Personal Risk and Protective Factors Involved in Aggressive Behavior

Abstract

The study of aggression plays a prominent role in psychology and public health, because of the important adverse consequences of such behavior for victims, aggressors, and society in general. The General Aggression Model (GAM) provides a general conceptual framework for understanding the aggressive as a result of three stages: (a) inputs: personal and situational factors; (b) present internal states: affect, cognition, and arousal; and (c) outcomes: decision processes with a (non)aggressive result. The main objective of this research was to study the personal protective and risk factors most strongly associated with aggressive behavior acting at the first stage of the GAM model. A total of 282 young adult participants took part in this study. Participants were assessed for aggression levels and a set of the most relevant variables that have been associated with aggressive behavior in the previous literature. Stepwise multiple regression analysis revealed that levels of aggression were mainly associated (73.2% of the explained variance) with the following protective factors: the ability to manage emotions as a component of emotional intelligence (EI), and perspective-taking and personal distress as components of empathy, and with the following risk factors: negative and positive urgency as a component of impulsivity, fantasy as a component of empathy, negative affect, and expressive suppression of emotions. These findings provide a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying aggressive behavior and provide greater empirical value to the current theoretical models. In addition, this research can help to inform the design of more successful programs for the prevention, control, and treatment of aggressive behavior. Limitations and future lines of research are discussed.

Exploring the Effect of Parental Styles on Social Skills: The Mediating Role of Affects

“…Previous studies have pointed out that parental affection is related to children’s psychological wellbeing [ 18 , 67 , 68 , 69 ], and this was confirmed by our results. We also attested higher scores in terms of negative affects among women, as also pointed out in previous studies [ 70 ] that yielded higher scores in the social-skills-related variable emotional support, emphasising the important role played by affect in social skills, as noted in the existing literature [ 71 , 72 , 73 ].…”

Psychopathic Traits and Ability Emotional Intelligence in Incarcerated Males

“…The incarcerated population is characterized by low EI and high psychopathic traits (mainly due to a high score on criminal tendencies), and this low ability EI is associated with high scores on the emotional deficit components of psychopathic traits, which has been shown by other studies in the literature to be related to a decrease in empathic aspects and a deficit in understanding the emotions of others (Ali et al, 2009;Austin et al, 2014;Lishner et al, 2011). At the same time, these traits could result in a lifestyle that is characterized by a higher degree of recklessness and impulsiveness, interpersonal manipulation, and antisocial behaviors, all of which could lead the person to commit criminal acts (Frick et al, 2003;Gómez-Leal et al, 2020;Neumann & Pardini, 2014;Piatigorsky & Hinshaw, 2004).…”

Evidence on the Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence and Risk Behavior: A Systematic and Meta-Analytic Review

“…EI refers to the ability to identify, understand, use and regulate one's own emotional states and those of others (Mayer et al, 2016 ). Higher EI abilities have been positively related to various aspects of life such as physical and psychological health (Martins et al, 2010 ; Domínguez-García and Fernández-Berrocal, 2018 ; Megías et al, 2018c ), optimal coping abilities (Salovey et al, 1999 , 2002 ), appropriate social interactions (Lopes et al, 2011 ), lower levels of aggressive behavior (Megías et al, 2018b ; Gómez-Leal et al, 2020 ) or greater wellbeing and vital satisfaction (Johnson et al, 2009 ; Andrei and Petrides, 2013 ; Laborde et al, 2014 ). Emotion also plays a central role in risk behavior (Loewenstein et al, 2001 ; Reyna, 2004 ; Slovic, 2010 ).…”