Aggressive Behavior In Adolescents Research Articles

Understanding aggressive behaviour across the lifespan

Aggressive behaviour is the observable manifestation of aggression and is often associated with developmental transitions and a range of medical and psychiatric diagnoses across the lifespan. As healthcare professionals involved in the medical and psychosocial care of patients from birth through death, nurses frequently encounter - and may serve as - both victims and perpetrators of aggressive behaviour in the workplace. While the nursing literature has continually reported research on prevention and treatment approaches, less emphasis has been given to understanding the aetiology, including contextual precipitants of aggressive behaviour. This paper provides a brief review of the biological, social and environmental risk factors that purportedly give rise to aggressive behaviour. Further, many researchers have focused specifically on aggressive behaviour in adolescence and adulthood. Less attention has been given to understanding the aetiology of such behaviour in young children and older adults. This paper emphasizes the unique risk factors for aggressive behaviour across the developmental spectrum, including childhood, adolescence, adulthood and late life. Appreciation of the risk factors of aggressive behaviour, and, in particular, how they relate to age-specific manifestations, can aid nurses in better design and implementation of prevention and treatment programmes.

Emotion Dysregulation as a Mechanism Linking Stress Exposure to Adolescent Aggressive Behavior

Exposure to stress is associated with a wide range of internalizing and externalizing problems in adolescents, including aggressive behavior. Extant research examining mechanisms underlying the associations between stress and youth aggression has consistently identified social information processing pathways that are disrupted by exposure to violence and increase risk of aggressive behavior. In the current study, we use longitudinal data to examine emotion dysregulation as a potential mechanism linking a broader range of stressful experiences to aggressive behavior in a diverse sample of early adolescents (N = 1065). Specifically, we examined the longitudinal associations of peer victimization and stressful life events with emotion dysregulation and aggressive behavior. Structural equation modeling was used to create latent constructs of emotion dysregulation and aggression. Both stressful life events and peer victimization predicted subsequent increases in emotion dysregulation over a 4-month period. These increases in emotion dysregulation, in turn, were associated with increases in aggression over the subsequent 3months. Longitudinal mediation models showed that emotion dysregulation mediated the relationship of both peer victimization (z = 2.35, p = 0.019) and stressful life events (z = 2.32, p = 0.020) with aggressive behavior. Increasing the use of adaptive emotion regulation strategies is an important target for interventions aimed at preventing the onset of adolescent aggressive behavior.

Change and reciprocity in adolescent aggressive and rule-breaking behaviors and parental support and dysfunctional discipline

This study examined how the development of aggressive/rule-breaking behaviors (9-17 years) is related to the development of overreactive and warm parenting, and explored gender differences in development and interrelations. Externalizing was assessed using combined mother/father reports of the Child Behavior Checklist (N = 516). Overreactivity was assessed using self-reports of the Parenting Scale; warmth was measured using self-reports of the Parenting Practices Questionnaire. All constructs were assessed three times across 6 years. The interrelated development of externalizing and parenting was examined by cohort-sequential multigroup latent growth models. Timing of effects was investigated using multigroup cross-lagged models. The results from latent growth models suggest that boys and girls change similarly in the extent to which they show externalizing behaviors, and indicate that mothers and fathers show somewhat different parenting toward boys than girls. No gender differences were found for interrelations between externalizing and parenting. Initial levels of aggression were related to changes in overreactivity and warmth, and vice versa. Changes in externalizing were related to changes in parenting. Cross-lagged models showed that relations between overreactivity and aggression/rule breaking were reciprocal. Together, results from this study show that adolescent externalizing and parenting affect each other in important ways, regardless of the gender of the child or the parent.

