Department of Developmental Psychology and Socialization, University of Padua, 35131 Padua, Italy.
Digital Health Lab, Centre for Digital Health and Wellbeing, Fondazione Bruno Kessler, 38123 Trento, Italy.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Dec 18;18(24):13363. doi: 10.3390/ijerph182413363.
Aggressive behaviors can serve different functions, which might be understood by distinguishing between reactive (RA) and proactive (PA) aggression. Few studies were conducted on adolescents' family precursors and emotional processes associated with RA or PA. Accordingly, the current study compared RA and PA by evaluating their association with adolescents' attachment to parents and alexithymia. = 453 Italian adolescents aged 15-19 years (Mage = 16.48; SD = 0.69; 33.6% males) participated in the study filling in self-report measures. Results showed that PA and RA are significantly associated and that PA was higher among males. Moreover, four mediational models were performed to assess the influence of adolescents' attachment to mothers vs. fathers on RA or PA, considering the mediating role of alexithymia. Gender was included as a covariate. Mediational models' results showed a direct and indirect effect, through lower alexithymia, of adolescents' attachment to mothers and fathers on RA. Differently, only attachment to mothers showed a direct effect on PA, while attachment to fathers only an indirect effect, mediated by lower alexithymia, on PA was shown. Findings support the greater relevance of emotional processes for RA while highlighting the differential contribution of adolescents' attachment to mothers vs. fathers upon PA. Implications are discussed, and suggestions for future research are provided.
攻击行为可以发挥不同的作用，通过区分反应性（RA）和主动性（PA）攻击，可能会理解这些作用。很少有研究关注青少年家庭的前期因素以及与 RA 或 PA 相关的情绪过程。因此，本研究通过评估青少年与父母的依恋关系和述情障碍与 RA 和 PA 的关系来比较 RA 和 PA。共有 453 名 15-19 岁的意大利青少年（Mage=16.48；SD=0.69；33.6%为男性）参与了这项研究，他们填写了自我报告的量表。结果表明，PA 和 RA 显著相关，且男性的 PA 水平较高。此外，还进行了四个中介模型，以评估青少年对母亲和父亲的依恋对 RA 或 PA 的影响，同时考虑到述情障碍的中介作用。性别被作为协变量纳入。中介模型的结果表明，通过降低述情障碍，青少年对母亲和父亲的依恋对 RA 有直接和间接的影响。相反，只有对母亲的依恋对 PA 有直接影响，而对父亲的依恋只有通过降低述情障碍对 PA 的间接影响。研究结果支持了情绪过程对 RA 的更大相关性，同时强调了青少年对母亲和父亲的依恋对 PA 的不同贡献。讨论了研究结果的意义，并为未来的研究提供了建议。
