title: Anger and effortful control moderate aggressogenic thought-behaviour associations.
abstract: The effects of anger and effortful control on aggressogenic thought-behaviour associations were investigated among a total of 311 Finnish fifth and sixth graders (mean age = 11.9 years). Self-reported aggressive cognitions (i.e., normative- and self-efficacy beliefs about aggression) were expected to be associated with higher peer-reported aggressive behaviour. Teacher reported anger and effortful control were hypothesised, and found, to moderate the effects of aggressive cognitions on aggression, such that the effects were strongest for children who were high in anger and low in effortful control, as compared to other conditions. Furthermore, under the conditions of high anger and high effortful control, self-efficacy was negatively related to aggression. Thus, aggression is a result of a complex, hierarchically organised motivational system, being jointly influenced by aggressive cognitions, anger and effortful control. The findings support the importance of examining cognitive and emotional structures jointly when predicting children's aggressive behaviour.
authors.affiliation: a Turku Institute for Child and Youth Research , University of Turku , Turku , Finland.|b Department of Psychology , University of Turku , Turku , Finland.
authors.forename: Sanna
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Roos
authors.affiliation: b Department of Psychology , University of Turku , Turku , Finland.|c Department of Psychology , St. John's University , New York, NY , USA.
authors.forename: Ernest V E
authors.initials: EV
authors.lastname: Hodges
authors.affiliation: d Department of Psychology, Utrecht University , Utrecht , The Netherlands.|e Institute of Psychology, Tallinn University , Tallinn , Estonia.
authors.forename: Kätlin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Peets
authors.affiliation: b Department of Psychology , University of Turku , Turku , Finland.
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Salmivalli
mesh_terms: D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology*; D000786:Anger; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D000068356:Self-Control / Q000523:psychology*; D013850:Thinking
keywords: Aggressive behaviour; Aggressive cognitions; Anger; Effortful control