Effects of Counseling by Mobile Phone Short Message Service (SMS) on Reducing Aggressive Behavior in Adolescence

Abstract The main objective of this research is to determine the effect of counseling by short message service (SMS) on reducing aggressive behavior in adolescence. The research method was quasi experimental with pre test-post test design and control group. A sample of 60 boys in behavior disorders Center in Tehran was selected by available sampling method. Using Aggression Questionnaire (AGQ) in pre test, Indicated that all participants were suffering from aggressive behavior Disorder, Therefore those were selected randomly divided to experimental and control groups. The experimental group received counseling and therapy program by SMS in 2 months (per day two sms). Results indicated that the post-test values have been affected by the independent variable (F=148.50, P

P-270 - Cognitive schemas as mediators in the relationship between exposure to violence and aggressive behavior in maltreated adolescents

Introduction Child and adolescent maltreatment is a severe problem which causes many psychological problems in them. Of these problems, aggressive behavior is probably the best documented, and there are many studies that report higher prevalence of diverse types of aggressive behavior among adolescents who were maltreated. Objective To clarify the mechanisms through which exposure to violence leads to aggressive behavior in adolescents who were the victims of abuse and neglect. Aim To test whether cognitive schemas of justification of violence, expectations of maltreatment, and ideas of grandiosity act as mediators between exposure to violence and aggressive behavior. Methods A sample of 166 adolescents from child welfare and protection centers for victims of abuse and neglect completed measures of victimization and witnessing violence at home, schemas of justification of violence, mistrust, and grandiosity, proactive and reactive aggressive behavior, and depression. Results Witnessing violence is more intensely associated with aggressive behavior than victimization, and that part of this association is mediated by schemas of justification of violence and grandiosity. Victimization, in contrast, was associated with less aggressive behavior and more depression, through the schema of mistrust. The results were somewhat different in the sample of girls because victimization in girls was associated with more aggressive behavior and, in general, exposure to violence was more intensely associated with aggressive behavior. Conclusions This study contributes to our understanding of the mechanisms through which transmission of violence takes place in maltreated adolescents. The contents of the schemas involved are themselves targets of intervention.

The goal to be accepted by friends as underlying function of overt aggressive behaviour in immigrant adolescents

This study investigated (1) to what extent the goal to be accepted by friends is an underlying function of overt aggressive behavior in adolescents, and (2) whether this function is more predictive than reactive aggression for overt aggressive behavior in first and second generation immigrants compared with natives. The sample comprised 339 native Austrians (51.6% girls), 126 first generation immigrants (48.4% girls), and 175 second generation immigrants (54.3% girls) aged 14 to 19 (M = 15.61). Data were collected via self-assessments. Multiple group latent means and covariance structures (MACS) models revealed that the goal to be accepted by friends was a stronger predictor than reactive aggression for overt aggressive behavior in first generation immigrants compared with second generation immigrants and natives. Furthermore, gender moderated these associations. The goal to be accepted by friends was a very strong predictor of overt aggressive behavior in first generation immigrant boys, but not in first generation immigrant girls. Results are discussed regarding the process of acculturation in first generation immigrant youth.

P.7.b.001 The lack of association between catechol-O-methyl-transferase Val108/158Met polymorphism in aggressive behaviour in adolescents

