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Aggressive behavior in the adolescent psychiatric patient: a clinical-developmental perspective.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the relationship between ego development and psychological defenses to aggressive behavior in a group of psychiatrically hospitalized adolescents. METHOD: Subjects were 245 adolescents ages 12-16, who were assessed for aggressive behaviors, assaultive incidents, ego development and defenses. RESULTS: Aggressive behavior was found to be negatively associated with ego development, regardless of age, gender or IQ. Defense styles which located the source of conflict outside of the self were associated with higher levels of self-reported aggressive behaviors. Hospital incidents of assault were associated with a lack of cognitively based defenses. CONCLUSION: Aggressive behavior is tied to the development of critical psychological processes which shape the adolescent's ability to understand themselves and their environment. The results are discussed in the context of a clinical-developmental approach to adolescent aggressive behavior.

Adolescent↗

Everyday marital conflict and child aggression.

Children's immediate aggressive responding to exposure to marital conflict was examined. Participants were 108 families with 8- to 16-year-old children (53 boys, 55 girls), with diary records of children's reactions to marital conflict in the home completed by 103 mothers (n = 578 records) and 95 fathers (n = 377 records) during a 15-day period. Child responses to analog presentations of marital conflict tactics were also obtained. Exposure to destructive conflict tactics and negative parental emotionality increased the likelihood of aggressive behavior in children when they witnessed marital conflict, whereas constructive conflict tactics and positive parental emotionality decreased the probability of aggression. Conflict topics presumed to be threatening to the child (child- or marital-related) also heightened the likelihood of aggression. Aggressive responding to conflict in both home and laboratory predicted externalizing behavior problems. Fathers' and mothers' separate diary reports, and child responses to analog presentation of conflict, provided generally consistent findings. An exposure hypothesis for marital conflict as an influence on child aggression is discussed.

Adolescent↗

Male urinary chemosignals differentially affect aggressive behavior in male mice.

Chemical signals modulate aggressive behavior in mice. For example, male urinary cues enhance aggression against other adults: a resident mouse attacks a male but not a castrated intruder, unless it is anointed with male urine. Our purpose was to understand whether molecules excreted with urine also act as aggression triggers in a different context. Therefore, the effect of urine, or molecules purified from urine, voided by different animals (males or females), was tested on the aggression of male mice against pups. Latency to the first attack, percentage of pups receiving the first attack, and percentage of attacked pups after 5 and 15 min were recorded. At variance with intermale aggression, male urinary chemosignals sprayed on pups reduced infanticide, while female urine did not. Male urine also delayed infanticide when compared to female urine. Pups anointed with low molecular weight dialyzed urine and with the high molecular weight protein fraction were attacked later than controls. Pups anointed with Major Urinary Proteins (MUPs) also were attacked later. The volatiles retained by MUPs act in the same way as adult male urine. MUPs and their ligands did not modify biting of food items. The results show that mice do not perceive male chemosignals as compulsory aggression triggers but rather can consistently and differentially shape their behavior in response to the same molecules according to different contextual events.

Aggression↗

Perception of aggression, personality disorders and psychiatric morbidity in nursing students.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the relationship between perception of aggression, personality disorders and psychiatric morbidity. METHOD: Ninety nursing students were interviewed. A two-stage transversal analysis was used, the first stage using the Spanish version of the general health questionnaire (GHQ-28), the true-false test of international personality disorders (IPDE) of Loranger, and the perception of aggression scale (POAS) of Jansen. For the second stage we used the Spanish version of the clinical interview schedule (CIS), and the full test of IPDE. RESULTS: Perception of aggression was mainly described as a violent reaction. There were no significant differences in the perception of aggression according to GHQ(+), CIS(+) and IPDE(+). There was a significant relationship between perception of aggression as violent reaction and gender. CONCLUSION: Aggression was perceived by our nursing students as a violent reaction. A significant relationship with gender was observed.

