New directions in measuring reactive and proactive aggression: validation of a teacher questionnaire.
The well-known distinction between reactive and proactive aggression is theoretically important but empirically controversial. Recently, aggression researchers have argued that we should separate the form and function of aggression to make a clearer distinction between reactive and proactive aggression. This article describes the validation of a new teacher-report Instrument for Reactive and Proactive Aggression (IRPA) that assesses the form separate from the function of aggression. We demonstrated good discriminant, convergent, and construct validity of the IRPA in a sample of 427 children aged 10 to 13. Reactive and proactive functions of aggression were independent constructs (r = 0.03) which indicates excellent discriminant validity. Convergent validity was satisfactory; scores from the IRPA were moderately to highly related to scores from the widely used Teacher Rating Instrument, TRI (Dodge and Coie in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 53:1146-1158, 1987). Additionally, reactive and proactive aggression showed unique correlations with most a priori hypothesized theoretically relevant variables, which indicates construct validity. (150 words).
Polman
Hanneke
H
Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands. J.D.M.Polman@uu.nl
de Castro
Bram Orobio
BO
Thomaes
Sander
S
van Aken
Marcel
M
D000293:Adolescent; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D005178:Faculty; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires