Reactive and Proactive Aggression: Stability of Constructs and Relations to Correlates

• Published in: The Journal of genetic psychology Vol. 167; no. 4; pp. 365 - 382
• Main Authors: McAuliffe, Meghan D., Hubbard, Julie A., Rubin, Ronnie M., Morrow, Michael T., Dearing, Karen F.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC Heldref 01.12.2006; Heldref Publications; Taylor & Francis Inc
• Subjects: Adolescents; Aggression; Aggressiveness; Behavior; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child Behavior - psychology; Child Behavior Disorders - epidemiology; Child Behavior Disorders - psychology; Child development; Children; Children & youth; Delinquency; Depression (Psychology); Developmental psychology; Etiology; Faculty; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Grade 2; Humans; Hyperactivity; Interpersonal Competence; Male; Observer Variation; Parents; Peers; proactive aggression; Psychological Patterns; Psychology - methods; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; reactive aggression; second-grade students; Mood disorder; Anger; Human; Affect affectivity; Aggression; Hyperactivity; proactive aggression; second-grade students; Depression; School age; reactive aggression; Follow up study; Social aptitude; Child
• ISSN: 0022-1325; 1940-0896
• DOI: 10.3200/GNTP.167.4.365-382

The authors examined short-term temporal stability of reactive and proactive aggression, as well as short-term consistency of differential relations of reactive versus proactive aggression to 4 correlates. The authors used parent, teacher, peer, and self-report measures twice across 1 year to assess reactive aggression, proactive aggression, hyperactivity, social skills, anger expression, and depressive symptoms of 2nd-grade boys and girls (N = 57). Both subtypes of aggression remained stable across the year, even when the other subtype of aggression was explained at each assessment. Reactive aggression, but not proactive aggression, was consistently positively related to hyperactivity, poor social skills, and anger expression at each assessment.