TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2017//
TI  - The role of self-serving cognitive distortions in reactive and proactive aggression
JO  - Criminal behaviour and mental health
A1  - Oostermeijer, Sanne
A1  - Smeets, Kirsten C.
A1  - Jansen, Lucres M. C.
A1  - Jambroes, Tijs
A1  - Rommelse, Nanda N. J.
A1  - Scheepers, Floor E.
A1  - Buitelaar, Jan K.
A1  - Popma, Arne
SP  - 395
EP  - 408
VL  - 27
IS  - 5
N2  - BACKGROUND: Aggression is often divided into reactive and proactive forms. Reactive aggression is typically thought to encompass 'blaming others' and 'assuming the worst', while proactive aggression relates to 'self-centeredness' and 'minimising/mislabelling'. <br><br>AIM: Our aim was to evaluate relationships between reactive and proactive aggression and cognitive distortions and to test whether changes in these cognitions relate to changes in aggression. <br><br>METHODS: A total of 151 adolescents (60% boys; mean age 15.05 years, standard deviation 1.28) were enrolled in an evidence-based intervention to reduce aggression. Due to attrition and anomalous responses, the post-intervention sample involved 80 adolescents. Correlation and linear regression analyses were used to investigate the relationship between cognitive distortions and aggression. <br><br>RESULTS: Blaming others was related to reactive aggression before the intervention, while all cognitive distortions were related to proactive aggression both pre- and post-intervention. Changes in reactive aggression were uniquely predicted by blaming others, while changes in proactive aggression were predicted by changes in cognitive distortions overall. <br><br>CONCLUSION: To our knowledge, this study is the first to show a relationship between changes in cognitive distortions and changes in aggression. Treatment of reactive aggression may benefit from focusing primarily on reducing cognitive distortions involving misattribution of blame to others. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.<br><br>Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0957-9664
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/cbm.2039
ID  - ref1
ER  -