A three-level analysis of reactive aggression among children

Abstract

Lasten aggressiivinen käytös kuvaa henkilökohtaisen edun tavoittelemista tai puolustamista keinoin, jotka aiheuttavat tahallista vahinkoa muille lapsille. Aggressiivinen käytös saa tavallisesti aikaan yhteisen leikin tai muun toiminnan päättymisen.Petri Juujärven kokeelliseen tutkimusasetelmaan perustunut väitös osoitti, että aggressiivista käytöstä voi selittää yksilöllisillä taipumuksilla voimakkaaseen kielteisen tunteiden viriämiseen ja virinneiden tunteiden heikkoon säätelemiseen, mutta kielteisten seurausten todennäköisyyden muunteleminen vaikutti käyttäytymiseen suotuisasti.

The present series of studies sought to confirm the hypothesis that simulated physical proactive aggression would give rise to simulated physical reactive aggression, but the relationship between the intensity of the acts and the reactions would be mediated by children’s prior experiences of rewards or punishments that ensue. In addition, it was hypothesised that the relationship between the intensity of proactive and reactive aggression would change from one child to another because of individual differences in propensity for emotional reactivity and its cognitive regulation. The Pulkkinen Aggression Machine (PAM) paradigm varied the intensity of proactive and reactive aggression as well as physical and social characteristics of six attackers. During all conditions of the paradigm, the participants maintained the role of the defender. The computerised PAM and associated monitoring of cardiovascular activity, a battery of eight cognitive tasks, and a short form IQ test were completed by 109 children (61 boys and 48 girls) aged between 8 to 13 years. Complementary information on the participants’ socio-emotional behaviour at school was collected based on teacher ratings. As regards the first hypothesis, the findings indicated that the relationship between the intensity of proactive and reactive aggression varied from one condition to another according to the respective characteristics of the attacker and the defender. For example, an act of pinching was reciprocated with a reaction of pinching when the opponents were of equal status, but the same act was countered with a less intensive reaction when the attacker was of superior physical or social status. In regard to the second hypothesis, the findings indicated that high levels of emotional reactivity were negatively associated with the relationship between the intensity of proactive and reactive aggression, but only when the intensity of the instigating acts was low. In addition, high levels of self-regulation capacity was positively associated with the attenuation of the relationship between the intensity of proactive or reactive aggression, whether the individual dispositions were inferred from the cardiac reactivity, the cognitive performance, the intelligence performance, or the teacher rating data. To investigate the interactions between the multiple situational and the multiple individual factors in a more precise way, however, several steps should be taken to develop the PAM and the associated methods further.