Running head: DISPLACED AGGRESSION AND GANGS Rumination and the Displacement of Aggression in UK Gang-Affiliated Youth

The concept of gang aggression oftentimes elicits images of brutal inter-gang violence. In reality, gang-related aggression can vary widely, can have various motivations and causal factors, and includes interpersonal as well as intergroup aggression. This study examined the tendency of U.K. youth to engage in displaced aggression (aggression aimed at undeserving targets) and examined the relationship among gang affiliation, ruminative thought, and aggression levels. Students in three London schools were asked to complete a questionnaire that assessed levels of gang affiliation, rumination about aversive events, and a tendency to engage in displaced aggression. Our analyses found a three-way interaction between gang affiliation, rumination, and gender, such that males who were high in affiliation and rumination had the greatest tendency to displace aggression towards innocent others. Rumination additionally mediated the link between gang affiliation and displaced aggression. Furthermore, regression analyses showed that even after controlling for trait aggression, anger, hostility, and irritability, rumination remained a significant predictor of displaced aggression. The implications for understanding gang-related aggression and for conducting future research in this area were discussed. Displaced Aggression and Gangs 3 Rumination and the Displacement of Aggression in UK Gang-Affiliated Youth Contrary to the common notion that gang aggression involves primarily instances of inter-gang revenge, often committed via drive-by shootings or bloody turf fights, members of urban street gangs actually engage in a range of different types of aggressive behaviours, motivated by a variety of factors, and committed not just at inter-group but also at interpersonal levels. Recently, researchers have proposed the employment of sociopsychological theory to guide research on the different types of aggressive behaviours committed by gang members (see Vasquez, Lickel, & Hennigan, 2010; Wood & Alleyne, 2010). Vasquez et al., (2010), for instance, have theorized that certain socio-psychological factors place members of street gangs, relative to non-gang members, at higher risk of engaging in rumination, which involves repetitive thinking about aversive events, including provocations. Ruminating about provoking incidents can prime individuals for aggressive responding and facilitates not only direct retaliation against a provocateur, but also displaced aggression towards innocent targets. Gang-affiliated youth may be at an increased risk of engaging in displaced aggression. The purpose of the current study was to test these hypotheses in a sample of adolescent youths in the United Kingdom. More specifically, we tested the hypotheses that youth affiliated with gangs, compared to non-affiliated youth, would be more likely to engage in ruminative thoughts following provoking incidents, and that rumination would be related to the tendency of engaging in displaced aggression. We additionally expanded our research to include not only self-categorized gang members, but also gang-affiliated youth who are not necessarily full gang members. This is because, as we discuss in a subsequent section, the latter are also under the influence of gang norms, culture, and other socio-psychological factors that produce delinquent behaviours that are similar to those of gang members. Displaced Aggression and Gangs 4 Displaced Aggression Provocations typically motivate individuals to aggress against the provocateur. There are, however, situations that preclude retaliation against the original instigator, yet produce aggression against a different target. This phenomenon is termed displaced aggression, which refers to aggression targeted at either an innocent target (Dollard, Doob, Miller, Mowrer, & Sears, 1939), or one that has not provided sufficient justification for the levels of aggression they receive (see Pedersen, Gonzalez, & Miller, 2000). There are at least three situations wherein aggression against the provocateur is inhibited, thereby setting a context for displacement (Dollard et al., 1939). In one situation, the provocateur is unavailable, such as when this individual leaves the scene. A second situation involves instigators that are essentially intangible, such as when the economy is bad or a natural disaster occurs. The third condition involves fear of retaliation from the provocateur, such as receiving a provocation from one’s boss or someone with high levels of authority. All these situations induce the motivation and readiness to aggress (i.e. induce aggressive priming), which is central to producing displaced aggression. Although the displacement of aggressive