Proactive and reactive aggression: Developmental trajectories and longitudinal associations with callous–unemotional traits, impulsivity, and internalizing emotions

Vaughan, Erin P; Speck, Julianne S; Frick, Paul J.; Walker, Toni M.; Robertson, Emily; Ray, James V.; Myers, Tina D. Wall; Thornton, Laura C.; Steinberg, Laurence; Cauffman, Elizabeth

doi:10.1017/s0954579423000317

Cited by 12 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…The present study found that fear reactivity, both conscious and automatic, played a unique role in the interplay between CU traits and aggression subtypes. In line with past research, we found CU traits were not associated with reactive aggression [36][37][38], but greater automatic fear reactivity (higher SCR) was linked to reactive aggression [35]. Furthermore, greater automatic fear reactivity (higher SCR) moderated the link between high CU traits and high reactive aggression.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

“…This suggests that the relation between CU traits and reactive aggression is when youth with CU traits have hyperactive automatic threat processes. This may explain the mixed findings of some research linking CU traits to reactive aggression, while others do not [36][37][38]. This may suggest that CU trait-related reactive aggression is more automatic and driven by a physiological response than a conscious response to a threat.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Understanding the interplay between conscious and automatic fear reactivity may be essential in the association between CU traits and types of aggression, given the divergent mechanisms for reactive and proactive aggression-hyperarousal and hypoarousal, respectively. Although CU traits seem to be more related to proactive than reactive aggression [36][37][38], previous research has found that youths with high levels of CU traits exhibit both reactive and proactive aggression [39]. A reduced fear response may make youths high in CU traits more prone to engage in aggressive behavior, as they are less deterred by potential negative consequences.…”

Section: Fear Cu Traits and Aggressionmentioning

confidence: 98%

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The Interplay between Fear Reactivity and Callous–Unemotional Traits Predicting Reactive and Proactive Aggression

Thomson,

Kjærvik,

Blondell

et al. 2024

Children

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Research has indicated that youths with CU traits are fearless, and this fearlessness plays a bidirectional role in both the development of CU traits and engagement in aggressive behavior. However, research specifically testing the role of fear in the association between CU traits and aggression is scarce. The goal of the current study was to test if fear reactivity, both conscious (self-report) and automatic (skin conductance reactivity; SCR), moderated the association between CU traits and aggression subtypes (reactive and proactive aggression). Participants included 161 adolescents (Mage = 15 years) diagnosed with conduct disorder. CU traits were assessed using the self-report Inventory of Callous–Unemotional Traits. Conscious and automatic fear reactivity were measured during a virtual reality rollercoaster using the Self-Assessment Manikin and skin conductance reactivity (SCR), respectively. Hierarchical regressions found that high fear reactivity on SCR moderated the link between CU traits and reactive aggression, while feeling more excited during fear induction moderated the link between CU traits and proactive aggression. Overall, a possible explanation of our divergent findings between conscious and automatic fear may be the difference between the instinctual biological response to threat versus the cognitive and emotional appraisal and experience of threat. Implications for intervention strategies targeting emotional recognition and regulation in reducing aggression in CD populations are discussed.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Fear Cu Traits and Aggressionmentioning

confidence: 98%

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The Interplay between Fear Reactivity and Callous–Unemotional Traits Predicting Reactive and Proactive Aggression

Thomson,

Kjærvik,

Blondell

et al. 2024

Children

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“…Moderate-sized (0.47) reductions in teacher-rated proactive aggression over a long-term three-year follow-up were found in a study that compared CP with typical school services with 241 elementary school boys and girls. Intervention effects in this follow-up study and another 6-year follow-up study [8], were also found on stable callous-unemotional traits, which were associated with proactive aggression in longitudinal research [22].…”

Section: Proactive and Reactive Aggressionsupporting

confidence: 60%

Mindful Coping Power Effects on Children’s Autonomic Nervous System Functioning and Long-Term Behavioral Outcomes

