Date of Award

Summer 2020

Degree Type

Masters Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

School

Psychology

Committee Chair

Eric Dahlen

Committee Chair School

Psychology

Committee Member 2

Melanie Leuty

Committee Member 2 School

Psychology

Committee Member 3

Bonnie Nicholson

Committee Member 3 School

Psychology

Abstract

Relational aggression involves the aggressor harming the victim’s social status, reputation, and/or relationships. This form of aggression is a relatively new topic in the literature that would benefit from additional research with emerging adults. The present study examined two models involving relational aggression in a college student sample (N= 247). First, we predicted, based on the general aggression model, that anger rumination would partially mediate the relationship between trait anger and relational aggression. Second, based on the rejection-aggression link, we predicted that vengeance would partially mediate the relationship between relational victimization and aggression. We tested each model separately via hierarchical multiple regression using Hayes’ (2018) PROCESS macro for SPSS. As expected, trait anger predicted relational aggression, and anger rumination partially mediated this relationship. While relational victimization was a positive predictor of relational aggression, vengeance did not partially mediate this relationship as we expected. The implications of these findings for future research, as well as prevention and intervention efforts, are addressed.

ORCID ID

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2908-2049

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