Anger rumination and effortful control: Mediation effects on reactive but not proactive aggression

• Anger rumination was associated with reactive aggression, and this relationship was partially mediated by effortful control.
• Anger rumination was associated with proactive aggression, but effortful control did not mediate this relationship.
• Relationships between anger rumination, effortful control, and aggression were not moderated by gender.
• Effortful control may be a viable treatment target for reactive aggression.
• Addressing anger rumination may help reduce both reactive and proactive aggression.

Anger rumination and self-regulation deficits have been previously identified as risk factors for aggression. We hypothesized that anger rumination would relate to reactive but not proactive aggression, and that this association would be mediated by lower levels of trait self-regulation. Undergraduate students (N = 359) completed self-report measures of anger rumination, effortful control, and aggression. Mediation was tested using PROCESS (Hayes, 2012). After controlling for proactive aggression, anger rumination was associated with reactive aggression, and this relationship was partially mediated by effortful control. Anger rumination was also uniquely related to proactive aggression, but without mediation by effortful control. Gender did not moderate these relationships. Effortful control may be a viable treatment target for reactive aggression, whereas addressing anger rumination may help reduce both reactive and proactive aggression.