Does Response Evaluation and Decision (RED) Mediate the Relation between Hostile Attributional Style and Antisocial Behavior in Adolescence?

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. KeywordsSocial cognition; Social information processing; Hostile attributional style; Decision making; Aggression; Antisocial behavior; Adolescence © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2010 Correspondence to: Reid Griffith Fontaine, rgf2@u.arizona.edu. 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. NIH Public AccessAuthor Manuscript J Abnorm Child Psychol. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2013 July 29. NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author ManuscriptDuring the past quarter century, social information processing (SIP) models have received a considerable amount of theoretical and empirical attention (Crick and Dodge 1994;Dodge 1980;Fontaine 2006;Huesmann 1998;McFall 1982). The SIP model advanced by Crick and Dodge (1994) proposes a series of social-cognitive and cognitive-emotional processes (or steps) in the development of social competence and behavior across the life course. In the first step, the individual perceives and organizes information about the social stimulus (encoding of cues). The individual then makes attributions of causation, affect, and intent to the stimulus and assesses the relevance of the stimulus to his or her own personal well-being (interpretation of cues). Next, the individual identifies his or her goals to which the situation at hand may relate (clarification of goals). Fourth, the responding individual generates one or more responses, either by constructing responses anew or by accessing previously constructed responses from memory (response access or construction). Fifth and finally, the responding individual assesses his or her response options across evaluative domains in order to select a response for behavioral enactment (response decision).A considerable literature has been dedicated to the role of SIP mechanisms in the development...

Racial Discrimination as a Risk Factor for African American Men’s Physical Partner Violence: A Longitudinal Test of Mediators and Moderators

“…For example, physically abused children are more likely to make hostile attributions of others’ intent in ambiguous social situations than nonabused children (Keil & Price, 2009). Such SIP deficits, in turn, are related to general violence and aggression in adolescence and adulthood (Chen et al, 2012; Fontaine et al, 2010).…”

Antisocial thinking in adolescents: Further psychometric development of the Antisocial Beliefs and Attitudes Scale (ABAS).

“…Consistent with that, Zelli et al (1999) found that stronger beliefs justifying retaliatory aggression in Grade 3 predicted higher levels of hostile attributions and other SIP components 2 years later and, further, that social-information-processing patterns mediated the influence of aggressive beliefs on aggressive behavior in Grade 5. Similarly, Fontaine, Burks, and Dodge (1998) found that sociomoral judgments about aggression mediated the relationship between hostile attributional style and antisocial behavior in adolescents. Finally, the only extant meta-analysis of studies examining all stages of the SIP model and childhood aggression (Yoon, Hughes, Gaur, & Thompson 1999) concluded that the equivalent effect sizes found across different processes in the SIP model is consistent with the view that off-line latent mental structures guide on-line information processing (Crick & Dodge, 1994).…”

Attentional Biases to Bullies and Bystanders and Youth’s Coping With Peer Victimization

“…SIP theories propose that when faced with a challenging social task, the individual undergoes a set of cognitive “steps” through which relevant information is encoded, interpreted, and processed, leading to the enactment of a response. SIP theories have primarily been tested within the context of ambiguous provocations (Fontaine et al, 2010). However, SIP theories can also be applied to other social contexts, including unambiguous provocations (e.g., bullying).…”