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The Relationship Between Hostile Intent Attribution and Aggression in Japanese Children

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Abstract

Previous studies showed that hostile intent attribution (HIA) was significantly correlated with and contributed to the development of aggression in children. Studies that directly examined the factors that explained the relationship between HIA and aggression are lacking. Hence, this study investigated (a) the correlation between HIA and aggression and (b) the variables (hyperactivity, prosociality, and collaborative problem-solving) that mediated the relationship between HIA and aggression in Japanese children aged 4–9 years. The participants were 180 children and their caregivers. First, the caregivers reported their children’s aggression, hyperactivity, prosociality, and collaborative problem-solving through questionnaires. Next, the children worked on an HIA task. The results showed a weak positive correlation between HIA and aggression. Furthermore, significant indirect effects were observed among all the mediation models. The model that contained all three mediators yielded the smallest Akaike Information Criterion value. In this model, the indirect effect was significant only for the path with hyperactivity as the mediator. These findings provide several suggestions for revealing the mechanism of the relationship between HIA and aggression during childhood. Notably, children’s hyperactivity was suggested to play a particularly important role in the relationship between HIA and aggression.

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Data Availability

The data of this study are openly available in Open Science Framework at https://osf.io/cvbzy/?view_only=d2c81ac95d3941d4b04642f971272c89

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Funding

This research was supported by grants from Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (20H05710, 21H00937).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

    Nozomi Yamamoto, Sho Ohigashi & Yusuke Moriguchi

  2. Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Hachioji, Japan

    Naoya Todo

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  1. Nozomi Yamamoto
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  2. Sho Ohigashi
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  3. Naoya Todo
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  4. Yusuke Moriguchi
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Contributions

NY developed the study concept. Data collection and coding were performed by NY, SO and YM. NY, NT and YM performed the data analysis and interpretation. NY drafted the manuscript. SO, NT and YM revised the manuscript. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript for submission.

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Correspondence to Nozomi Yamamoto.

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We have no known conflict of interest to disclose.

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This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Unit for Advanced Studies of the Human Mind, Kyoto University.

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Yamamoto, N., Ohigashi, S., Todo, N. et al. The Relationship Between Hostile Intent Attribution and Aggression in Japanese Children. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-023-01623-9

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