The role of emotion regulation in the predictive association between social information processing and aggressive behavior in adolescents

The primary aim of this study was to assess the moderating role of emotion regulation in the relationship between some components of social information processing (hostile interpretation and anger) and aggressive behavior. The secondary aim was to assess whether emotion regulation, hostile interpretation, and anger account for gender differences in aggressive behavior. A total of 1,125 adolescents (627 girls) filled out the social information processing questionnaire to assess hostile interpretation, anger, and emotion regulation. Reactive and proactive aggressive behaviors were assessed by self- and peer reports. The results showed that adaptive regulation negatively predicted aggressive behavior and moderated the relationship between anger and reactive aggressive behavior. Boys' higher scores for aggressive behavior were accounted for by their higher scores for anger and lower scores for emotion regulation. However, the strength of the relationships among variables was similar for both boys and girls. Findings of this study indicate the importance of emotion regulation as a target for aggressive behavior interventions.