Citation

Hubbard JA, Smithmyer CM, Ramsden SR, Parker EH, Flanagan KD, Dearing KF, Relyea N, Simons RF. Child Dev. 2002; 73(4): 1101-1118.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, University of Delaware, Newark 19716-2577, USA. jhubbard@udel.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2002, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

12146736

Abstract

The goal of this study was to examine the relations of reactive versus proactive aggression to children's anger, as assessed using observational, physiological, and self-report measures. Anger was hypothesized to be related to reactive aggression, but not to proactive aggression. Children (N = 272 second-grade boys and girls) participated in a procedure in which they lost a board game and prize to a confederate who cheated. Skin conductance reactivity and heart rate reactivity were measured throughout the procedure. Following the interaction, children viewed a videotape of the game and self-reported on their level of anger after each turn of the game. Observational coding of children's angry facial expressions and angry nonverbal behaviors was conducted. Reactive aggression, but not proactive aggression, was positively related to skin conductance reactivity and angry nonverbal behaviors, both at an aggregated level and in terms of rate of increase over the time span of the game.

Language: en