High rates of suicide among adolescents are a growing concern worldwide, while 8% of adolescents show high suicidal risk in Croatia. There are different psychiatric, psychological, environmental, biological and genetic factors for suicidal behavior that can lead to completed suicide. Aggression and agitation present risk factors for suicide. Gene for the enzyme catechol-o-methyl-transferase (COMT), that degrades dopamine, is frequently studied candidate gene for suicide risk. A functional polymorphism COMT Val108/158Met, consists of G to A transition, i.e. substitution of valine (Val) with methionine (Met). The Val/Val genotype has a 3-4 times higher COMT activity than the Met/Met genotype. This polymorphism was associated with suicidal behavior in adults. The hypothesis of this study was that COMT Val108/158Met polymorphism will be significantly associated with suicidal behavior and/or aggression in adolescents. The study included 187 female and 141 male adolescents (15.2 ± 2.4 years, range 7-19). The psychiatric diagnoses, suicidal behavior and aggression were established according to the SCID and DSM- IV criteria, and the Overt Aggression Symptom Checklist. DNA was isolated from the blood samples taken during regular laboratory check- ups. Genotyping was carried out on the ABI Prism 7000 Sequencing Detection System apparatus (ABI, Foster City, USA) with Taqman- based allele-specific PCR, according to the procedure described by Applied Biosystems (ABI, Foster City, USA). Statistical evaluation of the data was done using the Chi-square test, with p <0.05. All adolescents were subdivided into control subjects (without psychiatric diagnoses and without suicidal behavior), and suicidal and non-suicidal adolescents (with psychiatric diagnoses). COMT Val108/158Met genotypes were in the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, and no deviation was found in control (χ2 =0.490, p =0.484), suicidal (χ2 =0.070, p =0.703) or non-suicidal (χ2 =0.700, p = 0.402) groups. Control subjects and suicidal and non-suicidal adolescents had similar distribution of the Val/Val, Val/Met and Met/Met genotypes (χ2 = 5.629, df =4, p = 0.229), or Val and Met alleles (χ2 =4.376, df =2, p =0.0112). There were no significant differences in the distribution of the COMT Val108/158Met genotypes between adolescents with or without: verbal aggression (χ2 =2.867, df =2, p =0.238), physical aggression against self (χ2 =1.025, df =2, p =0.599), physical aggression against objects (χ2 =3.313, df =2, p =0.191), or physical aggression against other people (χ2 =0.225, df =2, p =0.893). The distribution of the COMT alleles did not differ significantly between adolescents with or without: verbal aggression (χ2 =2.856 , df =1, p =0.091), physical aggression against self (χ2 =0.166 , df =1, p =0.634), physical aggression against objects (χ2 =2.329, df =1, p =0.127), or physical aggression against other people (χ2 =0.081, df =1, p =0.776). Our preliminary results, showing similar distribution of the COMT Val108/158Met variants between suicidal and non-suicidal adolescents, or between non- aggressive and aggressive adolescents, did not confirm our hypothesis that suicidal behavior, and/or aggression, is significantly associated with the COMT Val108/158Met polymorphism in adolescents. The present findings suggest that further studies with larger samples should be included to evaluate the role of COMT Val108/158Met polymorphism in suicidal or aggressive behavior.

Social Information Processing as a Mediator Between Cognitive Schemas and Aggressive Behavior in Adolescents

This longitudinal investigation assessed whether cognitive schemas of justification of violence, mistrust, and narcissism predicted social information processing (SIP), and SIP in turn predicted aggressive behavior in adolescents. A total of 650 adolescents completed measures of cognitive schemas at Time 1, SIP in ambiguous social scenarios at Time 1 and Time 2, and reactive aggression at Time 1, Time 2, and Time 3 to determine whether SIP measured at Time 2 mediated between the cognitive schemas measured at Time 1 and the aggressive behavior measured at Time 3. The results showed that each schema predicted different SIP components: Justification of violence predicted aggressive response access, narcissism predicted anger and aggressive response access, and mistrust predicted more hostile attributions and less anger. Only the SIP component of aggressive response access was directly associated with reactive aggression. The mediational model was quite similar for boys and girls although some paths, such as the association between aggressive response access and reactive aggression, were higher for boys.

Management of aggressive behaviour among adolescents in forensic units: a four-country perspective

Management of aggressive behaviour is a challenge in adolescent forensic units. Aggressive behaviour endangers the safety of the treatment milieu for patients and nursing and multidisciplinary staff. However, there is a paucity of literature about how the staff manage aggressive behaviour among patients in adolescent forensic settings, and whether the nursing practices are similar across countries. The purpose of this study was to explore nursing practices used to manage adolescent aggressive behaviour in adolescent forensic units in four European countries. An exploratory, descriptive research approach was adopted for the study. A convenience sampling was used by selecting the staff members working in adolescent forensic units (Belgium n= 15, Finland n= 18, the Netherlands n= 16, the UK n= 9). Personal thematic interviews were used to collect the data; and for data analysis, qualitative content analysis was applied. Staff members preferred using verbal and less restrictive interventions when intervening in escalated situations and perceived the use of coercive measures as the last option. Differences between countries were found in the use of restrictive methods. The principles of aggression management were fairly similar across Europe, even if differences were reported in practical solutions.

