Etiology of the impulsivity/aggression relationship: Genes or environment?

Seroczynski, A. D.; Bergeman, C. S.; Coccaro, Emil F.

doi:10.1016/s0165-1781(99)00013-x

Cited by 167 publications

(120 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…Twin and family studies suggest that aggression, particularly irritable/impulsive aggression (as differentiated from premeditated aggression), has substantial heritability (44%-72%) (8,9), consistent with a meta-analysis of more than 20 twin studies (10,11). Gene-environment interactions play a major role in aggression and antisocial behaviors (8,12).…”

Section: Epidemiology and Geneticssupporting

confidence: 67%

“…Gene-environment interactions play a major role in aggression and antisocial behaviors (8,12). Environmental factors comprise familial factors, including observing or experiencing aggression as a child or adolescent, as well as cultural and socioeconomic factors that are conducive to aggression (13)(14)(15).…”

Section: Epidemiology and Geneticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These laboratory tests as well as self-report measures, including the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire, Barratt Impulsivity Scale, and Life History of Aggression scales (113), can be used in both neurobiological and genetic studies. Many of these measures are found to be heritable in twin studies (unpublished data of Jacobson et al, 2006; [8]) and to distinguish patients characterized by aggression, such as borderline personality disorder patients, from comparison groups (unpublished data of Siever et al, 2006).…”

Section: Laboratory/behavioral Tasks-intermediate Phenotypesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Neurobiology of Aggression and Violence

Siever¹

2008

AJP

813

619

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Acts of violence account for an estimated 1.43 million deaths worldwide annually. While violence can occur in many contexts, individual acts of aggression account for the majority of instances. In some individuals, repetitive acts of aggression are grounded in an underlying neurobiological susceptibility that is just beginning to be understood. The failure of "top-down" control systems in the prefrontal cortex to modulate aggressive acts that are triggered by anger provoking stimuli appears to play an important role. An imbalance between prefrontal regulatory influences and hyper-responsivity of the amygdala and other limbic regions involved in affective evaluation are implicated. Insufficient serotonergic facilitation of "top-down" control, excessive catecholaminergic stimulation, and subcortical imbalances of glutamatergic/ gabaminergic systems as well as pathology in neuropeptide systems involved in the regulation of affiliative behavior may contribute to abnormalities in this circuitry. Thus, pharmacological interventions such as mood stabilizers, which dampen limbic irritability, or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), which may enhance "top-down" control, as well as psychosocial interventions to develop alternative coping skills and reinforce reflective delays may be therapeutic.Human aggression and violence are, unfortunately, ubiquitous phenomena with substantial costs to our society. The detrimental effects of aggression and violence are documented daily in the media. Aggression-defined as hostile, injurious, or destructive behavior often caused by frustration-can be collective or individual. The mental health professional is often called upon to evaluate pathological forms of individual aggression in the clinical, forensic, and school setting, yet the causes and treatment of pathological aggression and violence are poorly understood and understudied (1). While the underpinnings of human aggression are clearly multifactorial, including political, socioeconomic, cultural, medical, and psychological factors, it is also clear that some forms of pathological aggression, such as impulsive aggression (which occurs in the context of emotional arousal and provocation), have an underlying neurobiology that we are only beginning to understand. In this overview, after defining aggression, its prevalence, and its phenomenology, we will address the neurobiology of aggression, particularly pathological forms of impulsive aggression, by discussing the circuitry, both cortical and subcortical, as well as the role of neuromodulators in the initiation and suppression of aggression.Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Siever, Department of Psychiatry (OOMH), 130 West Kingsbridge Rd., Bronx, NY 10468; Larry.Siever@va.gov. Dr. Siever reports no competing interests. NIH Public Access Definitions of AggressionAggression may be classified in a number of ways, for example, by the target of aggression (e.g., self-directed or other-directed), mode of aggression (e.g., physical or verbal, direct ...

