Citation

VanOostrum N, Horvath P. Can. J. Sch. Psychol. 1997; 13(1): 48-59.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1997, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/082957359701300105

PMID

unavailable

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.

Language: en