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Exploring the Cognitive and Emotional Correlates to Proactive and Reactive Aggression in a Sample of Detained Girls

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Abstract

The current study examined the distinction between reactive and proactive aggression in a sample of detained girls (N = 58) aged 12 to 18. This study employed a self-report measure of aggression that was designed explicitly to assess both the forms that aggression takes (i.e., relational and overt), as well as the functions that aggression serves (i.e., reactive and proactive). Reactive aggression was uniquely associated with poorly regulated emotion and anger to perceived provocation, whereas proactive aggression was uniquely associated with callous–unemotional (CU) traits and biased outcome expectations for aggression. While overt aggression appeared to largely account for these associations, relational aggression showed strong and unique associations with CU traits. The current findings highlight the importance of assessing reactive and proactive aggression, as well as both overt and relational aggression, in detained girls.

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Notes

  1. While Crick and colleagues use the term “relational” aggression, other researchers have used different terminology to refer to this type of behavior (i.e., “indirect” aggression; Lagerspetz et al. 1988 and “social” aggression; Cairns et al. 1989; Galen and Underwood 1997). These three labels have often been used interchangeably in the literature, with some researchers claiming that “the same phenomenon is referred to by these three concepts” (Björkqvist 2001, p.272; see also Underwood et al. 2001). While the three types are measured in somewhat different ways, they are virtually indistinguishable in terms of their basic characteristics and goals, in that they all focus on harming others through social manipulation strategies. Therefore, in order to maintain parsimony, the current investigation uses the term relational aggression to refer to this type of behavior.

  2. In addition to the analyses conducted using reactive and proactive aggression as continuous variables, we also conducted analyses using these variables categorically in order to group participants based on their aggression scores (median split). ANOVAs were used to determine whether group differences existed and Tukey HSD tests were conducted to compare pairs of group means. Although small n’s in the high reactive/low proactive groups (n = 8 for both overt and relational scales) and the high proactive/low reactive groups (n = 5 for both overt and relational scales) may have prevented the finding of differences for these groups, the overall pattern of results was consistent with the continuous analyses. Specifically, participants in the high reactive/high proactive groups (n = 20 for overt scales; n = 21for relational scales) scored significantly higher on both anger to provocation and CU traits than those in the low reactive/low proactive groups (n = 25 for overt scales; n = 24 for relational scales). Further, participants in the low reactive/low proactive groups scored significantly higher on the punishment expectation scale than those in the high reactive/high proactive groups, suggesting that those with lower levels of aggression expected more punishment for their actions.

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Acknowledgment

This research is based on the doctoral dissertation of the first author and was supported in part by an APA Dissertation Research Award. Portions of this research were presented at the 2007 Biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development in Boston, MA. The authors would like to thank those who contributed to this project, with special thanks given to the directors and staff of the Youth Study Center in New Orleans, LA, the Terrebonne Parish Juvenile Detention Center in Houma, LA, and the St. James Youth Center in St. James, LA.

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Marsee, M.A., Frick, P.J. Exploring the Cognitive and Emotional Correlates to Proactive and Reactive Aggression in a Sample of Detained Girls. J Abnorm Child Psychol 35, 969–981 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-007-9147-y

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