The reactive–proactive aggression questionnaire: differential correlates of reactive and proactive aggression in adolescent boys

TLDR

This study reports the development of the Reactive–Proactive Aggression Questionnaire (RPQ) and examines the differential correlates of reactive and proactive aggression in adolescent boys. Antisocial, psychosocial, and personality measures were collected at ages 7 and 16, and the RPQ was administered to 334 boys at age 16. Confirmatory factor analysis supported a two‑factor proactive–reactive model replicated across subsamples; proactive aggression at ages 7 and 16 was linked to early fight initiation, delinquency, poor school motivation, and later psychopathic traits and violent offending, whereas reactive aggression at age 16 was associated with impulsivity, hostility, social anxiety, and unusual perceptual experiences. © 2006 Wiley‑Liss, Inc., 32:159–171.

Abstract

Abstract This study reports the development of the Reactive–Proactive Aggression Questionnaire (RPQ), and the differential correlates of these two forms of aggression. Antisocial, psychosocial and personality measures were obtained at ages 7 and 16 years in schoolboys, while the RPQ was administered to 334 of the boys at age 16 years. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated a significant fit for a two‐factor proactive–reactive model that replicated from one independent subsample to another. Proactive aggression was uniquely characterized at age 7 by initiation of fights, strong‐arm tactics, delinquency, poor school motivation, poor peer relationships, single‐parent status, psychosocial adversity, substance‐abusing parents, and hyperactivity, and at age 16 by a psychopathic personality, blunted affect, delinquency, and serious violent offending. Reactive aggression was uniquely characterized at age 16 by impulsivity, hostility, social anxiety, lack of close friends, unusual perceptual experiences, and ideas of reference. Findings confirm and extend the differential correlates of proactive–reactive aggression, and demonstrate that this brief but reliable and valid self‐report instrument can be used to assess proactive and reactive aggression in child and adolescent samples. Aggr. Behav. 32:159–171, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.