@article{ref1,
title="Affective contributions to instrumental and reactive aggression in middle childhood: variable- and person-centered approaches",
journal="Journal of clinical child and adolescent psychology",
year="2023",
author="Shields, Allison and Reardon, Kathleen and Lawler, Tessa and Tackett, Jennifer",
volume="ePub",
number="ePub",
pages="ePub-ePub",
abstract="OBJECTIVE: Research on the role of affect in childhood aggression motives has largely focused on domain-level affective traits. Lower-order affective facets may show more distinct relationships with instrumental and reactive aggression - at both the variable and individual levels - and offer unique insights into whether and how several forms of affect are involved in aggression motives. <br><br>METHOD: Caregivers (98% mothers) of 342 children (M(age) = 9.81 years, 182 girls, 31% White) reported on children's aggression and affect-relevant personality traits, personality pathology, and callous-unemotional traits. <br><br>RESULTS: Both reactive and instrumental aggressions were characterized by higher levels of trait irritability, fear, withdrawal, sadness, and callous-unemotional traits in zero-order analyses. Instrumental aggression was characterized by low trait positive emotions. Reactive aggression was uniquely associated with irritability, fear, withdrawal, and sadness, whereas instrumental aggression was uniquely associated with callous-unemotional traits and (low) positive emotions. Groups identified by latent profile analyses were differentiated only by aggression severity. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: The findings support both the similarity and distinction of reactive and instrumental aggression vis-à-vis their affective phenomenology. Consistent with existing theories, reactive aggression was linked to multiple forms of negative emotionality, whereas instrumental aggression was linked to higher levels of callous-unemotional traits. In a novel finding, instrumental aggression was uniquely characterized by lower positive emotions. The findings highlight the utility of pre-registered approaches employing comprehensive personality-based affective frameworks to organize and understand similarities and differences between aggression functions.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1537-4416",
doi="10.1080/15374416.2023.2272951",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15374416.2023.2272951"
}