Subtypes of Aggressive Behavior in Children with Autism in the Context of Emotion Recognition, Hostile Attribution Bias, and Dysfunctional Emotion Regulation

Abstract

The causes of aggressive behavior in children with autism are poorly understood, which limits treatment options. Therefore, this study used behavioral testing and parent reports of 60 children with autism to investigate the interplay of emotion misinterpretation and hostile attribution bias in the prediction of different aggressive behaviors. Further, the additional impact of dysfunctional emotion regulation was examined. Path analyses indicated that hostile attribution bias increased verbal and covert aggression but not physical aggression and bullying. Dysfunctional emotion regulation had an additional impact on bullying, verbal aggression, and covert aggression. Emotion recognition was positively associated with hostile attribution bias. These findings provide a first insight into a complex interplay of socio-emotional variables; longitudinal studies are needed to examine causal relationships.

Applying a bifactor model to the functions of relational aggression: Associations with hostile attribution biases and difficulties with emotion regulation

“…There was also a significant indirect pathway from emotion dysregulation to pure reactive relational aggression via HAB for relational provocations. This is partially consistent with past work suggesting that HAB indirectly influences the relationship between emotion processes and relational aggression (e.g., Kirst et al, 2021), though this was unique to relational aggression by purely reactive means in the current study. Perhaps the indirect effect is true only for pure reactive relational aggression, but this finding is masked in previous models that do not consider the pure and co‐occurring functions of relational aggression.…”

“…However, it is unclear how emotional and social cognitive functioning may be associated with a higher likelihood of engaging in the different functions of relational aggression, an understudied form, in emerging adults. Theory (e.g., Crick & Dodge, 1994; Lemerise & Arsenio, 2000) as well as previous research with general or physical aggression (e.g., Quan et al, 2019), and preliminary research with relational aggression (e.g., Kirst et al, 2021), suggests the importance of correlates such as emotion dysregulation and HAB for the functions of relational aggression.…”

“…They argue that emotional processes (e.g., emotion dysregulation) may lead to maladaptive cognitive processes (e.g., HAB) which in turn generates aggressive responding. Much of the literature documents a direct link between emotion dysregulation and faulty SIP (e.g., Helmsen et al, 2012), and, more importantly, there is some evidence that HAB indirectly influences the relationship between emotional processes (e.g., emotion recognition) and relational aggression (e.g., Kirst et al, 2021). Still, little is known about how this pathway holds when examining the functions of relational aggression.…”

Adolescent–Caregiver Agreement Regarding the School Bullying and Cyberbullying Involvement Experiences of Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder

“…In one study, van Roekel et al [ 13 ] indicated that AASD who are frequently bullied are more likely to misinterpret nonbullying situations as bullying situations; furthermore, AASD who often bully others are more likely to misinterpret bullying situations as nonbullying situations. Moreover, a study found that AASD may have difficulty in emotion recognition and hostile attribution bias, which increase their risk of verbal and covert aggression toward others [ 38 ]. However, another study observed that the ASD bullying perpetrators performed significantly better on rating the intensity of emotions in the Facial Emotion Recognition Task; the bullying victims performed significantly worse on ranking the intensity of facial emotions [ 39 ].…”

Understanding aggression in autism across childhood: Comparisons with a non‐autistic sample

“…Aggressive and disruptive behaviors are often conceptualized under the umbrella of emotion dysregulation, a construct that includes affective and cognitive responses to situations, as well as non‐aggressive behaviors (e.g., self‐injurious behaviors; Vasa et al, 2022). Recent work suggests that these components are closely related; specifically, a recent study of autistic youths indicated that affective dysregulation (i.e., lability/negativity) was predictive of verbal aggression, bullying, and covert aggression (Kirst et al, 2021). There is still considerable evidence that emotion regulation challenges in autistic youth are highly prevalent (Samson et al, 2014; Samson, Hardan, Lee, et al, 2015; Samson, Hardan, Podell, et al, 2015).…”