A cross‐regional study of the reactive and proactive aggression of youth in Spain, Uruguay, mainland China, and Hong Kong

Abstract

This study is the first attempt to measure reactive and proactive aggression in 1,203 youths aged between 11 and 20 from Hong Kong, mainland China, Spain, and Uruguay using the reactive‐proactive aggression questionnaire (RPQ). The two‐factor RPQ construct was found to exhibit an excellent model fit for all subsamples, and the measurement and structural invariance across the four regions was also revealed. After controlling for age, the youth in Uruguay exhibited the highest levels of general, reactive, and proactive aggression, followed by Spain, Hong Kong, and mainland China. Reactive, proactive, and general aggression increased with age in the total sample, but the effects differed among regions. Boys were found to exhibit higher levels of general, reactive, and proactive aggression than girls only in Uruguayan sample. These findings confirmed the cross‐cultural generalizability of the two‐factor RPQ model, and suggested culture, age, and gender to be significant determinants of youth aggression.

Gender Differences in the Personality Correlates of Reactive and Proactive Aggression in a Spanish Sample of Young Adults

“…Specifically, these differences were found not only at raw level, but also when considering the unique effect of each function of aggression (i.e., residual scores), and also controlling for the effect of the other personality variables (i.e., path analysis). Therefore, these findings provide support for the construct validity of reactive and proactive aggression in this specific sample, as was previously found across different contexts including different samples (e.g., Cima et al, 2013; Dinić & Raine, 2019; Fung et al, 2018; Pechorro et al, 2017; Polman et al, 2007; Tuvblad et al, 2016).…”

Factorial Analysis and Invariance Testing for Age and Gender of the Reactive-Proactive Aggression Questionnaire (RPQ)

“…data was not invariant, in line with findings in Spain where they reported significant variations in male scores ( Andreu et al, 2009 ), suggesting a propensity for aggression by males ( Dinić & Raine, 2019 ). Nevertheless, these findings contradict other studies with Asian samples that did not report variations in scores ( Ang, Huan, Li, & Chan, 2016 ), suggesting that aggression would be associated with varying attitudes toward aggression in each culture and social role, also because of differences between socioeconomic statuses according to sexes and their relationship with aggressive responses ( Fung et al, 2018 ). In this way, the proactive and reactive aggressive behavior measured with the RPQ can serve as a valid and reliable tool for evaluating adolescent males involved in criminal or judicial problems, externalizing dysfunctional behaviors, and psychopathic behaviors in different ethnicities ( Colins, 2016 ).…”

“…Despite the low factor adjustment indicators obtained for those over 25 years of age, the RPQ may be appropriate to more accurately assess RA and PA in adolescents and adults under 25 years of age ( Lobbestael, Cima, & Arntz, 2013 ), which is consistent with different studies of high scores in children under 16 years of age associated with subsequent clinically significant long-term behavioral problems ( Raine et al, 2006 ). Consequently, age would be a significant predictor of aggressive behaviors, especially in adolescents and subsequent development of delinquent behaviors and relapse into adulthood ( Fung et al, 2018 ; Swogger, Walsh, Christie, Priddy, & Conner, 2015 ), particularly those with PA ( Pechorro et al, 2017 ).…”

“…A second limitation was not being able to obtain a sample of participants with clinical diagnoses associated with high aggressive behaviors such as antisocial psychopathologies, which would allow establishing differential hypotheses in the test scores, nor having analyzed their sensitivity and specificity, which would be useful to be able to discriminate by RA and PA groups in programs for the prevention of aggressive behavior or juvenile delinquency (Fung et al, 2018).…”

Prospective relations of preschoolers’ prosocial and aggressive affect themes in pretend play with prosocial and aggressive behaviors across contexts

“…A composite measure of reactive and proactive aggression was used in the current study to parallel the aggressive affect themes that were included in the APS‐P coding scheme ( α = 0.91). This measure has been validated for use with similarly diverse samples (e.g., Baker, Raine, Liu, & Jacobson, 2008; Bass et al., 2018; Fung et al., 2018; Jambon & Smetana, 2018; Metin Aslan, 2018; Nivette, Eisner, Malti, & Ribeaud, 2014).…”