Concurrent and predictive validity of self-reported aggressiveness

Abstract

The subjects (60 boys) were drawn from the sample of a longitudinal study of social development and represented extremely aggressive, anxious, constructive, and submissive behaviour at the age of 8. They were presented with three question series concerning (1) their responses to aggressive attacks; (2) reactions in frustration situations presented in short stories; and (3) their aggressive initiatives. In each series the type of aggressive behaviour, attacker, victim, and other situational factors were systematically varied. In series 2 the type of response, open‐ended or forced‐choice, was also varied. The results showed that the most valid way of studying boys' self‐observations on their aggressive behaviour was to ask if they attack somebody without a specific reason (series 3). This correlated with contemporaneous overt aggression at the age of 8 and predicted aggressiveness and various characteristics of antisocial aggressive development at the ages of 14 and 19. Self‐observations on one's physical aggression were more valid for ratings of overt aggressiveness than on verbal aggression. The open‐ended or forced‐choice type of response did not affect the validity of aggressive responses. Of the categories of nonaggression, ‘conciliatory responses’ had the highest concurrent and predictive validity for constructiveness and other indicators of strong self‐control.

Intervening variables in the TV violence–aggression relation: Evidence from two countries.

“…The technique used to measure aggression in the current study and the Eron et al 10-year study yielded an internal consistency of .97, a 1month stability of .91, and a 10-year stability of .38. In Finland, similar findings over a 10year period have been reported by Pitkanen-Pulkkinen (1981).…”

Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development: Insights about Aggression after Five Decades

“…It was found that proactive aggression of any type and reactive physical aggression to attacks of the same-sized, same-sex peer, predicted adult aggression ten years later. This conclusion was based on the predictive validity of the Question Series (Pitkänen-Pulkkinen, 1981) and the PAM (Pitkänen-Pulkkinen, 1980). Insight 9 is that the delay of aggressive response indicates self-control.…”

Predicting our own aggression: Person, subculture or situation?

“…Furthermore, a considerable body of criminological literature using self-and other's reports of aggressive behaviour finds that self-report is highly correlated with external validity criteria such as school infractions and police contacts (Farrington, 1973). In a longitudinal study, Pitkanen-Pulkkinen (1981) found self-predicted aggression in children aged eight to be significantly associated with concurrent and predictive validity indices.…”