggression, from Ju So Young and Lee Yang Hee (2008) for boys' self-control, from Jun Joo Ram (2008) and Heo Seung Yeon (2009) for maternal behaviors and from Kang Na Jung (2008) for marital conflict. In order to grasp the general characteristics of the participants, frequency and descriptive statistics were used. Also, Pearson's correlation was applied to the relationships amomg boys' self-control, marital behaviors and marital conflict on boys' aggression. Lastly, the variables that can predict boys' aggression were analyzed through multiple regression analysis by SPSS 19.0. The major results of this study were as follows. This research showed that this model fit well for boys. To summarize the important results, what is interesting in the present study is the effect of the mother's role in rearing their sons. It was found that mothers' criticism, negative behaviors, and excessive interference can cause boys' high level of aggressiveness. Also, having parents who fight frequently was strongly associated with boys' relational aggression. An interesting finding is that the mother's support influenced boys' reactive-overt aggression. Lastly, boys' self-control was highly associated with boys' proactive-relational aggression. This research may contribute to understanding boys' aggression' subtypes. To that end, the current results suggest that the dimensions of the functions and forms may be a useful tool in an effort to inform developmental theory and intervention. Also, this research may provide guidance for the resolution of problems caused by boys' aggression. Lastly, it was found that self- control training and parental education programs might prove beneficial for helping aggressive boys to overcome their aggressive impulses.

Relational Aggression and the DSM-V: What Can Clinicians Tell Us about Female Juvenile Offenders?

Including relational aggression as part of the diagnostic criteria of conduct disorder (CD) has been a focus of the DSM-V. Whether clinicians can reliably assess such behavior is unclear. The present study tested correspondence between self- and clinician-reported reactive and proactive overt aggression (required) and reactive and proactive relational aggression (under consideration). Results indicated that clinicians were able to detect all subtypes of girls' aggression—including retaliatory yet covert reactive relational aggression. The present research contributes to the relational aggression in the DSM-V debate by: distinguishing between relational aggression subtypes, including self- and clinician-reported aggression in a population of adolescent female offenders, and providing information about the validity of clinician reports.

Cardiovascular reactivity and proactive and reactive relational aggression among women with and without a history of sexual abuse

This study examined the association between cardiovascular reactivity and proactive and reactive functions of relational aggression among women with and without a history of sexual abuse. Heart rate reactivity, blood pressure reactivity, and respiratory sinus arrhythmia reactivity while recounting a relational stressor (e.g., being left out) were assessed. Participants provided self-reports of relational aggression and a history of sexual abuse prior to age 16. Results indicated that cardiovascular reactivity was only associated with relational aggression among women with a history of sexual abuse. In addition, whereas blunted reactivity was associated with proactive relational aggression, exaggerated reactivity was associated with reactive relational aggression. These findings highlight the importance of considering contextual moderators of the association between cardiovascular reactivity and aggression; moreover, results highlight distinct cardiovascular correlates of different functions of aggression. Finally, the findings underscore the need for additional research examining the physiological correlates of aggressive behavior among women.

Proactive, reactive, and romantic relational aggression in adulthood: Measurement, predictive validity, gender differences, and association with Intermittent Explosive Disorder

The psychometric properties of a recently introduced adult self-report of relational aggression are presented. Specifically, the predictive utility of proactive and reactive peer-directed relational aggression, as well as romantic relational aggression, are explored in a large ( N = 1387) study of adults. The measure had adequate reliability and validity and the subscales demonstrated unique predictive abilities for a number of dependent variables. In particular, reactive but not proactive relational aggression was uniquely associated with history of abuse, hostile attribution biases, and feelings of distress regarding relational provocation situations. Reactive relational aggression was also more strongly related to anger and hostility than proactive aggression. In addition, relational aggression in the context of romantic relationships was uniquely related to anger, hostility, impulsivity, history of abuse, hostile attribution biases, and emotional sensitivity to relational provocations, even when controlling for peer-directed relational aggression. Gender differences in overall levels of relational aggression were not observed; however, males were most likely to engage in peer-directed proactive and reactive relational aggression whereas females were most likely to engage in romantic relational aggression. In a second study ( N = 150), relational aggression was higher in a sample of adults with Intermittent Explosive Disorder than in a sample of healthy controls or psychiatric controls. The findings highlight the importance of assessing subtypes of relational aggression in adult samples. Ways in which this measure may extend research in psychology and psychiatry are discussed.

The relationship between three types of aggression and peer relations in elementary school children

Previous studies have repeatedly found that aggression causes various internalizing and externalizing problems. Despite the robust relationship, exactly how aggression causes these problems remains unclear, although it is plausible to postulate that this occurs both directly and indirectly (via other behavioural factors). One possible indirect factor might be the aggravation of peer relations. The poor peer relations of aggressive children could make them isolated psychologically or physically from peers, which in turn might result in depressive or disruptive problems. This study examined the relationships between three types of aggression and peer relations in Japanese elementary school children. The three aggression types comprised reactive-expressive (i.e., verbal and physical aggression), reactive-inexpressive (e.g., hostility), and proactive-relational aggression (i.e., aggression that can break human relationships, for instance, by circulating malicious rumours). Participants were 1581 children in grades 4 to 6 (752 boys and 829 girls), all of whom completed the Proactive-Reactive Aggression Questionnaire for Children to measure three types of aggression and the Peer Relation Questionnaire to measure peer relations (mutual understanding, self-disclosure, and similarity of taste) and number of friends. Hierarchical regression analyses of the data showed that higher scores of relational aggression were significantly associated with higher scores of all of the peer relations and the number of friends, and that higher scores of inexpressive aggression were significantly associated with lower scores of all except for self-disclosure in the peer relations. These findings suggest that among the three types of aggression, relational aggression leads to the best friendship in both dyadic relations and the number of friends, whereas inexpressive aggression to the poorest friendship. The implications of these findings with respect to internalizing and externalizing problem behaviours for aggressive children are discussed.

小学生用Ｐ‐Ｒ攻撃性質問紙の作成と信頼性，妥当性の検討

The purpose of the present study was to develop a standardized questionnaire to measure proactive and reactive aggression in children. In Study 1, the questionnaire was administered to fourth- through sixth-grade children (n = 700) to investigate its factor structure and internal consistency. Moreover, in order to examine reproducibility, it was administered twice, at the interval of about three weeks, to 132 of these children. Statistical analyses of the data have yielded three factors: proactive-relational aggression, reactive-expressive aggression, and reactive-inexpressive aggression; and have confirmed that the questionnaire was reliable and internally consistent. In Study 2, 14 homeroom teachers of fourth- through sixth-grade nominated children who were most characteristic (n = 106) and least characteristic (n = 99) in each of the three factors. In addition, fifth- and sixth-grade children (n = 86) assessed their same-sex classmates according to the sentences that characterized each of the three factors. These children selected were also participants in Study 1. The results showed that the scale scores were consistent with the nominations and assessments, indicating the high construct validity of the questionnaire.