Temporal Order and Developmental Context of Aggressive Attitude and Aggressive Behavior: Testing a Within-Person Reciprocal Effects Model.

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to determine whether the relationship between aggressive attitude and aggressive behavior is reciprocal or bidirectional in nature.

Method: A sample of 845 early adolescent youth (406 boys, 439 girls) between the ages of 10 and 13 (mean = 11.21) served as participants in this study. Aggressive attitudes were assessed with 4 items from the Denver Youth Survey Neutralization scale and aggressive behavior was assessed with 5 items from the Self-Reported Offending scale.

Results: A random intercepts cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM) analysis revealed that aggressive attitude predicted aggressive behavior from Wave 1 to Wave 2 and from Wave 2 to Wave 3, whereas aggressive behavior only predicted aggressive attitude from Wave 1 to Wave 2. These findings insinuate that while aggressive attitude consistently predicted within-person increases in aggressive behavior, aggressive behavior may have been less consistent in predicting within-person increases in aggressive behavior.

Conclusion: A partial or restricted bidirectional relationship may link aggressive attitude to aggressive behavior such that the reciprocal effect between the two is only or most clearly evident during the transition from childhood to adolescence (i.e., the age 11-to-12-year transition). The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.