TY  - JOUR
A1  - Rohlf, Helena L.
A1  - Holl, Anna K.
A1  - Kirsch, Fabian
A1  - Krahé, Barbara
A1  - Elsner, Birgit
T1  - Longitudinal Links between Executive Function, Anger, and Aggression in Middle Childhood
JF  - Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience
N2  - Previous research has indicated that executive function (EF) is negatively associated with aggressive behavior in childhood. However, there is a lack of longitudinal studies that have examined the effect of deficits in EF on aggression over time and taken into account different forms and functions of aggression at the same time. Furthermore, only few studies have analyzed the role of underlying variables that may explain the association between EF and aggression. The present study examined the prospective paths between EF and different forms (physical and relational) and functions (reactive and proactive) of aggression. The habitual experience of anger was examined as a potential underlying mechanism of the link between EF and aggression, because the tendency to get angry easily has been found to be both a consequence of deficits in EF and a predictor of aggression. The study included 1,652 children (between 6 and 11 years old at the first time point), who were followed over three time points (T1, T2, and T3) covering 3 years. At T1, a latent factor of EF comprised measures of planning, rated via teacher reports, as well as inhibition, set shifting, and working-memory updating, assessed experimentally. Habitual anger experience was assessed via parent reports at T1 and T2. The forms and functions of aggression were measured via teacher reports at all three time points. Structural equation modeling revealed that EF at T1 predicted physical, relational, and reactive aggression at T3, but was unrelated to proactive aggression at T3. Furthermore, EF at T1 was indirectly linked to physical aggression at T3, mediated through habitual anger experience at T2. The results indicate that deficits in EF influence the later occurrence of aggression in middle childhood, and the tendency to get angry easily mediates this relation.
KW  - executive function
KW  - anger
KW  - relational aggression
KW  - reactive aggression
KW  - proactive aggression
KW  - childhood
KW  - longitudinal study
Y1  - 2018
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2018.00027
SN  - 1662-5153
VL  - 12
IS  - 27
SP  - 1
EP  - 14
PB  - Frontiers Research Foundation
CY  - Lausanne
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Kirsch, Fabian
A1  - Rohlf, Helena L.
A1  - Krahé, Barbara
T1  - Measuring anger regulation in middle childhood through behavioural observation: a longitudinal validation
JF  - European journal of developmental psychology
N2  - Learning to regulate anger is an important task in childhood development, as maladaptive anger regulation has been linked to a variety of problems, including aggression and social rejection. To assess anger regulation in situ, in a previous study we developed a behavioural observation measure and demonstrated its cross-sectional construct and criterion validity in a sample of 599 children with a mean age of 8.1years. The present study further validated the measure by demonstrating its predictive validity. About 10months after the behavioural observation, participants were asked to imagine two anger-eliciting situations and report what they would do to get rid of their anger. Observed anger regulation strategies at T1 correlated significantly with self-reported regulatory behaviour at T2, suggesting that the behavioural observation measure is an ecologically valid approach for assessing anger regulation in middle childhood.
KW  - Anger regulation
KW  - observation
KW  - childhood
KW  - validation
KW  - longitudinal study
Y1  - 2015
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1080/17405629.2015.1101375
SN  - 1740-5629
SN  - 1740-5610
VL  - 12
IS  - 6
SP  - 718
EP  - 727
PB  - Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
CY  - Abingdon
ER  -