Abstract
Appetitive aggression is the attraction to violent behavior, which can peak in the experience of a combat high. In various war and conflict scenarios, members of armed groups have reported developing a desire to hunt and even kill humans. More recently, we reported that the phenomenon has also been observed in female ex-combatants with varying participation in warfare. Despite recent investigations on risk factors for appetitive aggression, sex-specific pathways in the development of appetitive aggression have not yet been delineated. This study investigated moderation effects of sex on previously identified risk factors for appetitive aggression by means of regression analyses in a sample of individuals with varying degrees of warfare participation (overall sample, n = 602). First examining a sample characterized by backgrounds heterogeneous in both sociodemographic data and war experiences, the analysis was then replicated in a subsample of fighters active during the civil war (combatant sample, n = 109). In both samples, regression analyses revealed significant moderation effects of sex. Childhood maltreatment and traumatic events had positive associations on the development of appetitive aggression for males but a negative (childhood maltreatment) or no (traumatic events) association for females. Perpetrated events were more strongly correlated with appetitive aggression for females than for males. This pattern was pronounced for the combatant sample. These results are in favor of sex-linked pathways. In both sexes, appetitive aggression may have evolved as a biologically prepared response to cruel environments but might develop along different trajectories. The current study highlights the need for addressing appetitive aggression in order to support peace-building processes and emphasizes sex specific starting-points.
Highlights
As of 2014 and at the exception of the genocide in Rwanda, the worldwide number of fatalities due to armed conflict has peaked since the end of the Cold War (Melander, 2015; Pettersson and Wallensteen, 2015)
The phenomenon of appetitive aggression has been reported by multiple combatant populations throughout the world, even years after the official conclusion of the armed conflicts (e.g., Hecker et al, 2012; Hermenau et al, 2013; Weierstall et al, 2013) and, to a lesser extent, in members of armed groups carrying out supportive, non-military tasks (Augsburger et al, 2015)
In the combatant sample (n = 56 males, n = 53 females), the sexes only differed in age and traumatic event types
Summary
As of 2014 and at the exception of the genocide in Rwanda, the worldwide number of fatalities due to armed conflict has peaked since the end of the Cold War (Melander, 2015; Pettersson and Wallensteen, 2015) These violent conflicts span years and decades and often spiral into multiple, overlapping cycles of violence (World Bank, 2011). While initially the attraction to violence was considered a potentially predominantly male phenomenon (Nell, 2006; Elbert et al, 2010), recent studies have revealed the occurrence of similar levels of appetitive aggression in both sexes involved in post-conflict regions (Augsburger et al, 2015; Meyer-Parlapanis et al, 2016). The identification of risk factors for high traits in appetitive aggression is essential in order to understand waves of instability in conflict regions
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