Adult↗

More than zero tolerance? Burnout and tolerance for patient aggression amongst mental health nurses in China and the UK.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to examine attitudes toward patient aggressive behaviour amongst mental health nurses in China and the UK and the relationship between these attitudes and burnout. The UK government policy of 'zero tolerance' of patient aggression may conflict with practitioner attitudes and could potentially increase the risk of aggression occurring. METHOD: Two surveys of mental health nurses were conducted, one in the People's Republic of China and one in the UK using the Perceptions of Aggression Scale (POAS). The UK sample also completed the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). RESULTS: Some nurses in both groups agreed that patient aggression could sometimes have positive benefits. A sense of personal accomplishment at work (MBI) was significantly associated with a tendency to endorse positive statements about aggression. DISCUSSION: Nurses seem to have a complex set of attitudes toward this issue that do not simply equate with 'zero tolerance'.

Aggression↗

Eating disorders and aggressiveness among adolescents.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the links between propensity to aggression and eating disorders in a sample of school-aged adolescents in a northeastern area of Italy. METHOD: In a mixed male-female sample of 1000 adolescents (10% of the district's population aged 15-19 years) we administered the Eating Attitudes Test, the Bulimic Investigatory Test of Edinburgh and the Body Attitudes Test, as measures of abnormal eating attitudes and behaviours, and the Aggression Questionnaire, as a measure of the propensity to aggression. RESULTS: Females scored significantly higher than males at all eating disorders inventories (P < 0.0001). Males scored higher than females at the Aggression Questionnaire. In both genders, there was a positive correlation between scores at any of the eating disorders inventories and those at the Aggression Questionnaire (P < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: Overtly expressed aggression might have a negative impact on the course of eating disorders and on the compliance with treatment, also enhancing the risk of suicide.

Adolescent↗

Apomorphine-induced aggressive behaviour in para-chlorophenylalanine-treated male rats: implications to brain.

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of serotoninergic neurotransmission and the effect of acute para-chlorophenylalanine (350 mg/kg, intraperitoneally) treatment on apomorphine-induced aggressive behaviour in adult male Wistar rats. In addition, [3H]ketanserin binding and monoamine content were studied. Repeated administration of apomorphine (1.0 mg/kg, subcutaneously, once daily for two weeks) gradually induced aggressive behaviour. Acute p-chlorophenylalanine treatment down-regulated the [3H]ketanserin binding and reduced over 90 per cent the content of serotonin and 5-hydroxyindolacetic acid. In a half of the p-chlorophenylalanine-treated animals, the aggressive behaviour was suppressed, while there was no difference in [3H]ketanserin binding or monoamine content between the p-chlorophenylalanine treated aggressive and non-aggressive animals. In conclusion, the acute p-chlorophenylalanine treatment attenuates the aggressiveness only in half of the animals, while the latter phenomenon is independent on the CNS monoamine content or [3H]ketanserin binding.

Aggression↗

Control of human aggression. A comparative perspective.

Recent animal research has demonstrated that humans are not a uniquely aggressive species and that even in so-called violence-prone animals, aggression is always an optional strategy. Although some form of intraspecific aggression exists in every vertebrate species studied thus far, it is also true that all organisms have coevolved equally potent inhibitory mechanisms that enable them to use an aggressive strategy selectively or to suppress aggression when it is in their interest to do so. Parallel studies of aggression in children, assaultive adults, and even entire societies have suggested that humans are exquisitely sensitive to subtle social controls that could be used to reduce the frequency of individual acts of violence.

Aggression↗

Prospective family predictors of aggression toward female partners for at-risk young men.

