Psychopathic traits and gender as moderators of the parental arrest-proactive aggression link

Abstract

This study explored the association between parental arrest and two functions of aggression (i.e., reactive and proactive aggression) among 797 Singaporean adolescents. The moderating effects of psychopathic traits and gender were also investigated in the parental arrest-reactive/proactive aggression link. Parental arrest was found to be significantly and positively related to both reactive and proactive aggression, especially proactive aggression. Psychopathic traits strengthened the link between parental arrest and proactive aggression in adolescents with stronger effects for girls in this Singaporean sample. These findings point to the importance of early intervention with respect to girls who display high levels of psychopathic traits, especially when they also have parents with a prior arrest history, so as to reduce their levels of proactive aggression.