The moderating role of prior exposure to aggressive home culture in the relationship between negative reciprocity beliefs and aggression

Drawing upon the General Aggression Model (Anderson & Bushman, 2002) and social learning theory (Bandura, 1973), we examined the role of prior exposure to aggressive home culture as a moderator of the effects of negative reciprocity beliefs on aggression. We tested this notion in two studies comprised of 170 student–parent dyads and 144 employee-co-worker dyads. Results suggest that negative reciprocity beliefs and prior exposure to aggressive home culture were positively related to self-reported physical aggression (Study 1) and co-worker rated workplace aggression (Study 2). In addition, individuals with low and high negative reciprocity beliefs engaged in greater levels of physical and workplace aggression under conditions of high but not low prior exposure to aggressive home culture.