Individual differences in anger and displaced aggression: The role of metacognitive beliefs and anger rumination

Metacognitive model is a theoretical approach aimed to explain emotion dysregulation and others emotion-related issues, such anger, and aggressive behavior. From this model, people having higher maladaptive metacognitive beliefs (e.g., “I can't control my thoughts”) are more likely to activate and maintain anger rumination and, in turn, to experience higher levels of anger and to act aggressively. Preliminary evidence shows the role of metacognitive beliefs on anger rumination and anger levels, whereas no studies have examined its association with aggressive behavior. This study first examined the associations between metacognitive beliefs, anger rumination, anger levels, and the propensity to engage in displaced aggression, and second, the mediation role of anger rumination in the relations among metacognitive beliefs and anger and displaced aggression. Participants were 947 students and non-students from general population recruited in two different countries (Australia and Spain). Correlational analyses revealed a similar pattern of results in the Australian and Spanish sample, with participants having dysfunctional metacognitive beliefs also showing higher anger rumination, higher levels of anger and a higher tendency to act aggressively. Structural equation analyses revealed the associations of metacognitive beliefs with anger levels and displaced aggression was fully mediated by anger rumination in both samples. These results suggest that metacognitive beliefs should be considered in comprehensive models and in the therapy of anger problems and aggression.     

Developmental trajectories of aggression from late childhood through adolescence: similarities and differences across gender

Although numerous investigations of overt aggressive and antisocial trajectories have been undertaken, there is a dearth of literature examining gender differences and similarities in trajectory patterns and their correlates. To address these gaps, we investigated gender differences in the prevalence rates, predictive validity during transition to adulthood, childhood risk factors, and adolescent correlates of different trajectories of teacher-reported overt aggression (i.e., fights, argues, gets in trouble) among 220 participants (116 girls and 104 boys) evaluated annually from grade 4 to grade 12. Four patterns of trajectories were identified: low, increasing (i.e., adolescent-onset), decreasing (i.e., childhood-limited), and high (i.e., childhood-onset). A large proportion of youth, particularly girls, displayed low levels of aggression over time. A small proportion followed the childhood-onset trajectory. Across gender, the childhood-onset trajectory was associated with the highest rates of maladjustment during the transition to adulthood, the highest number of childhood risk factors, and multiple problems during adolescence. The adolescent-onset trajectory was associated with few childhood risk factors, but with high levels of independent status during adolescence. In contrast, the childhood-limited trajectory was associated with several childhood risk factors, but high levels of parental monitoring and school engagement during adolescence. Romantic involvement differentiated the adolescent-onset and childhood-limited trajectories among girls.     

Using temporal distancing to regulate emotion in adolescence: modulation by reactive aggression

Adopting a temporally distant perspective on stressors reduces distress in adults. Here we investigate whether the extent to which individuals project themselves into the future influences distancing efficacy. We also examined modulating effects of age across adolescence and reactive aggression: factors associated with reduced future-thinking and poor emotion regulation. Participants (N?=?83, aged 12–22) read scenarios and rated negative affect when adopting a distant-future perspective, near-future perspective, or when reacting naturally. Self-report data revealed significant downregulation of negative affect during the distant-future condition, with a similar though non-significant skin conductance pattern. Importantly, participants who projected further ahead showed the greatest distress reductions. While temporal distancing efficacy did not vary with age, participants reporting greater reactive aggression showed reduced distancing efficacy, and projected themselves less far into the future. Findings demonstrate the importance of temporal extent in effective temporal distancing; shedding light on a potential mechanism for poor emotional control associated with reactive aggression.     

