Study finds link between attribution of hostile intent and aggression in children and adolescents

Children who tend to attribute hostile motives to other people are more likely to be aggressive. However, the strength of this relationship varies. A new meta-analysis aimed to determine the relationship between the attribution of hostile intent and aggressive behavior. He found that the relationship between the two is the strongest in the tasks that engage emotionally, such as when someone is provoked or loses a match. He also found that the attribution of hostile intent to others determined how individuals handled the information in a wide range of contexts, suggesting that learning to attribute hostile intent in a situation could contribute to aggression in other situations.

The analysis was carried out by researchers from the University of Utrecht and appears in Development of the child, a journal of the Society for Research in Child Development.

"These findings can help us understand when and how the attribution of a hostile intent is related to aggression, with clear implications for understanding aggression and treatment," according to Rogier EJ Verhoef, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Utrecht, who led the study. "The results also contribute to the debate about the effect of personal and emotional involvement in social situations on the attribution of hostile intent."

The researchers examined 111 studies conducted from 1977 to 2017, involving nearly 30,000 participants from birth to 17 years of age. Studies have been conducted worldwide, but mainly in Western countries. The participants were boys and girls with different degrees of aggressive behavior, some studies including children in care (psychiatric care, prison, for example) for serious problems of aggressive behavior or disruptive behavioral disorders.

In general, studies measured the attribution of hostile intent by presenting a child with several social situations resulting in a negative result caused by a peer with ambiguous intentions, and then questioning the child about intentions. of the last. The studies evaluated aggression via questionnaires and observations.

Aggression has been defined as behavior leading to psychological, physical or material harm to others. The researchers examined whether the strength of the relationship between the attribution of hostile intent and aggression depended on:

• the level of emotional engagement in the task,
• the familiarity of the interaction partners,
• the extent to which children have been accepted or rejected by their peers,
• the type of aggression, and
• if the children had an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

The meta-analysis revealed that the attribution of hostile intent was positively related to the aggression and that the relationship was stronger in some children and with some methods that measured the attribution of ## 147 ## # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # Hostile intent. He found that the strength of the relationship depended on the emotional engagement of the child in the situation, with a potentially stronger relationship in social situations in which children are engaged emotionally and for more aggressive children at the beginning.

The researchers also discovered that attributing hostile intent is a tendency to general thinking that guides how children process information in a wide range of contexts, including when interacting with peers who They do not know. They also found that the relationship between the attribution of hostile intent and aggression was stronger in situations that reminded children of specific memories, such as the rejection of their peers.

"Our study may shed light on interventions aimed at reducing aggressive behavior in children," suggests Bram Orobio de Castro, a professor of psychology at the University of Utrecht, who co-authored the study. "By targeting the assignment of hostile intent, therapies might seek to change the way children deal with social information and their subsequent aggression."