Jamie M. Ostrov

Proactive, reactive, and romantic relational aggression in adulthood: Measurement, predictive validity, gender differences, and association with Intermittent Explosive Disorder

The psychometric properties of a recently introduced adult self-report of relational aggression are presented. Specifically, the predictive utility of proactive and reactive peer-directed relational aggression, as well as romantic relational aggression, are explored in a large (N=1387) study of adults. The measure had adequate reliability and validity and the subscales demonstrated unique predictive abilities for a number of dependent variables. In particular, reactive but not proactive relational aggression was uniquely associated with history of abuse, hostile attribution biases, and feelings of distress regarding relational provocation situations. Reactive relational aggression was also more strongly related to anger and hostility than proactive aggression. In addition, relational aggression in the context of romantic relationships was uniquely related to anger, hostility, impulsivity, history of abuse, hostile attribution biases, and emotional sensitivity to relational provocations, even when controlling for peer-directed relational aggression. Gender differences in overall levels of relational aggression were not observed; however, males were most likely to engage in peer-directed proactive and reactive relational aggression whereas females were most likely to engage in romantic relational aggression. In a second study (N=150), relational aggression was higher in a sample of adults with Intermittent Explosive Disorder than in a sample of healthy controls or psychiatric controls. The findings highlight the importance of assessing subtypes of relational aggression in adult samples. Ways in which this measure may extend research in psychology and psychiatry are discussed.

Toward an integrated gender-linked model of aggression subtypes in early and middle childhood.

An integrative model is proposed for understanding the development of physical and relational aggression in early and middle childhood. The central goal was to posit a new theoretical framework that expands on existing social-cognitive and gender schema models (i.e., Social Information-Processing Model of Childrens Adjustment [N. R. Crick & K. A. Dodge, 1994] and the Schematic-Processing Model of Sex Role Stereotyping [C. L. Martin & C. F. Halverson, 1981]). The proposed model suggests several individual- and group-level effects and the available evidence for each of these hypotheses is discussed. The ways in which the proposed model may guide future research in the field are presented.

A Longitudinal Study of Forms and Functions of Aggressive Behavior in Early Childhood

The purpose of this study was to investigate the distinct forms (i.e., physical and relational) and functions (i.e., proactive and reactive) of aggressive behavior during early childhood (n = 101; M age = 45.09 months). Forms, but not functions, of aggressive behavior were stable over time. A number of contributors to aggression were associated with distinct subtypes of aggressive behavior. Females and socially dominant children were more relationally aggressive and older children were less physically aggressive than their peers. Longitudinal analyses indicated that social dominance predicted decreases in physical aggression and peer exclusion predicted increases in relational aggression. Overall, the results provide support for the distinction between subtypes of aggression in early childhood.

Prospective Associations between Peer Victimization and Aggression.

The current study involved a short-term longitudinal study of young children (M = 44.56 months, SD = 11.88, N = 103) to test the prospective associations between peer victimization and aggression subtypes. Path analyses documented that teacher-reported physical victimization was uniquely associated with increases in observed physical aggression over time. The path model also revealed that teacher-reported relational victimization was uniquely associated with statistically significant increases in observed relational aggression over time. Ways in which these findings extend the extant developmental literature are discussed.

Relational Aggression, Physical Aggression and Deception During Early Childhood: A Multimethod, Multi-informant Short-Term Longitudinal Study

A short-term longitudinal study examined relational and physical aggression and deceptive behavior among 120 preschool-aged children (M = 44.36 months old, SD = 11.07). Multiple informants and methods (i.e., observational, teacher reports) were used. Evidence for discriminant validity of the observations of aggression subtypes was found. For example, observations of relational aggression were more highly associated with teacher reports of relational aggression than teacher reports of physical aggression. Observed relational aggression was significantly associated with concurrent and prospective increases in deceptive behavior, even after controlling for gender and observed physical aggression. In addition, observed relational aggression was a unique significant predictor of concurrent deception, above and beyond teacher reports of aggression subtypes, which provides important support for the utility of the observational methods.

Replication and Extension of Little et al.'s (2003) Forms and Functions of Aggression Measure.

The goal of the current study was to replicate the confirmatory factor analysis of Little et al.s (2003) aggression measure in an American sample of 69 children (mean age = 12.93 years; SD = 1.27). Although an exact replication of the original model could not be estimated given the small sample, a modified model representing a conceptual replication provided a good fit to the data. Findings suggest that this child self-reported aggression measure can be used with American samples to distinguish four domains of aggressive behavior (relational, overt, instrumental, and reactive).

Prospective associations between forms and functions of aggression and social and affective processes during early childhood.

The central goal of this study was to examine the prospective associations between forms (i.e., physical and relational) and functions (i.e., proactive and reactive) of aggressive behavior with social (i.e., peer rejection) and affective (i.e., anger, emotion regulation skills) processes during early childhood (N = 96, mean age = 42.80 months, SD = 7.57). A cross-lagged path analysis revealed that proactive relational aggression was uniquely associated with decreases in peer rejection, whereas reactive relational aggression was associated with increases in peer rejection over time. Proactive relational aggression predicted decreases in anger, whereas reactive relational aggression tended to be associated with increases in anger. Proactive relational aggression uniquely predicted increases in emotion regulation skills, whereas reactive relational aggression tended to be associated with decreases in emotion regulation skills over time. Finally, anger was significantly associated with increases in several subtypes of aggressive behavior. In sum, the findings provide further support for the distinction between subtypes of aggressive behavior in young children.

Relational Aggression and Friendship During Early Childhood: "I Won't Be Your Friend'!

Associations between relational aggression and mutual, dyadic friendships during early childhood were assessed in the context of a year-long, short-term longitudinal study. Childrens mutual friendships were determined via sociometric ratings and their relationally aggressive behavior among peers was assessed via naturalistic, free play observations. Generally, children who were more relationally aggressive had more mutual friends, although this relation differed by gender and time of assessment. Future work should include measures of friendship quality and investigate the role of relational aggression within friendship dyads.

Preschoolers’ aggression and parent–child conflict: A multiinformant and multimethod study

This multiinformant and multimethod study (N=47) investigated the link between the parent-child relationship system and the display of physical and relational aggression with peers at school during early childhood. Children (mean age=43.54 months, SD=8.02) were observed (80min/child) during free play, and parents and teachers were asked to complete several standard measures. Intercorrelations between aggression subtypes revealed moderate to high levels of correlation for parents and teachers and no significant association for observations of physical and relational aggression. Interinformant agreement was examined, and teachers and parents were found to significantly agree for both physical and relational aggression, and teachers and observers also significantly agreed for both subtypes of aggression. Results of regression analyses suggest that parent-child conflict was uniquely associated with relational aggression among peers when controlling for physical aggression and gender. Ways in which these findings build on the extant literature are discussed.

Relational aggression, victimization, and adjustment during middle childhood

A secondary analysis of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development was conducted to test the mechanisms by which relational aggression in third grade was associated both directly and indirectly with relational victimization in sixth grade. A large sample (N = 1,035; 522 girls; M = 8.3 years old; SD = 0.23) and multiple informants (teacher, child, and parent report) and methods were used to test several theoretically driven hypotheses. Our path analysis model suggested evidence for both direct and indirect pathways consistent with the sequential social process model of peer harassment. Relational aggression was significantly associated with future relational victimization even after controlling for physical aggression and gender. Loneliness mediated the direct association between relational aggression and peer victimization. A second model testing the reverse direction of effect revealed that relational victimization in third grade predicted relational aggression in sixth grade and was associated with loneliness and depressive symptoms in fifth grade, but there was no evidence for any of the indirect pathways.