A mindfulness-based strategy for self-management of aggressive behavior in adolescents with autism

Some individuals with autism engage in physical aggression to an extent that interferes with not only their quality of life, but also that of their parents and siblings. Behavioral and psychopharmacological treatments have been the mainstay of treatments for aggression in children and adolescents with autism. We evaluated the effectiveness of a mindfulness-based procedure, Meditation on the Soles of the Feet, in helping three adolescents to manage their physical aggression. This procedure required the adolescents to rapidly shift the focus of their attention from the aggression-triggering event to a neutral place on their body, the soles of their feet. Incidents of aggression across the three adolescents ranged from a mean of 14–20 per week during baseline, 4–6 per week during mindfulness training, including zero rates during the last 4 weeks of intervention. Aggression occurred a rate of about 1 per year during a 3-year follow-up. Our results suggest adolescents with autism can learn, and effectively use, a mindfulness-based procedure to self-manage their physical aggression over several years.

The impact of violence exposure on aggressive behavior through social information processing in adolescents.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether exposure to violence (EV) in several contexts predicts aggressive behavior through social information processing (SIP) in adolescents. Six hundred and fifty adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 participated in a 3-wave longitudinal study. The participants completed measures of proactive and reactive aggression at all waves, SIP measures at Time 1 and Time 2, and violence exposure at Time 1. It was expected that SIP would mediate the predictive relationship between EV and aggressive behavior. We found that total Time 1 EV predicted Time 3 reactive aggression. The influence of EV on proactive aggression was direct. Slight differences emerged, however, for victimization and witnessing violence. Witnessing was associated with reactive aggression via both hostile attribution and response selection, whereas victimization predicted reactive aggression via hostile attribution only. Results also suggested that the types of exposure that are most relevant for the development of aggressive behavior are community and school violence. Finally, male adolescents experienced more EV than female adolescents in all contexts except in the home. The findings indicate that intervention in social-cognitive mechanisms is important to reduce aggressive behavior in adolescents who have been exposed to violence.

Association Between Aggressive Behavior and Rs6267 Functional Polymorphism in the COMT Gene: the Moderating Effect of Gender and Negative Life Events

The development of aggressive behavior has important genetic underpinning. With the advancement of molecular genetics, research on the mechanism underlying aggressive behavior has reached the molecular level in recent years. A number of recent studies have identified the COMT (Catechol-O-methyltransferase) gene, which is located on q11.2, as one of the candidate genes related to aggressive behavior. Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) is one of the enzymes that degrade catecholamine neurotransmitters including dopamine. Recent research has discovered a new functional single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs6267 in the COMT gene, but its possible association with aggressive behavior remains to be examined. Meanwhile, although animal studies have consistently observed an increased level of aggressive behavior among COMT knockout mice, research findings on human subjects have not been always consistent and even contradictory in some cases. It is assumed that the inconsistencies reported in previous studies may be due to the variance of gender rations and also the individual differences in life experiences of the samples in previous studies. In addition, most of the previously reported findings were obtained on subjects who were patients with schizophrenia, bipolar I disorder or ADHD. The present study aimed to extend the previous research by examining the association between rs6267 polymorphism and aggressive behavior among healthy adolescents, with particular focus on the moderating effect of gender and negative life events on the association. The subjects of this study were 153 grade 7-9 adolescents (male = 81, female = 72) of high aggressive behavior group (n= 65) and lower aggressive behavior group (n= 88). The subjects status of aggressive behavior were identified via adolescent’s self-rating on the aggressive behavior questionnaire (Achenbach, 1991a; α = 0.82) and validated via teacher assessment. DNA was extracted from saliva and genotype at rs6267 was performed for each participant in real time with MassARRAY RT software version 3.0.0.4 and analyzed usingthe MassARRAY Typer software version 3.4 (Sequenom). Data analysis was performed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences 17.0 (SPSS 17.0), and a series of logistic regression analyses were conducted to aggressive behavior distributions. Two major findings were obtained from this study: (1) rs6267 polymorphism was significantly associated with the risk of aggressive behavior, but this association was observed only among males, with male adolescents with T allele possessing a decreased risk of aggressive behavior; while such an association was not observed among females. (2) There existed a marginal moderating effect of negative life events on the association between rs6267 polymorphism and aggressive behavior. Compared with adolescents carrying T allele, adolescents carrying GG genotype had an increased risk of aggressive behavior, but this difference only existed among adolescents who reported high level of negative life events. The present study lends further support for the theory that catecholamines may play an important role in adolescent aggressive behavior, and thereby contributes to COMT gene-aggression literature by elaborating the moderating effect of gender and negative life events among healthy adolescents.

