Higher aggression is related to poorer academic performance in compulsory education.

Eero Vuoksimaa,Catharina Beijsterveldt,Kaili Rimfeld,Meike Bartels,Richard J Rose,Teemu Palviainen,Lea Pulkkinen,Sebastian Lundström,Eveline L Zeeuw,Anne Hendriks,Paul Lichtenstein,Jaakko Kaprio,Robert Plomin,Dorret I Boomsma

doi:10.1111/jcpp.13273

Abstract

To conduct a comprehensive assessment of the association between aggression and academic performance in compulsory education. We studied aggression and academic performance in over 27,000 individuals from four European twin cohorts participating in the ACTION consortium (Aggression in Children: Unraveling gene-environment interplay to inform Treatment and InterventiON strategies). Individual level data on aggression at ages 7-16 were assessed by three instruments (Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment, Multidimensional Peer Nomination Inventory, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire) including parental, teacher and self-reports. Academic performance was measured with teacher-rated grade point averages (ages 12-14) or standardized test scores (ages 12-16). Random effect meta-analytical correlations with academic performance were estimated for parental ratings (in all four cohorts) and self-ratings (in three cohorts). All between-family analyses indicated significant negative aggression-academic performance associations with correlations ranging from -.06 to -.33. Results were similar across different ages, instruments and raters and either with teacher-rated grade point averages or standardized test scores as measures of academic performance. Meta-analytical r's were -.20 and -.23 for parental and self-ratings, respectively. In within-family analyses of all twin pairs, the negative aggression-academic performance associations were statistically significant in 14 out of 17 analyses (r=-.17 for parental- and r=-.16 for self-ratings). Separate analyses in monozygotic (r=-.07 for parental and self-ratings), same-sex dizygotic (r's=-.16 and -.17 for parental and self-ratings) and opposite-sex dizygotic (r's=-.21 and -.19 for parental and self-ratings) twin pairs suggested partial confounding by genetic effects. There is a robust negative association between aggression and academic performance in compulsory education. Part of these associations were explained by shared genetic effects, but some evidence of a negative association between aggression and academic performance remained even in within-family analyses of monozygotic twin pairs.

Highlights

Aggression is behaviour with intention to cause harm to others (Anderson & Bushman, 2002)
The effect sizes of sex differences were modest when measured with Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), Teacher Report Form (TRF) and Multidimensional Peer Nomination Inventory (MPNI), whereas the effect size of sex differences was negligible or small when measured with Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) (Figure 1)
We investigated whether the association between aggression and academic performance can be confirmed in a within-family design controlling for genetic and common environmental confounding, analysing data of MZ and DZ twin pairs

Summary

Introduction

Aggression is behaviour with intention to cause harm to others (Anderson & Bushman, 2002). The most common developmental trajectory of physical aggression is a peak in early childhood around 3– 4 years of age followed by a gradual decline afterwards (Tremblay, Vitaro, & Cote, 2018). The mechanisms underlying the negative relationship between aggression and academic performance are not well understood (Hinshaw, 1992). Genetic and to a lesser degree common environmental influences shared by family members account for a substantial proportion of individual differences in aggression, academic performance and cognitive ability in childhood. Twin studies have indicated a shared genetic and environmental effects between aggression and academic performance/

Methods

Results

Conclusion