The Effects of Hostile Attribution on Adolescents' Aggressive Responses to Social Situations

Abstract

This study extended past findings on the effects of children's hostile attribution bias on aggressive behavior to an adolescent population. Male high school students (N=58) aged 16 to 18 years participated in the study. We examined the relationship of their perceived hostile intent, harm, and importance of social interactions to the adolescents' aggressive responses. It was hypothesized that the greater the participants' perception of hostile intent, the more they would respond with aggression. Participants were randomly presented with three vignettes of social situations and were asked to state their responses to them. The vignettes consisted of problematic social interactions between two males, an antagonist and protagonist. The intent of the antagonist was ambiguous in all cases. Items from the Youth Self Report of the Child Behavior Checklist were also used to measure the aggressive behaviors of the students. It was found that the adolescents' perceptions of hostile intent were related to their level of aggressive responses and aggressive behaviors.

Emergent issues in families experiencing adolescent‐to‐parent abuse

“…Parents who share frequently minimize the seriousness of the behavior, express an inability to punish the abusive behavior, and often refuse to ask for outside help for themselves or their child. These types of responses may cause adolescents to perceive that abusive behavior toward their parents is acceptable, and, as a result, parents' sense of helplessness may become normative (Gehring, Wentzel, Feldman, & Munson, 1990;Price, 1996;Sheehan, 1997;VanOostrum & Horvath, 1997). Parents' lack of communication about their adolescent-to-parent abuse experience creates difficulty for those attempting to find solutions to this problem.…”

Hostile Attributional Bias, Negative Emotional Responding, and Aggression in Adults: Moderating Effects of Gender and Impulsivity

“…Prior studies have provided evidence for the utility of HAB in the explanation of general aggression [e.g., Epps and Kendall, 1995; Katsurada and Sugawara, 1998; VanOostrum and Horvath, 1997], physical aggression [e.g., Bailey and Ostrov, 2008; Crick et al, 2002; Nelson et al, 2008], and relational aggression [e.g., Bailey and Ostrov, 2008; Crick, 1995; Crick et al, 2002; Godleski and Ostrov, 2010]. There is also evidence that negative emotions, such as anger and sadness, correlate with both overt aggression [e.g., Peled and Moretti, 2007, 2010; Sullivan et al, 2010; Zeman et al, 2002] and relational aggression [Peled and Moretti, 2007, 2010; Sullivan et al, 2010].…”

Exposure to violent video games and aggression in German adolescents: a longitudinal analysis

“…Every time hostile intent is attributed to another person's ambiguous action and aggressive behavior is shown as a reaction, the link between the perception of hostile intent and aggression is reinforced, a cycle that may account for the longterm stability of aggressive behavior [Burks et al, 1999]. There is consistent empirical support for the relationship between a hostile attribution bias and physical aggression in children and adolescents [e.g., Dodge and Coie, 1987;VanOostrum and Horvath, 1997], and further studies indicate that indirect/ relational aggression can also be influenced by hostile attributional style [e.g., Crick, 1995]. The relationship between media violence exposure and hostile attributional style is less well established.…”