The Relationship Between Trait Impulsivity And Proactive And Reactive Aggressive Behaviors In Adolescents: The Mediating Role Of Inhibitory Contro

Trait impulsivity is a tendency to respond quickly and unplanned to internal or external stimuli without considering the consequences of the response.Adolescents with a high level of trait impulsivity not only have higher aggressive behavior but also tend to have more serious social adjustment problems in the future.Although a large number of previous studies have explored the influence of trait impulsivity on aggressive behavior,few studies further divided aggressive behavior into proactive and reactive aggression.There are obvious differences between the two in social information process,emotional reaction process,causes and consequences.At present,it is not clear how trait impulsivity influenced proactive and reactive aggressive behavior in Chinese adolescents,and what is the internal mechanism of trait impulsivity on aggressive behavior.Under the framework of social information processing theory and integrative cognitive model,inhibitory control may be the psychological mechanism of the effect of trait impulsivity on aggressive behavior.Trait impulsivity is associated with lower levels of inhibitory control,and lower levels of inhibitory control are associated with higher levels of aggression.In the past,researchers selected response time and accuracy as the indicators of inhibitory control.However,in recent years,intraindividual reaction time variability(IIV),as a sensitive indicator reflecting individual differences in inhibitory control,has attracted researchers’ attention.In this study,two methods of questionnaire measurement and behavioral experimental method will be used to explore the relationship between trait impulsivity and proactive and reactive aggression,and the mediating effect of inhibitory control(evaluated by the total scores of the inhibitory control subscale of the Adolescent Executive Function Scale and IIV from the inhibitory control task)on the relationship between trait impulsivity and proactive and reactive aggression.This study helps to reveal the internal mechanism of trait impulsivity affecting adolescent proactive and reactive aggressive behavior and provides theoretical guidance for educators to prevent and intervene in different types of aggressive behavior among adolescents with high trait impulsivity.In study 1,questionnaires were used to investigate the relationship between trait impulsivity,inhibitory control and different types of aggressive behavior.Specifically,in study 1,the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale,the inhibitory control subscale of Adolescent Executive Function Scale,and the Reactive-Proactive Aggression Questionnaire were used to collect self-reported scores of trait impulsivity,inhibitory control,and proactive and reactive aggression from 213 junior high school students.The results showed that the total score of trait impulsivity positively predicted the total score of inhibitory control scale and the total score of proactive and reactive aggression,and the total score of inhibitory control scale positively predicted the total score of proactive and reactive aggression.The total score of inhibitory control scale partially mediated the relationship between total score of trait impulsivity and the total score of proactive aggression and reactive aggression.In study 2,153 students were randomly selected from study 1,who were asked to complete the modified Flanker task.Intraindividual reaction time variability(IIV)in the Flanker task under consistent and inconsistent conditions was used as indicator to measure the inhibitory control.The results showed that there was no significant association between the IIV under congruent conditions and the total score of trait impulsivity and proactive and reactive aggression.The total score of trait impulsivity positively predicted the IIV under incongruent conditions,the total score of proactive and reactive aggression.IIV under incongruent conditions was positively predicted the total score of reactive aggression,while there was no association between IIV under incongruent conditions and the total score of proactive aggression.IIV under incongruent conditions partially mediated the relationship between total score of trait impulsivity and the total score of reactive aggression.We didn’t find the mediating effect of IIV under incongruent conditions on the relationship between trait impulsivity and proactive aggression.In conclusion,adolescents with a higher level of trait impulsivity tend to have poorer inhibitory control ability and more proactive and reactive aggressive behaviors.Adolescents with weak inhibitory control will increase reactive aggressive behavior.The inhibitory control deficit is the internal mechanism of trait impulsivity affecting reactive aggression.However,the mediating effects of inhibitory control deficit on trait impulsivity and proactive aggression have not been consistent between questionnaire measurement and behavioral experimental studies,which still needs further study.