The role of aggression‐related early maladaptive schemas and schema modes in aggression in a prisoner sample

Abstract

Contemporary social-cognitive aggression theory and extant empirical research highlights the relationship between certain Early Maladaptive Schemas (EMSs) and aggression in offenders. To date, the related construct of schema modes, which presents a comprehensive and integrated schema unit, has received scant empirical attention. Furthermore, EMSs and schema modes have yet to be examined concurrently with respect to aggressive behavior. This study examined associations between EMSs, schema modes, and aggression in an offender sample. Two hundred and eight adult male prisoners completed self-report psychological tests measuring their histories of aggression, EMSs, and schema modes. Regression analyses revealed that EMSs were significantly associated with aggression but did not account for a unique portion of variance once the effects of schema modes were taken into account. Three schema modes, Enraged Child, Impulsive Child, and Bully and Attack, significantly predicted aggression. These findings support the proposition that schema modes characterized by escalating states of anger, rage, and impulsivity characterize aggressive offenders. In this regard, we call attention to the need to include schema modes in contemporary social-cognitive aggression theories, and suggest that systematic assessment and treatment of schema modes has the potential to enhance outcomes with violent offenders.

The relationship between early maladaptive schemas and interpersonal problems: A meta‐analytic review

“…This formula accounts for dependence between effect sizes when averaging scores that are correlated with one another based on the sample size and estimated correlation between constructs or subscales. To estimate the correlation between individual EMS scores and domains for the present study, the correlations between individual EMS scores and domains were extracted from all studies where they were reported (Atkins, 2017; Calvete & Orue, 2010; Calvete, Corral, & Estévez, 2007; Calvete, Fernandez‐Gonzalez, Gonzalez‐Cabrera, & Gamez‐Guadix, 2018a; Campbell, 2002; Carlucci et al, 2018; Clifton, 1994; Dunne, Gilbert, Lee, & Daffern, 2017; Estévez, Ozerinjauregi, & Herrero‐Fernández, 2016; Farr, 2010; Gay et al, 2013; Hassija, Robinson, Silva, & Lewin, 2018; Janovsky, Clark, & Rock, 2019; McKee et al, 2012; Messman‐Moore & Coates, 2007; Mojallal et al, 2015; Munroe, 2014; Shorey et al, 2015; Stiles, 2004; Yoo, Park, & Jun, 2014). Based on the extracted correlations between all available individual EMS scores and domains, the correlations were averaged to produce an estimated correlation between individual EMS scores ( r = .45) and EMS domains ( r = .60) for use in the formula.…”

“…Approval/recognition seeking and punitiveness failed to reach statistical significance despite having a small to moderate correlation coefficient (Table 3). One explanation for these findings is that EMSs of approval/recognition seeking and punitiveness were only recently added to the YSQ and, as a result, were not measured by the majority of studies included in this meta‐analysis (Braet, Van Vlierberghe, Vandevivere, Theuwis, & Bosmans, 2013; Dunne et al, 2017; Esmaili et al, 2016; Hassija et al, 2018; Messman‐Moore & Coates, 2007; Roelofs, Lee, Ruijten, & Lobbestael, 2011; Thimm, 2013; Yoo et al, 2014). The limited number of studies found that measured EMSs of approval/recognition seeking and punitiveness may have limited the degree of statistical power available to detect significant associations for these particular EMSs and interpersonal problems.…”

Don't Make Me Angry: Frustration-Induced Anger and Its Link to Aggression in Women With Borderline Personality Disorder

“…It would thus be of interest to know about the goals the participants thought have been frustrated by the task and that elicited anger. Clinical reports and empirical studies suggest that even minor triggers may activate maladaptive schemata of humiliation, defeat, or rejection and the current frustrating situation might be such a trigger (40). Alternatively, individuals with BPD might experience failure in their social rank motive (39) or experiences failure in the task as an intolerable constraint.…”

Assessing Schema Modes Using Self- and Observer-Rated Instruments: Associations With Aggression

“…Table 1 presents these schema modes and their associated domains. Keulen-de Vos et al (2016) and Dunne, Gilbert, Lee, and Daffern (2018) suggest that schema modes are important to understanding aggression propensity in forensic populations. In a sample of 95 male patients with antisocial, borderline, narcissistic, or paranoid PDs within seven psychiatric inpatient facilities in the Netherlands, Keulen-de Vos et al (2016) utilized a modified Mode Observation Scale (MOS; Bernstein, de Vos, & Van den Broek, 2009) to identify and record schema mode activation from descriptions of patients' crimes.…”

“…Furthermore, modes predictive of institutional violence were Vulnerable-Child, Angry-Child, and the overcompensatory mode domain. Using the Schema Mode Inventory (SMI; Young et al, 2014), to study associations between schema modes and aggression in a sample of 208 adult male prisoners, Dunne, Gilbert, Lee, & Daffern (2018) found that three schema Focuses attention on locating and revealing a perceived threat Source. Adapted from Dunne (2017).…”