Moderating effects of rumination and gender on context‐specific aggression

Angry rumination has been linked previously to increased aggression. The effects of trait rumination on men and women's emotional and aggressive responses under different cueing contexts were examined. Aggressive behavior, not resulting from direct insult or provocation, was indexed by a laboratory paradigm that measured the intensity and the duration of shocks delivered to a putative “employee”. Frustration about, and cognitive focus on, the employee's poor performance was manipulated through the cover story and procedures; however, half the participants were exposed to a fearful/distracting stressor (stress focused) whereas the other half were not (confederate focused). Emotional responses and evaluations of the confederate were also assessed. Results indicated that rumination enhanced the effects of context, so that it related to greater fear and sadness in the stress‐focused context and to increased aggression and motives to aggress in the confederate‐focused context. These effects, however, were more robust for women than men. Ruminative men tended to show more hostile behaviors and motives across both conditions. Mechanisms for the effects of rumination on aggression, and gender differences in these processes, are discussed. Aggr. Behav. 00:1–17, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Instigation to aggress and escalation of aggression examined from a personological perspective: The role of irritability and of emotional susceptibility

Two studies were conducted using Buss hostility machine paradigm to investigate the role of individual differences in irritability and emotional susceptibility on the instigation to aggress by a self-esteem lowering manipulation and on the hypothesized escalation of aggression over trials. The role of sex was also examined. In the first study, 60 highly irritable and 60 low irritable subjects were given the opportunity to deliver electric shocks to an experimental confederate, half after being provoked by a negative judgement on their performance in a learning task, half without such an experience. Each group of subjects was divided equally between males and females. It was found that highly irritable subjects, both males and females, delivered higher shocks after provocation than low irritable subjects under similar circumstances. An upward drift of shock level over trials was found only in provoked males and only in highly irritable females. In the second study, 60 highly emotionally susceptible and 60 low emotionally susceptible males and females were given the opportunity to deliver electric shocks to an experimental confederate, half after experiencing provocation, half without such an experience. It was found that provoked subjects delivered higher shocks than unprovoked subjects and that highly emotionally susceptible subjects delivered higher shocks than low emotionally susceptible subjects. Whereas an upward drift of shock levels over trials was found only in provoked males, the same effect was found in females, whether provoked or not. These findings are discussed in terms of the importance of stable personality characteristics that may mediate aggressive response.     

Sport team identification and willingness to consider anonymous acts of hostile aggression

Previous research indicated that a sizeable minority of individuals report a willingness to consider engaging in anonymous acts of instrumental aggression directed toward players and coaches of a rival team. Individuals with a high degree of identification with their favorite team were particularly likely to consider such acts. The current investigation was designed to extend this research by examining the likelihood that individuals would consider engaging in hostile anonymous aggression. It was expected that highly identified persons would be particularly likely to consider these acts, even though the acts would not provide a competitive advantage for their team. Data collected from 175 university students confirmed the expectations. In addition, the results indicated that males were more likely than females to report a willingness to consider the hostile aggressive acts and that participants were more likely to report a willingness to engage in less destructive acts (e.g., tripping an opposing player or coach) than more destructive acts (e.g., murdering an opposing player or coach). Aggr. Behav. 29:406–413, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Social inference and individual differences in aggression: Evidence for spontaneous judgments of hostility

This research examined the hypothesis that aggressive vs. nonaggressive individuals differ in their spontaneous trait inferences, i. e., inferences made without any conscious intention of inferring characteristics of an actor. We anticipated that spontaneous processing conditions would be more revealing of aggressive/nonaggressive differences than would conditions that prompt deliberate inference processes. We used a cued-recall paradigm. Aggressive and nonaggressive subjects were instructed to memorize sentences that were open to either hostile or nonhostile interpretations. Sentence recall was then cued by either hostile dispositional terms or by words that were linked semantically to the element of the sentences. Within the spontaneous inference condition, semantic cues prompted twice as much recall as hostile cues among nonaggressive subjects, whereas dispositional cues aided recall more than semantic cues among aggressive subjects. As predicted, within the delinerate inference conditions there were no aggressive/nonaggressive differences. The nature of spontaneous vs. deliberate inferential processes and the advantages of spontaneous inference paradigms for testing predictions about schema-based processing in aggression are discussed. © 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Family expressiveness and parental emotion coaching: their role in children's emotion regulation and aggression

In this study, we explored the relations between positive and negative family expressiveness, parental emotion coaching, child emotion regulation, and child aggression. The sample included 120 fourth-grade children and their mothers. Mothers completed the Emotion Regulation Checklist, the Family Expressiveness Questionnaire, and a portion of the meta-emotion interview to assess their awareness and acceptance of, and instruction in managing their child's anger and sadness (3 dimensions of parental emotion coaching). Teachers rated each child's aggression and completed the Emotion Regulation Checklist for each child. The 3 dimensions of parental emotion coaching and positive and negative family expressiveness were not directly related to child aggression. However, both negative family expressiveness and the mother's acceptance of the child's negative emotions were indirectly related to child aggression through the child's emotion regulation.     

