Applying the argumentative skill deficiency model of interpersonal violence to adolescent boys

The argumentative skill deficiency model predicts that individuals high in verbal aggressiveness and low in argumentativeness will be more likely to resort to violence than individuals with other combinations of these predispositions. Strong support for this hypothesis has been observed in the area of interspousal violence. This investigation applies the argumentative skill deficiency model to a sample of 79 eighth-grade boys from a medium-size Midwestern city. Approximately half of the boys had been suspended for fighting during the seventh-or eighth-grade. The hypothesized relationship between argumentativeness and verbal aggressiveness and suspensions for fighting was not realized, nor was there a main effect for argumentativeness. There was, however, a main effect for verbal aggressiveness; boys high in verbal aggressiveness were significantly more likely to have been suspended for fighting than boys low in verbal aggressiveness.