Two-component aggression model of the reactive-proactive aggression questionnaire

Abstract

Despite the fact that contemporary research studies indicate that reactive and proactive aggression have different causes and consequences a debate regarding the validity of the distinction between these types of aggressive behavior still remains. There is scarce evidence as to whether two-factor model of aggressive behavior could be applied in a sample of adolescents with intellectual disability. The objective of this research was to determine the two/factor model of the aggressive behavior in participants with mild intellectual disability. Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis was carried out in order to assess the replicability of the factor structure of the Reactive-Proactive Aggression Questionnaire. The sample consisted of 348 typically developing adolescents and 100 adolescents with mild intellectual disability, aged between 12 and 18. There were no differences between two samples regarding their age and sex. The root mean square values are quite low (0.227 for the first and 0.124 for the second factor), which indicates satisfactory factor congruence. It could be concluded that obtained results support a two-component model of aggressive behaviour underlying the Scale, in both estimated samples.

Uprkos činjenici da se u savremenim istraživačkim studijama ukazuje na razlike u uzrocima i konsekvencama reaktivne i proaktivne agresije, još uvek se vodi debata o validnosti distinkcije između ova dva tipa agresivnog ponašanja. Nema mnogo podataka o primenljivosti dvofaktorskog modela agresije u populaciji ispitanika sa intelektualnom ometenošću. Cilj ovog istraživanja je utvrđivanje validnosti dvofaktorskog modela agresivnog ponašanja kod ispitanika sa lakom intelektualnom ometenošću. Multigrupna konfirmatorna faktorska analiza sprovedena je kako bi se procenila replikabilnost faktorske strukture Skale za procenu reaktivne i proaktivne agresije. Uzorak je činilo 348 adolescenata iz opšte populacije i 100 adolescenata sa lakom intelektualnom ometenošću, uzrasta između 12 i 18 godina. Između ove dve grupe ispitanika nisu postojale značajne razlike u odnosu na uzrast i pol. Niske vrednosti srednjeg kvadratnog korena (0,227 za prvi i 0,124 za drugi faktor) ukazuju na zadovoljavajuću kongruentnost faktora. Može se zaključiti da rezultati istraživanja podržavaju dvokomponentni model agresivnog ponašanja koji je u osnovi Skale, u oba ispitivana uzorka.