Reactive Aggression in Boys
Common observation confirms what researchers know about aggression in
adolescents and preadolescents. Boys are much more likely to engage in phys-
ical acts of aggression than girls (Card, Stucky, Sawalani, & Little, 2008).
Needless to say, this aggression creates numerous problems for the aggressive
boys as well as for those around them. Researchers are particularly interested
in boys who exhibit reactive aggression , i.e., angry, hostile aggression in re-
sponse to frustration or provocation. These are the boys who react to a little
teasing by threatening to beat up the teaser and who turn an accidental bump
in the hallway into a fist fight.
To better understand these reactions, some psychologists examine the
way these boys interpret potentially aggression-provoking situations. Oneteam of researchers presented a series of hypothetical situations to boys with
a history of reactive aggression (Crick & Dodge, 1996). For example, in onescenario another student breaks the boy’ s radio while the boy is out of the
room. For each situation, the boys were asked why the other student did
what he did and whether the act was intentional. As shown in Figure 16.2,
the boys with a history of reactive aggression were more likely to see the act
as intentional and hostile than were nonaggressive boys. Another way to say
this is that the aggressive boys had chronically accessible hostile thoughts
that led them to interpret harmless acts as threatening. Not surprisingly,
researchers find that these types of interpretations often lead to aggression
(Dodge, 2006; Dodge et al., 2003).
If the attributions some boys make for unintentional acts are responsible
for reactive aggression, then programs designed to reduce physical aggression
Attri butionMore
Intentional
Less
Intentional Grade Level3/4Aggressive  BoysNonaggressive  Boys
5/69
87
6
5
FIGURE 16.2 Mean Attribution Score
Source: Adapted from Crick and Dodge (1996).Cognitions and Aggression 439