Social learning models of the intergenerational transmission of aggression were tested for an at-risk sample of young adult men who entered a longitudinal study (Oregon Youth Study) in Grade 4 and were assessed with a female partner in young adulthood (17-20 years old). The associations of 2 family process variables--parental dyadic aggression and unskilled parenting, assessed both in late childhood and early adolescence with the son's later aggression toward a partner--were examined. Parental antisocial behavior was hypothesized to be associated with both family process variables. Unskilled parenting was hypothesized to play a key role in the son's later aggression toward an intimate partner, mediated by his development of antisocial behavior by adolescence. Fully prospective structural equation models were tested with multimethod, multiagent data, including both observed and reported aggression toward the partner. Findings indicate that the major hypothesized pathways through unskilled parenting practices and the boys' antisocial behavior were implicated in the intergenerational transmission of aggression.

Adolescent↗

Cognitive and neuropsychological characteristics of physically aggressive boys.

Cognitive-neuropsychological tests were given to adolescent boys (N = 177) to investigate processes associated with physical aggression. Factor analysis yielded 4 factors representing verbal learning, incidental spatial learning, tactile-lateral ability, and executive functions. Physical aggression was assessed at ages 6, 10, 11, and 12, and 3 groups were created: stable aggressive, unstable aggressive, and nonaggressive. The authors found main effects for only the executive functions factor even when other factors were used as additional covariates in a step-down analysis; nonaggressive boys performed better than stable and unstable aggressive boys. The covariates family adversity and anxiety were both related only to the verbal learning factor. This study highlights the importance of deficits in executive function in the expression of physical aggression relative to other cognitive-neuropsychological functions.

Aggression↗

Predicting mild and severe husband-to-wife physical aggression.

Nonordered multinomial logistic models were used to estimate the odds of mild and severe husband-to-wife physical aggression in 11,870 White men. Being younger, having a lower income, and having an alcohol problem significantly increased the odds of either mild or severe physical aggression. A drug problem uniquely increased the risk of severe physical aggression. Marital discord and depressive symptomatology, but not work stress, further increased the odds of both mild and severe physical aggression, with martial discord being the most influential psychological variable. Compared with mildly physically aggressive men, those who were severely physically aggressive earned lower income, were more likely to report an alcohol or a drug problem, and had more marital discord and depressive symptomatology.

Adult↗

Erotic stimuli and aggression: facilitation or inhibition.

The present experiment attempted to reconcile previous results on the relationship of erotic stimuli and aggression. Subjects were either insulted or not insulted prior or subsequent to observing erotic stimuli of varying levels of arousal inducements. It was found, in support of prior research, that mildly erotic stimuli had an inhibiting effect on aggression when viewed subsequent to anger arousal, whereas highly erotic stimuli tended to maintain aggression at a level similar to nonerotic exposure. Prior viewing of erotic stimuli, however, had a facilitative effect on aggressive behavior. It was proposed that erotic stimuli have two components (arousal and attentional shift) that interact with anger arousal to either inhibit or facilitate aggressive behavior. The article considers the implications of this two-component system for future research on erotic and aggressive stimuli.

Aggression↗

Effects of movie violence on aggression in a field setting as a function of group dominance and cohesion.

In this quasi-experimental field study, delinquent members belonging to two cottages viewed aggressive commercial movies every evening for a week, while at the same time, subjects from two other cottages were exposed to neutral commercial movies. Behavioral observations were obtained through a nonhier-archical, minimally inferential procedure of a time-sampling nature; they were taken during a baseline week (at noon and in the evening), a treatment week (noon and evening) and a posttreatment week (noon). The main immediate effects of the violent films were an overall increase of both active behaviors and physical aggression; the effects on verbal aggression were more persistent but limited to one of the two cottages. On the other hand, more interactions occurred as an immediate consequence of viewing the films in both neutral treatment cottages; moreover, one of these two cottages also decreased its level of physical (short-term effect) and verbal (short- and long-term effects) aggression. In the aggressive treatment cottage, which was most affected, subjects who were most dominant, most popular, and least popular were influenced the most: an opposite effect was exhibited by those subjects who were judged as least aggressive by their peers. Complementary data are presented and discussed; the difference between the single individual laboratory paradigm and the existing group field paradigm is especially stressed.

