The current study examined the association of hostile attributional bias (HAB) with the functions (proactive and reactive) and subtypes (reactive relational and reactive overt) of aggression as well as with perceived provocateur motivation (proactive or reactive) in a high school sample (mean age = 16.51; 50% male; 31% Caucasian). Revisions to a measure of HAB were made both in administration (adding animations/narration) and content (adding perceived provocateur motivation questions). Results indicated that the animation/narration measure showed comparable internal consistency reliability to the written and displayed an increased ability to predict total aggression. However, a unique relationship between HAB and reactive aggression was not found, nor was HAB for specific provocation scenarios (i.e., relational or overt) uniquely associated with the reactive subtypes of aggression. Proactive motives, when controlling for reactive ones, were correlated with HAB, anger to provocation, and aggression. The opposite was not found. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.

Research has documented a tendency among youth to have biased interpretations of ambiguous information. For example, anxious youth are more likely to interpret ambiguous situations as negative or threatening (e.g., Cannon & Weems, 2010). Similarly, when interpreting social cues, aggressive youth exhibit hostile attribution biases more often than non-aggressive youth in response to ambiguous situations (e.g., Crick & Dodge, 1996). Research suggests that youth with anxiety and aggression exhibit differential physiological reactivity in response to threat. However, research has yet to examine the linkages amongst physiological reactivity to ambiguous situations, anxiety, and aggression in adolescents. The current study had several interrelated aims. Youths’ physiological responding (i.e., heart rate and skin conductance) to a series of animated vignettes depicting ambiguous social situations was examined. Anxiety, aggression, and hostile attributional bias (HAB) were also tested as predictors of differential physiological responding to the vignettes, as well as the interrelations between anxiety and HAB and aggression and HAB. Eighty youth completed a physiological assessment in which they viewed a series of hypothetical situational vignettes while their heart rate and skin conductance were measured. Participants also completed questionnaires measuring symptoms of anxiety, aggression, and HAB. Results indicated that there was differential physiological responding to the vignettes such that participants’ heart rates showed a pattern of deceleration followed by acceleration across time. Physiological responses were predicted by HAB such that those with high HAB had higher heart rates and exhibited more pronounced deceleration and acceleration across time than those with low HAB. There was support for anxiety as a significant predictor of responses among those participants with higher levels of HAB such that heart rates remained elevated with very little deceleration across time, suggesting a pattern of physiological hyperarousal and blunted reactivity. However, aggression did not predict differential physiological responding to the ambiguous vignettes, nor did HAB moderate the association between aggression and physiological responding. These findings add to the literature by contributing to knowledge about physiological responding to ambiguous situations and associations between this link with anxiety, aggression, and HAB.

Although internalizing and externalizing problems are often considered in isolation from one another, the frequently co-occur in individuals leading to unique behavior profiles. The current study examined the associations between the forms, functions, and subtypes of aggression, anxiety, hostile attributional bias (HAB), and perceived (proactive or reactive) provocateur motivation in a sample of youth (mean age = 13.84 years, 51% male, 37.5% Caucasian). Results indicated that only reactive relational aggression significantly predicted anxiety, while relational and reactive aggression did not. HAB was not significantly associated with either anxiety or any type of aggression. Perceived proactive provocateur motivation was significantly associated with anxiety, but not aggression, and reactive motivation was not significantly associated with either. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.