Boxmeyer

Stager

Miller³

et al. 2023

JCM

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Mindful Coping Power (MCP) was developed to enhance the effects of the Coping Power (CP) preventive intervention on children’s reactive aggression by integrating mindfulness training into CP. In prior pre–post analyses in a randomized trial of 102 children, MCP improved children’s self-reported anger modulation, self-regulation, and embodied awareness relative to CP but had fewer comparative effects on parent- and teacher-reported observable behavioral outcomes, including reactive aggression. It was hypothesized that MCP-produced improvements in children’s internal awareness and self-regulation, if maintained or strengthened over time with ongoing mindfulness practice, would yield improvements in children’s observable prosocial and reactive aggressive behavior at later time points. To appraise this hypothesis, the current study examined teacher-reported child behavioral outcomes at a one-year follow-up. In the current subsample of 80 children with one-year follow-up data, MCP produced a significant improvement in children’s social skills and a statistical trend for a reduction in reactive aggression compared with CP. Further, MCP produced improvements in children’s autonomic nervous system functioning compared with CP from pre- to post-intervention, with a significant effect on children’s skin conductance reactivity during an arousal task. Mediation analyses found that MCP-produced improvements in inhibitory control at post-intervention mediated program effects on reactive aggression at the one-year follow-up. Within-person analyses with the full sample (MCP and CP) found that improvements in respiratory sinus arrhythmia reactivity were associated with improvements in reactive aggression at the one-year follow-up. Together, these findings indicate that MCP is an important new preventive tool to improve embodied awareness, self-regulation, stress physiology, and observable long-term behavioral outcomes in at-risk youth. Further, children’s inhibitory control and autonomic nervous system functioning emerged as key targets for preventive intervention.

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“…Longitudinal research has provided evidence suggesting that proactive and reactive aggression are unique constructs with separate developmental trajectories and distinct associated factors. 8 Identifying the risk and protective factors of both types of aggressive behavior during adolescence is crucial in recognizing the emergence and cessation of aggression, thereby informs effective intervention and prevention strategies. Recently, abundant evidence has emphasized the significance of parental attachment in shaping aggressive behaviors.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parental Attachment and Proactive-Reactive Aggression in Adolescence: The Mediating Role of Self-Control and Perspective Taking

Li,

Gao,

Deng

et al. 2023

PRBM

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Identifying risk and protective factors of aggressive behavior during adolescence is beneficial for the intervention and prevention treatments. Although studies show that attachment quality is closely related to aggression, the underlying psychological mechanisms remain unclear. This study aimed to investigate the links of parental attachment with proactive and reactive aggression and to examine the mediating role of perspective taking and self-control among Chinese adolescents. Methods: A cluster sampling method was used to recruit participants from several high schools located in the central regions of China. A total of 2982 participants (M age = 17.28, SD = 0.83, range 15~20 years; 1602 girls, 1380 boys) were included in the final analysis.Results: Correlation analysis showed that participants possessing higher attachment security with parents were more likely to report lower levels of proactive and reactive aggression. And, self-control and perspective taking were positively associated with parental attachment, and negatively associated with both types of aggression. Moreover, structural equation models indicated that parental attachment directly, and indirectly predicted proactive and reactive aggression through self-control and perspective taking. Discussion: Overall, this study contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of the explanatory mechanisms that link adolescent-parent attachment and aggression, and suggest that high quality of adolescent-parent interactions may promote adolescents' self-control and perspectives taking, which further reduces their aggression propensity.

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Proactive and reactive aggression: Developmental trajectories and longitudinal associations with callous–unemotional traits, impulsivity, and internalizing emotions

Cited by 12 publications

References 66 publications

The Interplay between Fear Reactivity and Callous–Unemotional Traits Predicting Reactive and Proactive Aggression

The Interplay between Fear Reactivity and Callous–Unemotional Traits Predicting Reactive and Proactive Aggression

Mindful Coping Power Effects on Children’s Autonomic Nervous System Functioning and Long-Term Behavioral Outcomes

Parental Attachment and Proactive-Reactive Aggression in Adolescence: The Mediating Role of Self-Control and Perspective Taking

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