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.
","abstract_html":"<p>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 (<em>N</em>= 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.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Poor, Alison"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts (MA)","degree_level":"Masters Thesis","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Eric Dahlen","Melanie Leuty","Bonnie Nicholson"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2020,"date_issued":"2020-08-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2020-08-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:45:19Z","subjects":["relational aggression","relational victimization","anger","vengeance","rumination","trait anger","college students","Counseling Psychology","Psychology","Social and Behavioral Sciences"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/714","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Eric Dahlen","Melanie Leuty","Bonnie Nicholson"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Poor, Alison"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2020-05-14T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Masters Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts (MA)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["relational aggression","relational victimization","anger","vengeance","rumination","trait anger","college students","Counseling Psychology","Psychology","Social and Behavioral Sciences"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/714"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["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.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Anger, Relational Victimization, and Vengeance in the Context of Relational Aggression"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Eric Dahlen","Melanie Leuty","Bonnie Nicholson"],"dc:creator":["Poor, Alison"],"dc:date.available":["2020-05-14T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.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.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/714"],"dc:subject":["relational aggression","relational victimization","anger","vengeance","rumination","trait anger","college students","Counseling Psychology","Psychology","Social and Behavioral Sciences"],"dc:title":["Anger, Relational Victimization, and Vengeance in the Context of Relational Aggression"],"thesis:degree_level":["Masters Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts (MA)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:45:19Z"}