The relationships between functional and dysfunctional impulsivity and aggression across different samples

E. S. Barratt proposed the term impulsive aggression to define a kind of aggression that is characterized by acting without thinking because of high levels of impulsivity. Previous research using psychometric measures has shown that impulsivity and aggression are related as far as psychometric measures are concerned. Nevertheless, most of the research has been done with samples of university students. Our research tests whether this relationship is stable across different samples; university students, teenagers and workers. Our results show that impulsivity and aggression have a consistent pattern of relationships across these samples, with impulsivity being specially related to emotional and instrumental aspects of aggression. Furthermore, the effects of anger on aggression seem to show a pattern of relationship that depends on age, with a tendency to physical aggression in young people and verbal aggression in adults.     

Investigating honesty-humility and impulsivity as predictors of aggression in children and youth

Among adult and adolescent populations, the personality trait of honesty-humility (HH) has been linked to aggression. For example, adults low in HH have been found to exhibit higher levels of workplace delinquency and revenge motivation, and adolescent low in HH are more likely to bully others. However, there is a paucity of research examining this relationship in children and youth, and how these relationships develop over time. The current study addressed these gaps in the literature by assessing whether HH and impulsivity are independently associated with aggression in children Grades 3 through 8 (N = 1201). Using data from the two waves of a longitudinal project, autoregressive crossed-lagged path analysis was used to examine the bidirectional relationships between HH, impulsivity, and aggression over a 1-year period. Results revealed significant bidirectional relationships between HH and aggression, such that lower scores of HH at Time 1 were associated with higher scores of aggression at Time 2 and vice versa. Similarly, higher scores of impulsivity at Time 1 were associated with higher scores of aggression at Time 2 and vice versa. In addition, these relationships were strongest in boys and at higher ages. Consistent with research in other populations, these results indicate that low HH and high impulsivity are linked to aggression in children and youth. Further, our results demonstrate that HH and impulsivity bidirectionally impact aggression as one age, suggesting a need for early intervention.     

An investigation of the correlations between aggression,impulsiveness, social problem‐solving,and alcohol use

Impulsivity has been shown to predict aggression and heavy drinking in males, and poor social problem‐solving has been identified as a potential mediating variable in this relationship. We set out to investigate the inter‐relationships among impulsiveness, social problem‐solving, aggression, and alcohol use in a non‐offender sample of British males (N=70). Of our proposed relationships, only two were significant: higher impulsivity was related to poorer social problem‐solving, and poorer social problem‐solving was related to greater aggression. Combining impulsivity and social problem‐solving indicated that poor social problem‐solving, not impulsivity, was what exerted the influence over aggression in this sample. Impulsivity perhaps presents an obstacle to learning in the early developmental years, and the legacy of poor problem‐solving is what later contributes to aggression. Aggr. Behav. 28:439–445, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Effects of modelled censure/support of media violence and need for approval on aggression

Subjects in a between-subjects design viewed a fight-filled video of ice hockey action in the company of an experimental confederate who either openly deplored, watched passively, or, supported the violence. Subjects (N = 179) subsequently completed measures of displaced aggression, aggressive mood, and social desirability. Neither measure of aggression was influenced by the confederate’s behavior. However, an individual differences analysis yielded a social desirability x remarks interaction. Subjects scoring high on social desirability displaced more aggression than lows in the confederate-supportive condition. Subjects scoring high on social desirability additionally rated the film clip as more violent, and, were more critical of violence in hockey and sports generally. The results were discussed against the background of psychological reactance theory.     

Measuring impulsivity in adolescents with serious substance and conduct problems

Adolescents with substance use and conduct disorders have high rates of aggression and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), all of which have been characterized in part by impulsivity. Developing measures that capture impulsivity behaviorally and correlate with self-reported impulsivity has been difficult. One promising behavioral measure, however, is a variant of the continuous performance test, the Immediate Memory Test/Delayed Memory Test (IMT/DMT). The authors showed significant group differences between adolescents in treatment for serious substance and conduct problems and community controls on impulsivity measures, both behavioral and self-report, as well as on aggression and problem behavior measures. Furthermore, the IMT/DMT correlated significantly with self-reported impulsivity. In summary, the IMT/DMT may be an effective behavioral measure of impulsivity in adolescents.     