Personality and Parenting Processes Associated with Problem Behaviors: A Study of Adolescents in Santiago, Chile.

Considerable research in the U.S. has established that adolescent antisocial, aggressive, and attention problems have a negative influence on adolescents' ability to become productive members of society. However, although these behaviors appear in other cultures, little is known about the development of these problems among adolescents in countries other than the U.S.. This study contributes to our understanding of personality and parenting factors associated with adolescent problem behaviors using an international sample. Data are from a NIDA-funded study of 884 community-dwelling adolescents in Santiago, Chile (Mean age=14, SD=1.4, 48% females) of mid-to-low socioeconomic status. Results revealed that rule-breaking and aggressive behaviors were both associated with greater levels of adolescent drive but lower levels of parental monitoring and positive parenting by both parents. Adolescents who reported more attention problems were more likely to exhibit driven behavior, more behavioral inhibition, to report lower levels of parental monitoring, and positive parenting by mother and father. Results of interactions revealed that the influences of positive parenting and parental monitoring on adolescent aggressive behaviors varied as a function of the gender of the adolescent. Helping parents build on their parenting skills may result in important reductions in adolescent problem behaviors among U.S. and international adolescents.

Attention Problems Mediate the Association Between Severity of Physical Abuse and Aggressive Behavior in a Sample of Maltreated Early Adolescents

Empirical evidence has accumulated documenting an association between childhood physical abuse and aggressive behavior. Relatively fewer studies have explored possible mediating mechanisms that may explain this association. The purpose of the current study was to examine whether caregiver- and youth-reported attention problems mediate the association between physical abuse severity and aggressive behavior. A sample of 240 maltreated early adolescents (ages 9-11) and their caregivers were interviewed within 14 months of being removed from the home. Results from multiple regression analyses indicated that caregiver- and youth-reported attention problems were partial mediators of the association between physical abuse severity and aggressive behavior. These associations were significant even after controlling for children's intellectual functioning, sex, age, and severity of other maltreatment types. Possible explanations for the detrimental impact of physical abuse on behavior are discussed, along with the implications of the current study's results for interventions aimed at reducing early adolescent aggressive behavior.

Cognitive Schemas and Aggressive Behavior in Adolescents: The Mediating Role of Social Information Processing

This study assesses the association between cognitive schemas of justification of violence, grandiosity and abuse, and reactive and proactive aggressive behavior, and whether this association is mediated by social information processing (SIP). For this purpose, a sample of 1371 adolescents (638 girls and 580 boys) completed measures of cognitive schemas, SIP, and Reactive-Proactive Aggression. The results showed that the cognitive schemas of justification of violence and narcissism are more relevant for proactive aggression, whereas the abuse schema is more relevant for reactive aggression. SIP mediated particularly the association between cognitive schemas and reactive aggression. Each cognitive schema was shown to be associated with some particular SIP component: justification of violence and abuse with the component of interpretation, and narcissism with the experience of anger, Moreover, the abuse schema was negatively associated with the selection of aggressive responses. Lastly, a general model of paths between schemas, SIP, and aggression was found to be quite similar for boys and girls, although the former scored higher in proactive aggression, partly because of their higher scores in the justification of violence and narcissism schemas.

The Relationship between Dissociation and Aggression in Adolescents with Using P-F Study

This study examined the relationship between dissociative tendencies and aggressive behaviors in adolescents. The Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES) and the Picture-Frustration (P–F) Study were administered to 60 vocational school students (28 men and 32 women; M=20.4 years). Simple correlation analysis indicated that the DES had negative correlations with obstacle-dominance and im-aggression, and had a positive correlation with extra-aggression from the P–F Study. Among the subscales of the DES, depersonalization was most related to aggressive behaviors. The results suggest that adolescents who have high dissociative tendencies are inclined to show aggression toward others directly.

