Reactive aggression represents aggressive feelings and behaviors that are emotionally dysregulated, and thus are being expressed maladaptively (Card et al., 2008). Therefore, effective emotion regulation may be important for limiting reactive aggression (Daffern, & Bucks, 2012). Attachment styles predict who may act with more reactive aggression (Mikulincer et al., 2003). Hence, understanding the relationship and associations between adult attachment styles, emotion regulation abilities, and reactive aggression will allow clinicians to predict who will use problematic reactive aggression to target this aggression. These findings may inform and guide treatment and interventions by targeting emotion regulation skills and training to reduce these aggressive tendencies. The current study is designed to address the associations between: (1) emotion regulation and reactive aggression; (2) reactive aggression and adult attachment style; and (3) adult attachment style and emotion regulation.
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Thomas Holtgraves
Psychological Sciences
Graduate