Adolescent Female Aggression: Functions and Etiology

Despite the narrowing gap between male and female use of aggressive behavior, much of the extant aggression research has centered on males. Various internal, or psychological factors, including attachment, emotion regulation, and impulsivity, are typically examined independently from external, or social, factors, such as the quality of the family environment and exposure to community violence. Additionally, the studies rarely distinguish among forms and functions of aggression. The current study was the first to simultaneously examine these factors and their relationships to the distinct functions of aggression in a low-income urban community sample of adolescent females. Participants (N = 214) were recruited from grades 8 through 12 at a diverse all-girls public school in a city in the northeastern United States. Results indicated that greater attachment security and emotion regulation reduced the impact of a more negative family environment upon the use of reactive and proactive aggression. The results also demonstrated that impulsivity and the family environment mediated the relationships between exposure to community violence and the presence of reactive aggression. With higher levels of impulsivity, an increased use of reactive aggression was demonstrated. Lastly, in the context of greater exposure to community violence, a positive family environment decreased the use of reactive aggression. Overall, the results from this study suggested the role of these internal and external factors in the development of aggressive behavior in female adolescents. Further empirical experimental investigation may shed light on the most optimal interventions to prevent the development of aggression.     

Lifetime history of cigarette smoking associated with aggression and impulsivity in both healthy and personality disordered volunteers

Cigarette smoking has been associated with several personality and behavioral traits including impulsivity and aggression, primarily in adolescents and/or pregnant women. In this study, the authors tested the hypothesis that history of cigarette smoking is also associated with dimensional measures of aggression and impulsivity in adult subjects. Subjects were 179 personality disordered (PD), and healthy volunteer control (HV), subjects in whom history of cigarette smoking and measures of both aggression and impulsivity were collected. Scores on measures of both aggression and impulsivity were elevated as a function of personality disorder status and history of cigarette smoking status; no interaction between these two factors were noted on these measures. Including socio-economic status and global psychosocial functioning in the model eliminated the difference associated with diagnostic grouping and impulsivity but not the difference in aggression associated with lifetime history of smoking. These data suggest that lifetime history of cigarette smoking is associated with elevations in life history of aggression regardless of the presence of psychiatric disorder in nontreatment seeking individuals.     

Hostile Attributional Bias,Negative Emotional Responding,and Aggression in Adults: Moderating Effects of Gender and Impulsivity

The current study examined the main effects of hostile attributional bias (HAB) and negative emotional responding on a variety of aggressive behaviors in adults, including general aggression, physical aggression, relational aggression, and verbal aggression. Effects of both externalizing (anger) and internalizing (embarrassment/upset) negative emotions were considered. In addition, the moderating roles of gender and impulsivity on the effects of HAB and negative emotional responding were explored. Multilevel models were fitted to data from 2,749 adult twins aged 20–55 from the PennTwins cohort. HAB was positively associated with all four forms of aggression. There was also a significant interaction between impulsivity and HAB for general aggression. Specifically, the relationship between HAB and general aggression was only significant for individuals with average or above‐average levels of impulsivity. Negative emotional responding was also found to predict all measures of aggression, although in different ways. Anger was positively associated with all forms of aggression, whereas embarrassment/upset predicted decreased levels of general, physical, and verbal aggression but increased levels of relational aggression. The associations between negative emotional responding and aggression were generally stronger for males than females. The current study provides evidence for the utility of HAB and negative emotional responding as predictors of adult aggression and further suggests that gender and impulsivity may moderate their links with aggression. Aggr. Behav. 38:47‐63, 2012. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The aggression paradox: understanding links among aggression,sensation seeking,and the consideration of future consequences

Four studies involving 573 female and 272 male college students demonstrated that multiple forms and measures of aggression were associated with high levels of sensation seeking, impulsivity, and a focus on the immediate consequences of behavior. Multiple regression analyses and structural equation models supported a theoretical model based on the general aggression model (C.A. Anderson & B.J. Bushman. 2002), positing that hostile cognition and negative affect mediate the relationships between the aforementioned individual differences and aggression. Sensation seeking also predicted a desire to engage in physical and verbal aggression. The final study demonstrated that relative to those scoring low, individuals scoring high on the consideration of future consequences are only less aggressive when aggression is likely to carry future costs.     

Investigating the influence of social desirability on personality factor structure

This study provides a comprehensive investigation into whether social desirability alters the factor structure of personality measures. The study brought together 4 large data sets wherein different organizational samples responded to different personality measures. This facilitated conducting 4 separate yet parallel investigations. Within each data set, individuals identified through a social desirability scale as responding in an honest manner were grouped together, and individuals identified as responding in a highly socially desirable manner were grouped together. Using various analyses, the fit of higher order factor structure models was compared across the 2 groups. Results were the same for each data set. Social desirability had little influence on the higher order factor structures that characterized the relationships among the scales of the personality measures.     

