Effects of situational variables on the interpersonal behavior of families with an aggressive adolescent

Abstract

Effects of environmental conditions on families with an aggressive male adolescent and control families were studied in three experimental tasks. In two of the tasks, aggressive adolescent families became over time more competitive, angry and relatively less able to solve family conflicts. During family discussions of the adolecent's problem behaviors, aggressive families showed poorer problem solving skills and greater negativity than control families, especially in the second of the two such interactions. Prisoner's Dilemma was played under three conditions (rewarding initially cooperative, then competitive and finally, cooperative responses again). Though the families did not differ in first two conditions, aggressive families made more competitive responses in the final condition than the control families. Self and observer ratings indicated that aggressive family members were more angry at the end of prisoner's dilemma and during adolescent problem discussions than control families. However, in discussing hypothetical marital problems with little personal reference, aggressive and control families were equally effective in reaching consensus and did not differ in their degree of anger. Aggressive adolescents also differed from controls in that they scored much higher on the psychoticism scale of the Eysenck Personality Inventory. Thus, it appears that anger and dysfunctional interpersonal behavior are especially likely to occur when an adolescent high in psychoticism is in family situations involving competition or self-criticism.