An Examination of the Reciprocal Relationships Between Adolescents’ Aggressive Behaviors and Their Perceptions of Parental Nurturance

This study examined reciprocal relationships between adolescents' perceptions of parental nurturance and two types of adolescent aggressive behaviors (indirect and direct aggression) using a transactional model. Three waves of longitudinal data were drawn from the Canadian National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth. The sample included 1,416 (735 female) adolescents who were 10- and 11-year-olds at Time 1 and became 14-and 15-year-olds at Time 3. The findings failed to support reciprocal effects, but confirmed parental effects at different ages for girls and boys. For girls, perceptions of parental nurturance at age 10 were negatively associated with both indirect and direct aggression at age 12. For boys, perceptions of parental nurturance at age 12 were negatively associated with both aggressive behaviors at age 14. Future research should continue to investigate reciprocal effects in parent-adolescent relationships to identify developmental periods where the effect of adolescents' or their parents' behavior may be stronger.

Mothers’ and fathers’ attributions for adolescent behavior: An examination in families of depressed, subdiagnostic, and nondepressed youth.

This study examined whether parents of adolescents experiencing depressive symptoms or disorder make more negative and fewer positive attributions for their adolescents' behavior than do parents of nondepressed adolescents, and whether parental attributions for adolescents' behavior contribute to parenting behavior, above and beyond the adolescents' behavior. Parents and adolescents (76 girls and 48 boys) participated in videotaped problem-solving interactions (PSIs). Each parent subsequently watched the videotape and offered attributions for their adolescent's behavior. In addition, parent and adolescent behavior during the PSIs was coded. Mothers and fathers in families of nondepressed adolescents made significantly fewer negative attributions for their children's behavior than did parents in families of adolescents with diagnostic or subdiagnostic levels of depressive symptoms. Moreover, mothers' and fathers' negative attributions were related to greater levels of observed aggressive behavior and lower levels of observed facilitative behavior during the PSIs controlling for both demographic characteristics and the relative level of adolescent aggressive and facilitative behavior during the PSI.

Developmental effects of aggressive behavior in male adolescents assessed with structural and functional brain imaging

Aggressive behavior is common during adolescence. Although aggression-related functional changes in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and frontopolar cortex (FPC) have been reported in adults, the neural correlates of aggressive behavior in adolescents, particularly in the context of structural neurodevelopment, are obscure. We used functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to measure the blood oxygenation level-depended signal and cortical thickness. In a block-designed experiment, 14-17-year old adolescents imagined aggressive and non-aggressive interactions with a peer. We show reduced vmPFC activation associated with imagined aggressive behavior as well as enhanced aggression-related activation and cortical thinning in the FPC with increasing age. Changes in FPC activation were also associated with judgments of the severity of aggressive acts. Reduced vmPFC activation was associated with greater aggression indicating its normal function is to exert inhibitory control over aggressive impulses. Concurrent FPC activation likely reflects foresight of harmful consequences that result from aggressive acts. The correlation of age-dependent activation changes and cortical thinning demonstrates ongoing maturation of the FPC during adolescence towards a refinement of social and cognitive information processing that can potentially facilitate mature social behavior in aggressive contexts.

Aggressive behaviour in adolescent psychiatric settings: what are risk factors, possible interventions and implications for nursing practice? A literature review

This study was aimed to identify the risk factors of aggressive behaviour in adolescents (1318 years), and to describe available intervention strategies. The findings are evaluated on the basis of their implications for nursing practice. Aggressive behaviour in adolescent psychiatric settings is a neglected research area. The consequences of aggressive behaviour on nurses, other patients and the therapeutic environment can be profound. For the development and implementation of innovative intervention strategies aimed at preventing aggressive behaviour in adolescent psychiatric patients, knowledge of risk factors and evidence-based interventions for aggressive behaviour are of the utmost importance. A systematic search of PubMed, Cinahl, PsychINFO and Cochrane Systematic Reviews (19912007) was employed. The risk factors for aggressive behaviour comprise personal and environmental risk factors. Some risk factors can be influenced by nursing intervention strategies. Available intervention programmes range from interpersonal skills training to massage therapy, parent management training, functional family therapy and multi-systemic therapy. The most effective programmes combine interpersonal skills training with parent management training. No specific nursing intervention programmes were found for dealing with aggressive behaviour in adolescent patients. Nursing staff can assist in achieving a systematic improvement in the treatment outcomes of existing intervention programmes for the prevention of aggression. There is a need for specific nursing intervention programmes to deal with aggressive behaviour in adolescent psychiatric settings.