behaviour towards innocent others has been replicated in some cases (e.g., Worchel, Hardy, & Hurley, 1976), but not in others (e.g., White, 1979), a meta-analysis of displaced aggression has nevertheless shown that it is a reliable phenomenon (Marcus-Newhall, Pedersen, Carlson, & Miller, 2000) and that levels of displaced aggression were positively correlated with the degree to which the interaction between the provoked individual and the target was negative. That is, for provoked persons, a subsequent negative encounter with another individual produced higher aggression levels (Marcus-Newhall, et al., 2000), suggesting that subsequent negative events can trigger aggressive behaviours towards relatively undeserving targets. Indeed, researchers have identified another type of displaced aggression, termed triggered displaced aggression (TDA; Displaced Aggression and Gangs 5 Pedersen et al., 2000), which involves an additional provocation induced by a person who subsequently becomes the target of retaliation. In TDA, a previously provoked person who encounters a subsequent provocation (i.e., a trigger) from their target tends to express more aggression than non-provoked individuals. Interestingly, even mild annoyances can trigger relatively high levels of aggression in provoked persons (Vasquez, Denson, Pedersen, Stenstrom, & Miller, 2005), thus surpassing what would be expected from norms of reciprocity and the escalation of aggression, such as the tit-for-tat rule (Axelrod, 1984). Why might individuals displace aggressive behaviour to undeserving others? Some theories of aggression, such as Berkowitz’s Neo-associationistic model (Berkowitz, 1993), are largely based on neural network memory models, which state that activation of one construct in memory leads to activation of other related constructs. For instance, an individual who frequently drinks wine with dinner is likely to think about food when s/he sees a bottle of wine (and vice versa!). Similarly, with respect to aggressive contexts and behaviors, the occurrence of events that are psychologically related to aggression in individuals (e.g. provocations, weapons, alcohol) tend to activate a network of various other aggression-related cognitions, affect (e.g., anger, hostility), and behavioral tendencies. As a result, they become primed for aggression when they are exposed to aversive incidents. Such priming leads to increased attention to the negative aspects of events and to hostile interpretations of them. Thus, the combination of prior provocations and subsequent aversive interactions produces a greater motivation to aggress, even when the target is only guilty of a minor annoyance (Pedersen et al., 2000; Vasquez et al., 2005). Displaced aggression and rumination Researchers estimate that the negative affect and arousal from a provocation are likely to dissipate after 15-20 minutes (see Bushman, Bonacci, Pedersen, Vasquez, & Miller, 2005; Tyson, 1998). As a result, time gaps between provocations and triggering events exceeding Displaced Aggression and Gangs 6 this amount are less likely to produce displaced aggression. This does not necessarily mean, however, that individuals who trigger a provoked person more than 20 minutes after a previous provocation are safe from aggression. Rumination can maintain negative affect and aggressive priming long after a provocation, thereby increasing the chance of displaced aggression (Bushman et al., 2005). Ruminative thinking produces a focus on one's thoughts, feelings and their causes (Lyubomirsky & Nolen-Hoeksema, 1995), and can involve provocation-focused thoughts (see Bushman et al., 2005; Rusting & Nolen-Hoeksema, 1998), revenge planning and fantasizing, and even attributions of blame. Thus, rumination can maintain aggressive priming and increase the chances of displaced aggression. Several factors can influence ruminative thinking. Personality characteristics, for instance, have been shown to be related to a tendency to ruminate, which in turn, is related to displaced aggression (Denson, Pedersen, & Miller, 2006). In addition, anger is a highactivation emotion (Larsen & Diener, 1992) that may motivate rumination in provoked individuals, thus, creating a desire to retaliate, save face, or fantasize about revenge. As a result, intense provocations may also motivate higher levels of ruminative thinking. Gang affiliation, rumination, and displaced aggression. Researchers have theorized that gang members have a greater risk than non-members of engaging in displaced aggression (Vasquez et al., 2010). They argue that this is because gang members are more likely to encounter aversive events that preclude retaliation, but nevertheless produce rumination. For instance, because of their delinquent lifestyles, gang members may be more likely to come into