Alcohol-aggression expectancies and dispositional rumination moderate the effect of alcohol consumption on alcohol-related aggression and hostility

Alcohol consumption increases aggression, but only in some drinkers. This study extends previous work to show how expectancies for alcohol-induced aggression and dispositional rumination moderate the link between alcohol consumption and alcohol-related aggression and hostility in a sample of 285 men and women. Alcohol-aggression expectancies and quantity of alcohol interacted to predict alcohol-related hostility and aggression. Trait rumination moderated the effect of alcohol consumption on aggressive acts. Finally, women who ruminated were more likely to report alcohol-related aggression than were men who ruminated. These results suggest that alcohol expectancies for aggression and rumination constitute two important cognitive facilitators of alcohol-related aggression and hostility, and that gender plays an important role in these relations.     

Proactive and reactive aggression in early adolescence as precursors to anti- and prosocial behavior in young adults

Three groups of adolescents who were 14 years old in 1974 were formed on the basis of peer nominations and teacher ratings in an ongoing longitudinal study: 1) reactively aggressive (REA) individuals who displayed reactive, that is, self-defensive aggression but not proactive aggression (43 boys, 35 girls); 2) proactively aggressive (PROA) individuals who attacked another person without a reason (56 boys, 35 girls); and 3) nonaggressive (NONA) individuals who were low in proactive and reactive aggression (48 boys, 45 girls). The groups were compared at ages 8, 14, and 27 in variables representing the constructs of a two-dimensional model of emotional and behavioral regulation. The REA Ss were characterized by higher self-control, especially constructiveness, at each age and better adult adjustment than the PROA Ss. The PROA males were prone to externalizing problems and criminality in adulthood, whereas the PROA females were prone to internalizing problems and neuroticism in adulthood. Both exhibited conduct problems in adolescence, and became heavy users of alcohol in adulthood. The PROA Ss had more children at age 27 than the other Ss. © 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

The relation between rumination and temporal features of emotion intensity

Intensity profiles of emotional experience over time have been found to differ primarily in explosiveness (i.e. whether the profile has a steep vs. a gentle start) and accumulation (i.e. whether intensity increases over time vs. goes back to baseline). However, the determinants of these temporal features remain poorly understood. In two studies, we examined whether emotion regulation strategies are predictive of the degree of explosiveness and accumulation of negative emotional episodes. Participants were asked to draw profiles reflecting changes in the intensity of emotions elicited either by negative social feedback in the lab (Study 1) or by negative events in daily life (Study 2). In addition, trait (Study 1 & 2), and state (Study 2) usage of a set of emotion regulation strategies was assessed. Multilevel analyses revealed that trait rumination (especially the brooding component) was positively associated with emotion accumulation (Study 1 & 2). State rumination was also positively associated with emotion accumulation and, to a lesser extent, with emotion explosiveness (Study 2). These results provide support for emotion regulation theories, which hypothesise that rumination is a central mechanism underlying the maintenance of negative emotions.     

Interpolating physical exercise between instigation to aggress and aggression: The role of irritability and emotional susceptibility

Two studies were conducted using the Buss aggression machine paradigm to investigate the mediational role of physical exercise with respect to subsequent aggression in relation to the presence or absence of previous instigation. The irritability level of subjects was taken into account in the first study, and the subject' emotional susceptibility level in the second study. In both studies sex differences were also considered so that each study resulted in a 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 design with ten subjects in each cell. As far as irritability is concerned, experimental subjects (pedaling on a bicycle ergonometer) delivered higher shocks than controls (who just waited out the 10 min the experimental subjects were pedaling), independent of irritability level or of the presence or absence of previous instigation. When emotional susceptibility was taken into consideration, physical exercise associated with high level of emotional susceptibility and previous instigation resulted in increased intensity of the shocks subsequently delivered. These findings are discussed in terms of the importance of stable personality characteristics that may differentially mediate aggression.     

