Behavioral Inhibition and Activation Systems, Negative Affect, Dysregulation and Anger Rumination as Explanatory Variables of Aggressive and Antisocial Behaviors

Aggressive and antisocial behaviors are symptomatic indicators of antisocial psychopathologies and can be explained through transdiagnostic variables applied at structural, emotional, and cognitive levels. The aim of this study was to develop a preliminary multivariate explanatory model incorporating structural (Behavioral Activation and Inhibition Systems [BIS-BAS], Negative Affect Trait [NA-Trait]), emotional (Emotional Dysregulation [ED]), and cognitive (Anger Ru-mination [AR]) variables underlying aggressive and antisocial behaviors in adolescents and adults. A sample of 351 male adolescents and young adults aged 14 to 25 (M = 17.81, SD = 3.11) was drawn from two educational institutions and two correctional facilities in Sonora, Mexico. Path analysis results indicated that structural, emotional, and cognitive variables are predictors of aggression and antisocial behaviors. Evidence showed associations between structural variables, specifically BIS and NA-Trait, and increased ED in reactive aggression, whereas BAS was associ-ated with increased AR in proactive and antisocial aggressive behaviors. Findings suggest that transdiagnostic model variables offer a greater explanatory capacity for aggression-related symptoms (reactive aggression R² = .35, proactive aggression R² = .28) compared to antisocial behaviors (R² = .17).