| Author |
Skinner, Ann T. Chang, Lei Di Giunta, Laura Dodge, Kenneth A. Tirado, Liliana Maria Uribe Lansford, Jennifer E. Sorbring, Emma Pastorelli, Concetta Tapanya, Sombat Bombi, Anna Silvia Bacchini, Dario Malone, Patrick S. Alampay, Liane Peña Al-hassan, Suha M. Oburu, Paul Deater-deckard, Kirby Zelli, Arnaldo Bornstein, Marc H. |
| Description |
Author Affiliation: Dodge KA ( Center for Child and Family Policy, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708); Malone PS ( Center for Child and Family Policy, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708); Lansford JE ( Center for Child and Family Policy, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708); Sorbring E ( Child and Youth Studies, University West, SE-461 00 Tollhättan, Sweden); Skinner AT ( Center for Child and Family Policy, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708); Tapanya S ( Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50000, Thailand); Tirado LM ( Department of Psychology, Rome University 'La Sapienza,' 00118 Rome, Italy); Zelli A ( University of Rome 'Foro Italico,' 00121 Rome, Italy); Alampay LP ( Department of Psychology, Ateneo de Manila University, 1000 Metro Manila National Capital Region, Philippines); Al-Hassan SM ( Department of Special Education, Hashemite University, 13133 Hashemite, Jordan); Bacchini D ( Faculty of Psychology, Second University of Naples, 80121 Napoli NA, Italy); Bombi AS ( Department of Psychology, Rome University 'La Sapienza,' 00118 Rome, Italy); Bornstein MH ( Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda, MD 20810); Chang L ( Department of Psychology, Chinese University of Hong Kong, China); Deater-Deckard K ( Department of Psychology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24060); Di Giunta L ( Department of Psychology, Rome University 'La Sapienza,' 00118 Rome, Italy); Oburu P ( Maseno University, 40105 Maseno, Kenya.); Pastorelli C ( Department of Psychology, Rome University 'La Sapienza,' 00118 Rome, Italy); |
| Abstract |
We tested a model that children's tendency to attribute hostile intent to others in response to provocation is a key psychological process that statistically accounts for individual differences in reactive aggressive behavior and that this mechanism contributes to global group differences in children's chronic aggressive behavior problems. Participants were 1,299 children (mean age at year 1 = 8.3 y; 51% girls) from 12 diverse ecological-context groups in nine countries worldwide, followed across 4 y. In year 3, each child was presented with each of 10 hypothetical vignettes depicting an ambiguous provocation toward the child and was asked to attribute the likely intent of the provocateur (coded as benign or hostile) and to predict his or her own behavioral response (coded as nonaggression or reactive aggression). Mothers and children independently rated the child's chronic aggressive behavior problems in years 2, 3, and 4. In every ecological group, in those situations in which a child attributed hostile intent to a peer, that child was more likely to report that he or she would respond with reactive aggression than in situations when that same child attributed benign intent. Across children, hostile attributional bias scores predicted higher mother- and child-rated chronic aggressive behavior problems, even controlling for prior aggression. Ecological group differences in the tendency for children to attribute hostile intent statistically accounted for a significant portion of group differences in chronic aggressive behavior problems. The findings suggest a psychological mechanism for group differences in aggressive behavior and point to potential interventions to reduce aggressive behavior. |
