Emotional functioning and Reactive/proactive aggression in adolescents: A cross-cultural research

Abstract

Aggressive behaviours peak in adolescence. Two commonly recognized types of aggression are reactive and proactive aggression, both found to be related to low social competence and behavioural problems. Emotional functioning is instrumental in regulating and preventing adolescent aggression. While research on these aspects exists in Western societies, little is known about how emotional functioning is related to aggression in Eastern societies, and whether culture moderates the relations. Therefore, this study examined how different aspects of emotional functioning, i.e., fear, shame, approach coping, avoidant coping, are related to reactive and proactive aggression, by comparing these relations in Dutch and Malaysian adolescents aged 12 to 14 years. Dutch (n = 251; 134 girls) and Malaysian adolescents (n = 284; 149 girls) participated in this study, by filling a group of questionnaires measuring emotional functioning and aggression. The outcomes showed that in both Dutch and Malaysian adolescents, fear contributed to more reactive and proactive aggression, while little shame contributed to more proactive aggression. In Malaysian adolescents, more approach coping was related to more reactive aggression. More avoidant coping predicted more proactive aggression, regardless of culture. Our findings confirmed the relations between adolescents’ emotional functioning and their aggressive behaviours. In particular, emotions are functional only when experienced at an appropriate level: too much fear contributed to more aggression, whereas little shame contributed to more proactive aggression, regardless of culture. Second, as expected, culture could influence the relation between emotional functioning and aggression. Approach coping was less effective in preventing reactive aggression in Malaysian adolescents, while avoidant coping was less effective in preventing proactive aggression, regardless of culture. These findings highlight the unique role that emotional functioning plays in the development of adolescent aggression and emphasize the importance of considering cultural factors when studying mechanisms that underlie aggressive behaviours in adolescents.