Legitimized aggression and sexual coercion: Individual differences in cultural spillover

Correlations between aggressive attitudes and sexual coercion have consistently been found in numerous empirical studies across social science disciplines. Extrapolating from sociological research linking indices of legitimate aggression by state to statewide frequencies of rape, we have extended the investigation of legitimate aggression and coercive sexuality to the individual level. The specific purposes of this research were to index the breadth and level of endorsement of legitimized aggression at the individual level and to measure the association between such an index and coercive sexual behavior. These purposes were achieved across the course of three studies in which we created a new dispositional measure, the Proclivity for Legitimized Aggression Questionnaire (PLAQ), and replicated a sociocultural level correlation with coercive sexual behavior (Study 1); assessed the individual differences level construct validity of the PLAQ (Study 2); and tested whether endorsement of items on the PLAQ were related to content‐relevant behaviors (Study 3). The PLAQ was internally consistent, modestly but significantly correlated with a measure of self‐reported coercive sexual behavior, and characterized by promising construct validity. Aggr. Behav. 27:26–43, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

A meta‐mood model of rumination and depression: Preliminary test in a non‐clinical population

Depressive rumination and trait meta‐mood (emotional attention, emotional clarity and emotional repair) have been suggested as vulnerability factors leading to depression, but less is known about the associations among them. In this study, we examined the relationships between trait meta‐mood, rumination and depressive symptomatology. Using structural equation analysis in a large sample of a non‐clinical population we found a preliminary test of the role of trait meta‐mood dimensions in rumination and depressive symptomatology. Results indicated that attention to feelings has two pathways in its relation with rumination and depressive mood. On the one hand, emotional attention was associated with emotional clarity, and emotional clarity with emotional repair, which was related to lower depressive symptomatology, in part, by reducing rumination. On the other hand, emotional attention was directly associated with ruminative thoughts which, in turn, were related to higher depressive mood. Findings are discussed in terms of the implications of beliefs about emotions in the treatment of depression.     

Applying a bifactor model to the functions of relational aggression: Associations with hostile attribution biases and difficulties with emotion regulation

Previous research suggests that reactive and proactive aggression likely have distinct underlying mechanisms that uniquely contribute to the perpetration of each as a result of faulty cognitive and emotional processes. Still, very little work has examined the association of the functions of relational aggression with emotion dysregulation and hostile attribution biases. In addition, it is important to examine relational aggression in its pure and co-occurring functions given that past work finds reactive and proactive aggression to occur both jointly and distinctly. Thus, the current study employed a bifactor model to distinguish between pure reactive, pure proactive, and co-occurring relational aggression in emerging adulthood (N = 647, M_age = 19.92, SD = 2.83), a developmental time period for which relational aggression is particularly prominent. To further address gaps in the relational aggression literature, indirect pathway models revealed that relational hostile attribution biases emerged as a concurrent indirect path in the relationship between emotion dysregulation and pure reactive relational aggression. Furthermore, emotion dysregulation was directly positively associated with both pure functions as well as co-occurring relational aggression, and hostile attribution biases for relational provocations were directly associated with both pure functions of relational aggression, though the association was negative for pure proactive and positive for pure reactive relational aggression. Findings highlight the potential influence of emotion dysregulation and attributing hostile intent to social situations on engaging in the different functions of relational aggression.     

The growth of gossip: Socialization of relational aggression from adolescence to emerging adulthood

The extant literature suggests that relational aggression appears in early childhood, and gradually increases throughout adolescence. However, very little research has examined the growth of relational aggression from adolescence to emerging adulthood. In addition, research generally examines socializing factors of relational aggression, such as parenting, peers, siblings, or media in isolation. Accordingly, the aim of the current study was to examine these socializing factors conjunctively as predictors of the growth of relational aggression over time. Participants consisted of 500 adolescents who completed several questionnaires over a 7-year period (between ages 14–20 on average). Results revealed that the vast majority of individuals (88%) showed low levels of relational aggression that decreased over time. Conversely, a small proportion of individuals (12%) had high, increasing levels of relational aggression between adolescence and emerging adulthood. High levels of maternal psychological control, sibling hostility, and relational aggression in the media at the initial time point all predicted being in the high and increasing group.