conflict with authority figures (e.g., parents, teachers, police) in situations that generally preclude retaliation. In addition, the social environments that lead to gang membership, familial factors such as lack of parental management/supervision (e.g., Thornberry, Krohn, Lizotte, Smith, & Tobin, 2003) or authoritarian parental management (e.g., Klein, 1995) may also provide constant sources of Displaced Aggression and Gangs 7 negative affect against which individuals might often be unable to retaliate (Vasquez et al., 2010). Indeed, the claim that many gang members have retaliated against their harsh physical punishment from authoritarian fathers (Klein, 1995) suggests that gang members have ruminated for years before retaliating. Such situations are likely to produce aggressive priming, which augments the likelihood of displacing aggressive behaviour. Thus, one of the goals of our study was to test the hypothesis that individuals affiliated with gangs are more likely to possess a tendency to engage in displaced aggression. In the current study, we expanded on Vasquez et al. (2010) by examining not just gang membership, but gang affiliation more generally. Our measure of gang affiliation included self-categorized gang members, as well as non-members who have friends in gangs and who hang out with gang members. This decision is based on a debate in the gang literature as to what constitutes a gang and who can be considered gang members (see Esbensen, Winfree, He, &Taylor, 2001; Spergel, 1995). Research suggests that gang membership is transitory, with youth often times becoming involved in gang activities, without officially being a gang member (Curry, Decker, & Eagly, 2002). Some research suggests that such involvement leads to those who are affiliated, but not full members, engaging in delinquent behaviours similar (in some cases worse) to those of gang members (Curry et al, 2002; Alleyne & Wood, 2010). Given these findings, we decided to expand our study to include youths who likely are under the influence of gang-related norms and culture via their affiliation. Thus, we have (reasonably) taken the position that youth who have friends in gangs and hang out with them are more likely to resemble gang members. Importantly, researchers have also predicted that gang members (and probably gangaffiliated individuals) are also more likely to ruminate, and thus, remain primed for aggression for longer periods than non-gang members (Vasquez et al., 2010). One reason for this is that individuals who tend to view anger as a normal or appropriate response to Displaced Aggression and Gangs 8 provocations are more likely to ruminate (Averill, 1982; Tice & Baumeister, 1993). Gangaffiliated individuals likely perceive aggression as a normal reaction to aversive events (Decker & Van Winkle, 1996; Klein, 1995). They also value social status among their peers (Alleyne & Wood, 2010) and feel a need to engage in crime to build up a reputation or affirm their value (Alleyne & Wood, 2010). It is reasonable then to expect that they perceive anger as a normal affective reaction to provocation, and thus, become strongly motivated to ruminate if they are precluded from retaliating. A second reason involves street gangs as cultures of honor, whose members are more likely to react strongly to provocations and perceptions of disrespect (Cohen, Nisbett, Bowdle, & Schwarz, 1996). Norms of honor, status, reputation and aggressive reciprocity may motivate gang members to think about revenge and retaliation when they encounter provoking situations that preclude aggressing against an instigator (see Vasquez et al., 2010). A third reason for expecting higher levels of rumination among gang-affiliated individuals involves self-selected gang membership. That is, there exists the possibility that a tendency to encounter many aversive situations and ruminate about them increases the chances that youth will join or become closely involved in gangs--gangs may attract ruminators. Thus, a second goal of our study was to test the hypothesis that gang affiliation would be associated with encountering aversive events and with rumination about provoking events. In addition, we predicted that rumination would be more strongly related to displaced aggression for gang-affiliated compared to non-affiliated youth. Thus, we predict that gang affiliation and rumination interact to increase displaced aggression. A third, more general goal of our study was to employ socio-psychological theory to understanding gang-related aggression. The vast majority of research into gangs has not examined the psychological processes involved in gang-related aggression or used psychological theory as a framework for understanding gang violence and aggression (Wood & Alleyne, 2010). Displaced Aggression and Gangs 9