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Section: Epidemiology and Geneticssupporting

confidence: 67%

Section: Epidemiology and Geneticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Laboratory/behavioral Tasks-intermediate Phenotypesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Neurobiology of Aggression and Violence

Siever¹

2008

AJP

813

619

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“…Taking into account that human studies have often found a high prevalence of psychopathology among first-degree relatives, and impulsive aggression is highly heritable (Seroczynski et al, 1999) and that boys and girls often shared with siblings traits known to convey potential risk factors for youth violence, i.e., hyperactivity, impulsivity and sensation seeking (Laporte et al, 2011;Zanarini et al, 2004), at weaning during the formation of the groups, we submitted sisters from different litters to a different experimental condition, control or stress, in order to study the potential role of the stress in exacerbating pre-existent high aggressive behavior. We observed that aggressive behavior was increased in siblings submitted to the stress condition, and that in most of the cases females with the higher scores in aggressive behavior in the control group were the siblings of females that presented the higher scores in the stress group.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-term programming of enhanced aggression by peripuberty stress in female rats

Cordero

Ansermet

Sandi

2013

Psychoneuroendocrinology

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Summary Human literature has linked adverse early life experiences with an increased risk to develop violent behaviors in both boys and girls. We have previously shown that male rats submitted to stress during the peripuberty period display as adults abnormal aggressive behavior against both male intruders and female partners. In the present study, we examined whether the same stress protocol would affect the development of aggressive behaviors in female rats. We evaluated the behavior of these peripuberty stressed female rats when confronted, at adulthood, with either female or male intruders, and during their cohabitation with male partners. Given that estrus cycle influences mood and aggressive behaviors, female aggressive behavior was assessed at different estrus cycle phases: estrus and diestrus, and during pregnancy and lactancy. Additionally, we evaluated postpartum plasma levels of vasopressin, oxytocin and corticosterone, hormones associated with aggression and the regulation of social behavior. Compared to control females, females submitted to stressful events during puberty exhibited higher and more sustained rates of aggression during adulthood independently on the estrus cycle or the sex of the intruder, and they had higher levels of plasma vasopressin. Significant correlations between plasma levels of vasopressin and corticosterone and aggressive behavior were also found. Strikingly, our results showed opposite intragroup correlations suggesting a different role of these hormones on aggression depending on life experiences. We provide here an animal model, devoid of cultural influences strongly supporting a role for biological factors in the development of aggressive behaviors following exposure to stressful events at puberty in females. #

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“…There is much evidence that aggressive behavior in humans is influenced by genes with heritability estimates of 44-72% [17,[65][66][67][68][69].…”

Section: Genetics Of Aggression: In Search Of the "Warrior Gene"mentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic and non-genetic determinants of aggression in combat sports

2014

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Human aggression/impulsivity-related traits are influenced by complex genetic and non-genetic factors. The aggression/anxiety relationship is controlled by highly conserved brain regions including the amygdala, hypothalamus and periaqueductal gray of the midbrain, which is responsible for neural circuits triggering defensive, aggressive, or avoidant behavioral models. The social behavior network consists of the medial amygdala, medial hypothalamus and periaqueductal gray, and it positively modulates reactive aggression. An important role in the incidence of aggressive behavior is played by secreted factors such as testosterone, glucocorticoids, pheromones, as well as by expression of genes such as neuroligin-2, monoamine oxidase A, serotonin transporters, etc. The authors deliberate whether aggression in sport is advantageous (or even indispensable), or to what extent it can hamper attainment of sport success. Methods of reducing and inhibiting expression of aggression in athletes are indicated.

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Etiology of the impulsivity/aggression relationship: Genes or environment?

Cited by 167 publications

References 53 publications

Neurobiology of Aggression and Violence

Neurobiology of Aggression and Violence

Long-term programming of enhanced aggression by peripuberty stress in female rats

Genetic and non-genetic determinants of aggression in combat sports

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