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.

Virtual Reality for Aggression Assessment: The Development and Preliminary Results of Two Virtual Reality Tasks to Assess Reactive and Proactive Aggression in Males

Validly measuring aggression is challenging because self-reports are plagued with biased answer tendencies and behavioral measures with ethical concerns and low ecological validity. The current study, therefore, introduces a novel virtual reality (VR) aggression assessment tool, differentially assessing reactive and proactive aggression. Two VR tasks were developed, one in an alley environment (N = 24, all male, Mage = 23.88, 83.3% students) and an improved second one in a bar (N = 50, all male, Mage = 22.54, 90% students). In this bar VR task, participants were randomly assigned to either the reactive condition where they were triggered by a cheating and insulting dart-player or to the proactive condition where they could earn extra money by aggressing. Participants’ level of self-reported aggression and psychopathy was assessed, after which they engaged in either the reactive or proactive VR task. Changes in affect and blood pressure were also measured. Aggression in the reactive VR task was evidenced to mostly display convergent validity because it positively correlated with self-reported aggression and total and fearless dominance factor scores of psychopathy, and there was a trend relationship with increased systolic blood pressure. The validity of the proactive aggression variant of our VR bar paradigm received less support, and needs more refinement. It can be concluded that VR is a potentially promising tool to experimentally induce and assess (reactive) aggression, which has the potential to provide aggression researchers and clinicians with a realistic and modifiable aggression assessment environment.

Reactive and proactive aggression in clinical adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: The moderating role of gender and comorbidities

Aggression is well-known problem in adolescent with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), but the precise relation of reactive and proactive aggression by gender and comorbidities has not been characterized in this population. The aim of this study was to assess the level of reactive and proactive aggression in adolescents with ADHD and in matched non-ADHD clinical controls. The level of aggression was assessed by the Reactive and Proactive Aggression Questionnaire in 391 adolescents with ADHD and in 391 matched non-ADHD clinical controls. The selection of adolescents with ADHD was representative for a three-year–long period in Vadaskert Child Psychiatry Hospital. General Linear Model was used to assess the difference by ADHD, gender, and comorbidities on the level of reactive and proactive aggression. The presence of ADHD was associated with higher levels of reactive and proactive aggression. In girls, the effect of ADHD on reactive aggression was more profound. The presence of oppositional defiant disorder or conduct disorder in both groups resulted in higher levels of aggression. Our data suggest that adolescents with ADHD have higher level of aggressive behavior, and girls are especially vulnerable in terms of reactive aggressive behavior.

Longitudinal Links of Individual and Collective Morality with Adolescents’ 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.

Measurement Invariance and Psychometric Properties of the Reactive and Proactive Aggression Questionnaire (RPQ) Across Genders

Aggression is an important risk factor that predisposes adolescents to disruptive and criminal behaviours. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the structural invariance and psychometric properties of the Persian version of the Reactive-Proactive Aggression Questionnaire (RPQ) across genders among adolescents. A sample of 450 students (Mage = 14 years, SD = 0.81) was recruited randomly and completed the Persian version of the RPQ, Child Behavior Checklist and Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Although the two-factor model obtained the best fit across genders, the results did not support the equivalence of factor loadings across groups. These findings replicated the distinction of reactive and proactive aggression while implied different models of the RPQ based on gender. Suggestions for future research and a more accurate assessment of these two kinds of aggression are further discussed.

Measurement Invariance and Psychometric Properties of the Reactive and Proactive Aggression Questionnaire (RPQ) Across Genders

Aggression is an important risk factor that predisposes adolescents to disruptive andcriminal behaviours. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the structuralinvariance and psychometric properties of the Persian version of the Reactive-ProactiveAggression Questionnaire (RPQ) across genders among adolescents. A sample of 450students (Mage = 14 years, SD = 0.81) were recruited randomly and completed the Persianversion of the RPQ, Child Behavior Checklist and Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire.Although the two-factor model obtained the best fit across genders, the results did not supportthe equivalence of factor loadings across groups. These findings replicated the distinction ofreactive and proactive aggression while implied different models of the RPQ based ongender. Suggestions for future research and a more accurate assessment of these two kinds ofaggression are further discussed.

Using Crime Data to Assess Longitudinal Relationships Between Community Violent Crime and Aggressive Behavior Among At-Risk Youth

The goal of this study was to assess longitudinal, predictive relationships between community violent crime and reactive and proactive aggression. Community violent crime data were gathered from local law enforcement agencies and combined with an existing dataset of at-risk youth. Aggression was assessed by parents using the Reactive and Proactive Aggression Questionnaire (RPQ). Data were examined over four time points. Autoregressive cross-lagged modeling was used to test two models: one for proactive aggression and one for reactive aggression. Results revealed a positive relationship between community violent crime and proactive aggression, whereas the model including reactive aggression had poor model fit. Therefore, results support reactive and proactive aggression as distinct constructs. Findings also demonstrate that publicly accessible violent crime data can be used to predict children’s behavior over time. Finally, results have important implications for preventive interventions for at-risk youth.

Traditional Masculinity and Aggression in Adolescence: Its Relationship with Emotional Processes

Traditional masculinity includes norms that encourage many of the aggressive behaviors whereas traditional femininity emphasizes aggression very little. In addition, the lack of emotional regulation as well as a poor impulse control have been related to aggression and, in particular, with reactive and proactive aggression. The objective of this study is to examine the role of gender stereotypes (masculinity/femininity) in reactive and proactive aggression, through regulatory emotional self-efficacy and emotion regulation. A total of 390 adolescents participated in a longitudinal study in Valencia, Spain. Structural equations modeling (SEM) was employed to explore a two-wave longitudinal model. The results show that femininity relates to reactive aggression through regulatory emotional self-efficacy and emotion regulation. This way, both emotional self-efficacy and emotional regulation mediate the relation between femininity and reactive aggression. Furthermore, reactive and proactive aggression relate positively and directly to masculinity and negatively to femininity. Therefore, violence prevention programs with adolescents should incorporate information to break down gender stereotypes and promote strategies to manage emotions. Such efforts may be helpful to reduce aggressive behaviors and violence.

Studying Configurations of Psychopathic Traits: Exploring the Viability of Psychopathic Personality in Early Childhood

The idea that very young children can manifest a constellation of personality traits that looks like psychopathy has rarely been explored. To fill this void, data from 2,247 children, aged 3–6 years (M = 4.25; SD = 0.91), from the Estudio Longitudinal para una Infancia Saludable (ELISA) were utilized. Parents and teachers completed questionnaires at baseline and at 1-year follow-up. Using three parent-rated psychopathy dimensions as indicators, the authors conducted latent profile analysis and arrived at five latent classes: Control (39.2%), Impulsive-Need for Stimulation (34.8%), Grandiose-Deceitful (16.5%), Callous-Unemotional (6.2%), and Putative Psychopathic Personality (PP, 3.3%). Children in the PP class, overall, engaged in higher levels of concurrent, future, and stable conduct problems and reactive and proactive aggression, and lower levels of prosocial behavior, as rated by parents or teachers. Findings also revealed meaningful differences between the remaining four classes. Person-oriented analyses seem to offer a fruitful avenue to identify 3- to 6-year-olds who exhibit a putative psychopathic personality and are at risk for future maladjustment.