ABSTRACT

The Relationship between Hostile Attribution and Reactive Aggression of University Students;

The Mediating Effects of Anger Rumination and Trait Anger

lee soon-bea

kim Dong-hee

All humans feel and live with anger, which is both a self-defense mechanism and a natural emotion, in their daily lives. The aggressive behavior of people with a high tendency to anger is becoming a factor in causing various social problems. Therefore, a study was conducted to examine the relationship patterns between anger-related hostile and aggressive behavior.

Accordingly, this study focused on the need for intervention to alleviate these problems, and used the Hostile Attribution Scale, Reactive Aggression Scale, Anger Rumination Scale, and Trait Anger Scale on 309 male and female college students to assess empathy. We tested whether the two dimensions, anger rumination and trait-anger, indirectly affect the positive relationship between hostile attributions and aggression.

First, the results of the study showed that hostile attributions and reactive aggression were positively correlated, and hostile attributions appeared to have a direct effect on overt and relational aggression. Second, the mediating effect of hostile attribution factors on reactive aggression through anger rumination and trait anger was partially significant.

Keywords: hostile attribution, reactive aggression, anger rumination, trait anger