Features of Reactive and Proactive Aggression in Special Groups: Immigrant and Nonimmigrants in Norway

Today aggression is one of the most frequently used constructs in several fields, e.g., the fields of special education, developmental psychology and child psychiatry (Merk W, Orobio de Castro B, Koops W, Matthys W. Eur J Dev Psychol 2(2):197–220, 2005). Nonetheless, it might be unclear exactly what is meant by the term “aggression.” Various definitions and typologies of aggression have been proposed over the years. Reactive and proactive aggression are often used and seen as two different features of aggression: the first one originating from frustration-anger theory and the latter from social learning theory. In addition, proactive aggression may be divided into power-related and affiliation-related proactive aggression, dependent on what is the function behind the behavior. Moreover, research from different countries show that the functions seem to play different roles in the immigrant and nonimmigrant groups. The aim of this chapter is to go deeper into the concept of aggression and the empirical findings in the context of Norway in where the three different types of aggression has been related to bullying and mental health problems among immigrant and nonimmigrants. The research will however be discussed in relation to findings in other countries that have replicated one of the studies in Norway, and in light of the immigrant situation in the three countries at the periods in which the studies were carried out. The findings will be also discussed in relation to acculturation strategies for immigrants. In addition, implications of the findings will be pointed to, concerning both research and prevention and intervention strategies.