Although mechanisms linking victimization and exposure to aggression to subsequent aggressive behavior have been well studied, most of the existing literature has examined mechanisms related to biases in social information processing (Dodge et al 1990, 1995; 2003; Crick and Dodge 1996; Lansford et al. 2010). Our results provide evidence for the role of emotion dysregulation as another mechanism underlying the association between stress and aggression. It is important to note that biased social information processing could be a primary contributor to emotion dysregulation among youths exposed to violence and other types of victimization. For example, an adolescent exposed to peer aggression may experience anger and arousal after making a hostile attribution for a peer’s behavior and express that anger towards the peer by shouting or threatening the peer. In this situation, a problem with social information processing led directly to emotion dysregulation and, potentially, aggressive behavior. Emotion dysregulation might therefore represent a component mechanism in the social information processing pathway linking exposure to violence and aggressive behavior (Dodge et al. 1990, 1995; 2003; Guerra et al. 2003; Weiss et al.
