A study of the relationships between rumination, anger rumination, aggressive script rehearsal, and aggressive behavior in a sample of incarcerated adult males

OBJECTIVE: This study explored relationships between aggressive script rehearsal, rumination, and anger rumination with aggressive behavior. METHOD: One hundred and twenty‐nine incarcerated males (M = 33.54, SD = 8.67) completed the Schedule of Imagined Violence, Preservative Thinking Questionnaire, Anger Rumination Scale, and the Life History of Aggression‐Aggression subscale. Correlations were run to examine associations between the variables and a four‐step sequential multiple regression was performed to assess for the unique contribution of rumination, anger rumination, and aggressive script rehearsal to aggressive behavior. RESULTS: Results revealed moderate‐strong positive associations between aggressive script rehearsal, rumination, and anger rumination. Moderate‐weak associations were found between these three constructs and aggressive behavior. Regression analyses revealed aggressive script rehearsal was uniquely related with aggressive behavior and path analysis demonstrated aggressive script rehearsal mediated the relationship between rumination/anger rumination and aggression. CONCLUSION: These results clarify the nature of the relationships between these conceptually connected constructs and suggest that the frequency with which someone rehearses aggressive scripts impacts on the likelihood of aggression more than anger rumination and general ruminative processes. The frequency with which a person rehearses aggressive scripts should be a critical consideration in violence risk assessment and treatment programs for people deemed to be at risk for violent behavior.