Executive cognitive functioning and aggression: Is it an issue of impulsivity?

A large body of research has documented a relation between the executive cognitive functions (ECFs) and interpersonal aggressive behavior. A predominant theory proposes that individuals with poor ECFs are more aggressive because they are unable to inhibit impulsive behaviors. However, evidence for this relationship is typically indirect. In this study, 46 healthy men and women completed measures of ECF, the Taylor Aggression Paradigm, and the Go/No‐Go discrimination task, a behavioral measure of impulsivity. Also, impulsiveness of participant responses during the aggression task was directly assessed by measuring latency of responses to provocation (“set‐time”). It was hypothesized that low‐quartile–scoring ECF men and women would perform more aggressively and more impulsively than high‐quartile peers. Consistent with expectations, results indicated that ECF was related to aggression and to impulsivity on the Go/No‐Go task. However, low‐ECF men and women did not have shorter set‐times; in fact, on this task, low‐ECF participants' behavioral decisions seemed slightly slower than those of high‐ECF participants. In light of these results, the authors speculate that a social information‐processing problem may mediate the ECF aggression relationship rather than altered impulsivity per se. Aggr. Behav. 29:15–30, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Probing item social desirability by correlating personality items with Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding (BIDR): A validity examination

Researchers often include a social desirability measure in personality measures, commonly the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding (BIDR), and correlate it with personality items to probe for social desirability of the items. A strong correlation between BIDR scores and a personality item would indicate high item social desirability. The current research assesses the validity of this practice. Results showed that these correlations have high validity only when BIDR scores are calculated as a continuous variable rather than as dichotomized item scores. In addition, self-deception scores have higher validity for detecting item social desirability than do impression management scores. The current research supported the use of the self-deception scores, in particular, to detect highly desirable or undesirable items.     

Roles of Callous-Unemotional Traits,Narcissism, and Machiavellianism in Childhood Aggression

This study obtained teacher ratings of impulsivity, callous-unemotional traits, narcissism, and Machiavellianism for a sample of 252 middle school children, and investigated the extent to which these variables were related to reactive versus proactive aggression and physical versus relational aggression. Results showed a main effect for gender, with boys rated highest on all measures of psychopathy and aggression, with the exception of relational aggression. Results of hierarchical multiple regressions showed that whereas impulsivity was associated with all types of aggression, CU traits, narcissism, and Machiavellianism were differentially related to specific forms of childhood aggression. In addition, Machiavellianism mediated the relationship between narcissism and relational aggression. Implications for fine-tuning interventions in ways that account for the motivators underlying subtypes of childhood aggression are discussed.     

Perceived aggression in sports and its relation to willingness to participate and perceived risk of injury

The purpose of this study was three-fold: assess relationships among perceived hostile aggression, instrumental aggression, and assertion for a set of collegiate sports, categorize the sports by rated aggression, and present relationships of aggression with ratings of likelihood of career-ending injuries, personal willingness to participate, and the perceived desirability of participation in the sports by others. The sports were rated on the variables by 285 undergraduates enrolled in psychology courses in a large private university in the western USA. Mean age for men was 23.7 yr. (SD = 2.3) and for women 21.3 yr. (SD = 2.7). A 4 (rating category) x 16 (sport) repeated-measures analysis of variance showed significant main and interaction effects. The sports were classified according to level of aggression in post hoc analysis. Perceived risk of a career-ending injury was linearly related to aggregate aggression, whereas willingness to participate and desirability of the sport for others had quadratic relationships to both aggregate aggression and risk of career-ending injury.     

Examining the Relations Among Narcissism, Impulsivity, and Self-Defeating Behaviors

ABSTRACT A recent meta-analysis ( S. Vazire & D. C. Funder, 2006 ) suggested that narcissism and impulsivity are related and that impulsivity partially accounts for the relation between narcissism and self-defeating behaviors (SDB). This research examines these hypotheses in two studies and tests a competing hypothesis that Extraversion and Agreeableness account for this relation. In Study 1 , we examined the relations among narcissism, impulsivity, and aggression. Both narcissism and impulsivity predicted aggression, but impulsivity did not mediate the narcissism–aggression relation. In Study 2 , narcissism was related to a measure of SDB and manifested divergent relations with a range of impulsivity traits from three measures. None of the impulsivity models accounted for the narcissism–SDB relation, although there were unique mediating paths for traits related to sensation and fun seeking. The domains of Extraversion and low Agreeableness successfully mediated the entire narcissism–SDB relation. We address the discrepancy between the current and meta-analytic findings.     

