The growth of GaN and AlGaN films is accompanied by dislocation bending, interaction, density reduction and tensile stress generation to varying degrees. A kinetic model involving outdiffusion of atoms at the growth surface has been adapted to rationalize all of these phenomena using a single platform. Active contribution of dislocation interaction, apart from stress and a surface chemical potential, to the driving force for outdiffusion of atoms from the growth surface has been considered. The kinetic model has then been used to explain stress evolution during growth of GaN films on Si using an AlN buffer layer, an example of a most general case. Stress-thickness relations obtained from the model have been fitted to experimental data to derive basic outdiffusion parameters. These parameters have been used to analyze experimental observations of dislocation structure evolution. The model is able to account for the varying degrees of dislocation bending and interaction observed in these films. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.