Elsevier

Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology

Volume 41, November–December 2015, Pages 1-7
Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology

Do moral emotions buffer the anger-aggression link in children and adolescents?

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2015.06.001Get rights and content

Highlights

  • High anger is linked to high aggression.

  • Having high guilt or high sympathy buffers the anger-aggression link.

  • Buffering effects are above and beyond regulatory skills.

  • Buffering effects are evident in 4-, 8-, and 12-year-olds.

Abstract

Given the prevalence of anger-related aggression in school and out-of-school contexts, research on counteracting the anger-aggression link in children and adolescents is likely to have implications for educators and practitioners. Here, we tested moral guilt and sympathy as potential moderators of the anger-aggression link in a sample of 4-, 8-, and 12-year-olds (N = 242). Caregivers reported their children’s aggression and anger levels with a questionnaire. Children reported their moral guilt (in response to vignettes depicting intentional harm) and sympathy levels in an interview. Moral guilt and sympathy interacted with anger in relation to aggression. Controlling for age, sex, socio-economic status, and inhibitory control, high anger was significantly related to high aggression, but not when children and adolescents had high guilt or sympathy. We discuss the potential roles of moral guilt and sympathy in mitigating the anger-aggression link.

Section snippets

Anger and aggression

Aggressive behavior intentionally causes physical harm, psychological harm, or distress to others and is often associated with emotional states of anger (Krahé, 2013). Anger is an intense, affective reaction to threat or the perception of threat that involves a fight-or-flight response to an instigating stimulus (Lazarus, 1991). With the exception of moral anger (see Montada & Schneider, 1989), research with various measures of anger and aggression seems to align with the frustration-aggression

Moral emotions and aggression

Unlike anger, moral emotions are thought to help children anticipate the negative consequences of aggression and adjust their behavior accordingly (Arsenio, 2014, Malti, submitted for publication, Tangney et al., 2007). In the present study, we focused on two distinct moral emotions of particular relevance to children’s aggressive conduct: moral guilt and sympathy. Moral guilt is commonly referred to as regret over wrongdoing (Kochanska et al., 2002, Malti and Latzko, 2012). With the exception

Moral emotions, anger, and aggression

Our major goal was to assess moral emotions (i.e., guilt and sympathy) as potential buffers of the anger-aggression link in children and adolescents. Research on these competing emotions and aggressive behavioral outcomes is scarce. One previous study has investigated guilt and anger-related aggression (Tangney, Wagner, Hill-Barlow, Marschall, & Gramzow, 1996). Nine- to 17-year-olds who rated themselves as more guilt prone were less likely to anticipate aggressive responses to hypothetical,

The present study

In the present study, we employed an ethnically diverse sample of 4-, 8-, and 12-year-olds to investigate guilt and sympathy as potential moderators of the anger-aggression link. In line with recent conceptual and empirical works outlining the differential/competing relations of moral emotions and anger to aggression (Arsenio, 2014, Lochman et al., 2010, Malti, submitted for publication), we hypothesized that moral emotions would offset the anger-aggression link (i.e., that high anger would be

Participants

A community sample of 80 4-year-olds (M age = 4.48, SD = .37, 39 girls [49%]), 80 8-year-olds (M age = 8.47, SD = .24, 42 girls [53%]), and 82 12-year-olds (M age = 12.53, SD = .36, 40 girls [49%]) participated (N = 242, 121 girls [50%]). All children were fluent in English (speaking and comprehension), as were their caregivers (speaking, comprehension, and writing). Families resided in a major Canadian city and were recruited from local community centers, events, and summer camps. As a proxy of SES,

Descriptive statistics

Table 1 displays the means and standard deviations of study variables by age group. A series of one-way ANOVAs revealed age differences in aggressive behavior, F(2, 238) = 50.05, p < .001, ηp2 = .30, anger, F(2, 238) = 6.32, p < .01, ηp2 = .05, and sympathy, F(2, 238) = 97.55, p < .001, ηp2 = .45. Based on Bonferroni-corrected post-hoc comparisons, 4-year-olds were rated as more aggressive and reported less sympathy than 8- and 12-year-olds (ps < .001), whereas 12-year-olds were rated lower in anger than 4- (p < 

Discussion

The negative short- and long-term implications of anger and aggression manifest directly as fighting and violence (Arsenio & Lemerise, 2010), and indirectly as learning difficulties (Brennan et al., 2012) and social adjustment issues (Ladd et al., 2014) across development. As such, mitigating the anger-aggression link represents an important avenue for educators to improve the behavioral functioning and well being of children and adolescents. Amoral anger and the moral emotions of guilt and

Acknowledgement

This research was supported by grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Sincerest thanks to the children and caregivers who participated, and the members of the Laboratory for Social-Emotional Development and Intervention who helped with data collection, entry, and coding.

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