An inter-hemispheric imbalance in the psychopath’s brain

Psychopathy is associated with two extremities. On the one hand, psychopathic individuals lack any concern for social norms and they are severely poor in maintaining healthy social relationships. In addition, the ability of individuals with psychopathy to feel certain emotions such as empathy, guilt or fear is seriously compromised. In contrast to these deficits, some behaviors and tendencies are exaggerated in psychopathy. For instance, psychopathic individuals display higher than normal impulsivity, stimulation-seeking, aggression and risk-taking. There are indications in the literature that pro-social behavior, as well as the feelings of empathy, guilt and fear are mediated predominantly by regions within the right hemisphere (RH), whereas impulsivity, stimulation-seeking, aggression and risk-taking are linked primarily with left hemisphere (LH) activity. From a neurobiological perspective, it seems that psychopathy may be associated with an altered and imbalanced inter-hemispheric dynamics; a relatively hyperfunctioning LH and/or a hypofunctioning RH. Furthermore, within the psychopathic population, the RH hypofunctioning is more characteristic of primary psychopathy with its affective and interpersonal deficits, while the LH hyperfunctioning is most typical of the secondary psychopathy which is marked by impulsivity and antisocial style.     

Risk factors of suicidal ideations and attempts in talented, at-risk girls

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationships among suicidality, substance use, self-esteem, family structure, and eight personality characteristics (harm avoidance, impulsivity, aggression, social recognition, cognitive structure, succorance, abasement, and achievement) with 337 talented, at-risk, adolescent girls. Results indicated that girls with histories of suicidal ideations and/or attempts had significantly higher levels of substance use, impulsivity, aggression, and social recognition, and significantly lower levels of self-esteem and harm avoidance than girls without such histories. Girls without suicide histories were also more likely to come from single mother families. Consideration of these factors, by both researchers and clinicians, in assessing suicide risk is encouraged.     

Effect of Social Desirability and Self-Concept Scores on the Measurement of Adjustment

The study represented an attempt to assess the “true” nature of the relationships among measures of social desirability, self-concept, and level of adjustment. Positive linear relationships, of low to moderate magnitudes, were found for all three variables. These data do not support the traditional hypotheses that self-concept tests are saturated with social desirability, that social desirability is the primary component in the measurement of adjustment, nor that self-attitudes are the major variable in adjustment. An alternative system is presented for describing the psychometric relationships among these variables, with implications for viewing non-test correlates.     

The relationship between impulsivity, aggression, and impulsive-aggression in borderline personality disorder: an empirical analysis of self-report measures

Impulsivity has been repeatedly identified as a key construct in BPD; however, its precise definition seems to vary especially regarding the overlap with aggression. The term impulsive-aggression , also generally seen as central to an understanding of BPD, seems to address itself to the interface between the two, but has itself been used inconsistently in the literature, sometimes having reference to a unitary phenotypic dimension, and at other times suggesting some combination of distinct traits. This study examined the relationship between multiple measures of impulsivity, aggression, and impulsive-aggression in a BPD sample ( N = 92) in order to clarify the relationship between these measured constructs in this clinical population. Results show little relationship between measures of aggression and impulsivity in BPD, with measures of impulsive-aggression correlating strongly with measures of aggression only. Implications of the present results for future research and clinical work with BPD are discussed.     

Adolescent Narcissism,Aggression, and Prosocial Behavior: The Relevance of Socially Desirable Responding

An important threat to validity in personality research pertains to an individual's motivation to respond in a socially desirable manner on self-report inventories. This issue was examined in this study in the context of narcissism, aggression, and prosocial behavior in a sample of at-risk adolescents. Participants were 161 adolescents (128 males, 29 females, 4 not reported) ranging in age from 16 to 19 years who were attending a residential program for youth who have dropped out of school. Overall, socially desirable response tendencies were negatively correlated with vulnerable narcissism and self-reported aggression. Moreover, low socially desirable responses strengthened the relation between narcissism and self-reported aggression. Socially desirable responding was not associated with self- or peer-reported prosocial behavior and did not moderate the relation between narcissism and prosocial behavior. These findings indicate that the relation between narcissism and aggression is attenuated by concerns with social desirability. However, further work is needed in broader samples of adolescents to more closely examine whether social desirability concerns actually mitigate aggression among some youth or signify underreporting of one's problem behaviors.