Adolescent↗

Effects of prior destructive behavior, anonymity, and group presence on deindividuation and aggression.

Three of Zimbardo's deindividuation input variables (group presence, anonymity, and arousal) were manipulated in laboratory experiment, and their effects on aggression and deindividuation were measured. Only arousal produced a significant increase in aggression (p less than .05), while group presence produced a significant decrease in aggression (p less than .01). Anonymity had no significant effect on subjects' aggressiveness. Deindividuation per se was measured on a postsession questionnaire that assessed subjects' memory for their own aggressive behavior, self-consciousness, concern for social evaluation, and memory for central and peripheral cues. Only arousal condition participants showed deindividuation changes, but a factor analysis revealed that the deindividuation changes did not comprise a unified factor. Also it did not appear that the internal changes caused aggressive behavior, since the correlation between the two was low.

Aggression↗

Verbal imagery and connotation as memory-induced mediators of aggressive behavior.

Three studies investigated the effects of an information-processing variable (imagery-concreteness) on susceptibility to aggressive stimulation. Study 1 (n=83) results indicated that subjects' rating of imagery level and aggressive connotation for words can be manipulated independently. In study 2 (n=64), manipulations of verbal connotation and verbal imagery indicated that imagery level but not aggressive connotation significantly influenced the delayed recall of the verbal material. In Study 3 (n=60), males in a 2 X 2 between-subjects factorial design first learned lists of words varying in imagery (high or low) and verbal connotation (aggressive or neutral). Next, subjects were given the opportunity to shock their partners as part of a sham learning task. To induce arousal, all subjects learning high-imagery-aggressive word lists delivered significantly more intense shock to their partners. The results were interpreted as supporting an information-processing (memory) analysis of the effects of exposure to aggressive material.

Aggression↗

Effects of erotic stimuli on male aggression toward females.

In order to examine the effects of highly erotic films on aggression toward females, male subjects were first either angered or treated in a neutral manner by a male or female confederate. After viewing a highly erotic film or a neutral film, subjects were given an opportunity to both aggress against and reward the confederate. Erotic films were found to increase aggression overall, but there was no indication of differential aggression as a function of sex of target. Results for physiological arousal, however, suggested that aggression was possibly inhibited for subjects exposed to an erotic film and paired with a female. Various suggestions for future lines of research based upon the notion of inhibition are offered, as well as suggestions regarding the sexual arousal and aggression relationship.

Aggression↗

Authoritarianism and sexual aggression.

In Study 1, 198 men completed the Right Wing Authoritarianism, Sex Role Ideology, Hostility Towards Women, Acceptance of Interpersonal Violence, Adversarial Sexual Beliefs, and Rape Myth Acceptance scales, as well as measures of past sexually aggressive behavior and likelihood of future sexual aggression. As predicted, authoritarianism and sex role ideology were as closely related to self-reported past and potential future sexually aggressive behavior as were the specifically sexual and aggression-related predictors. Among 134 men in Study 2, authoritarianism and sex guilt positively correlated with each other and with self-reported past sexual aggression. In both studies, the relationship of authoritarianism and sexual aggression was larger in community than in university samples.

Adolescent↗

Female-enhanced aggression in male rats: effects of genital anesthesia, castration, or preoptic lesions.

Male rats that had cohabited with ovariectomized females for 2 weeks became more aggressive toward male intruders after a novel estrous female had been placed in their home cages for a period of 4 hr on the previous day. No increase in aggression was seen in males exposed to anestrous females. Genital anesthesia did not attenuate the female-enhanced aggression effect. By contrast, no enhancement of aggression was observed in long-term castrated males after 24 hr of exposure to estrous females. Rats with bilateral electrolytic lesions in the medial preoptic area showed a normal female-enhanced aggression effect. The observations that exposure to females facilitates aggression in males subjected to genital anesthesia and in males with preoptic lesions raise the possibility that copulatory cues are not always required for the effect.

Aggression↗