Abstract
The role of hostile attributional style (HAS) in antisocial development has been well-documented. We analyzed longitudinal data on 585 youths (48% female; 19% ethnic minority) to test the hypothesis that response evaluation and decision (RED) mediates the relation between HAS and antisocial behavior in adolescence. In Grades 10 and 12, adolescent participants and their parents reported participants’ antisocial conduct. In Grade 11, participants were asked to imagine themselves in videotaped ambiguous-provocation scenarios. Segment 1 of each scenario presented an ambiguous provocation, after which participants answered HAS questions. In segment 2, participants were asked to imagine themselves responding aggressively to the provocateur, after which RED was assessed. Structural equation modeling indicated that RED mediates the relation between HAS and subsequent antisocial conduct, controlling for previous misconduct. Findings are consistent with research on the development of executive function processes in adolescence, and suggest that the relation between HAS and RED changes after childhood.
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This research was supported by a Fellowship to R. G. Fontaine from the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy, University of Arizona, and a NIDA Senior Scientist Award K05 DA-15226 to K. A. Dodge. The Child Development Project has been funded by Grants MH42498, MH56961, MH57024, and MH57095 from the National Institute of Mental Health and HD30572 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
We thank the teachers, children, and families who participated in this research. We are grateful to Drs. Jennifer E. Lansford and C. Ryan Kinlaw for their significant contributions to the Child Development Project, the members of the Developmental Psychopathology Research Group at Duke University for their insightful comments on the initial proposal of this study, and participants in the Symposium on Social information processing and antisocial behavior: Recent developments in developmental research, presented at the 20th biennial meeting of the International Society for the Study of Behavioural Development in Würzburg, Germany, where this research was first presented.
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Fontaine, R.G., Tanha, M., Yang, C. et al. Does Response Evaluation and Decision (RED) Mediate the Relation between Hostile Attributional Style and Antisocial Behavior in Adolescence?. J Abnorm Child Psychol 38, 615–626 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-010-9397-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-010-9397-y