Social-cognitive processing in aggressive/withdrawn, aggressive/nonwithdrawn, and nondeviant children

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to further investigate subtypes of aggressive children by examining the classroom behavior, social-cognitive, self-control and self-concept differences between aggressive/withdrawn, aggressive/nonwithdrawn, and nondeviant children. Analyses to determine findings were conducted twice, once with two subtypes of aggressive children and a nondeviant group, then again with all aggressive children combined into one group who were then compared as one group with the nondeviant group. An additional purpose of this research was to develop and validate an interview measure of social-cognitive processes implicated in aggressive behavior such as attribution of hostile intent towards the self when presented with an ambiguous hypothetical situation, and types and number of solutions generated to solve hypothetical problems of a social nature. In addition, outcome expectancies, defined as one's perception of the instrumental and relational outcomes of various behavioral strategies utilized as solutions to social problems were analyzed. Finally, children's self-efficacy for successfully engaging in each type of behavioral strategy was included in the measure. Results indicated that aggressive/nonwithdrawn children significantly differed from aggressive/withdrawn and nondeviant children in their classroom behavior, with the aggressive/nonwithdrawn children exhibiting significantly more disruptive classroom behavior. Aggressive children, significantly more than nondeviant children, exhibited more hostile attributional biases in hypothetical, ambiguous situations. Aggressive/nonwithdrawn children generated significantly more aggressive solutions and significantly more aggressive first solutions to social situations than did the aggressive/withdrawn and nondeviant groups. No differences were found on outcome expectancies or self-efficacy for the different types of behavioral strategies. No difference was found between the groups on self-esteem. Scores on the measures of social-cognitive problem solving did not predict reactive, proactive, or withdrawal scores. Correlational analyses failed to find expected relationships between proactive and reactive aggression scores and withdrawal and self-esteem.