The dynamics from reactive aggression to proactive aggression among adolescents: A multilevel chain mediating model

Reactive aggression and proactive aggression have long been growing public concerns and are two phenomena associated with each other. The magnitude of reactive aggression at baseline can predict the likelihood of subsequent proactive aggression. Yet, the potential motivation mechanisms of the relationship between reactive and proactive aggression remain little understood, especially through experimental research. To address this research limitation, the experimental design employed competitive reaction time tasks and reward-interference tasks to manipulate reactive aggression and positive outcome expectancy in a sample of 125 adolescents (M_age = 16.06; SD = 0.67; 50 % girls). Using repeated measures variance analysis, we found that compared to those in the low reactive aggression group, participants with high reactive aggression later showed higher proactive aggression aimed at the same monetary rewards. Furthermore, participants in the high positive outcome expectancy group also displayed higher proactive aggression, compared to those in the low and medium groups. Thereby, through multilevel mediation analysis, we confirmed robust relationships between reactive and proactive aggression mediated by positive outcome expectancy and moral disengagement. This study suggests that intervention programs should target the reduction of positive outcome expectancy and moral disengagement.