학술논문
A multilevel examination of lifetime aggression: integrating cortical thickness, personality pathology and trauma exposure
Original Manuscript
Original Manuscript
Document Type
Academic Journal
Source
Social Cognitive & Affective Neuroscience. July 2021, Vol. 16 Issue 7, p716, 10 p.
Subject
Language
English
ISSN
1749-5016
Abstract
Aggression is a serious public health concern and is associated with a variety of negative health outcomes, including substance misuse, suicide and chronic pain (Chida and Steptoe, 2009; McCloskey et [...]
Aggression represents a significant public health concern, causing serious physical and psychological harm. Although many studies have sought to characterize the etiology of aggression, research on the contributions of risk factors that span multiple levels of analysis for explaining aggressive behavior is lacking. To address this gap, we investigated the direct and unique contributions of cortical thickness (level 1), pathological personality traits (level 2) and trauma exposure (level 3) for explaining lifetime physical aggression in a high-risk sample of community adults (N=129, 47.3% men). First, the frequency of lifetime aggression was inversely associated with cortical thickness in regions of prefrontal and temporal cortices that have been implicated in executive functioning, inhibitory mechanisms and socio-emotional processing. Further, aggression was positively associated with pathological personality traits (antagonism and disinhibition) and exposure to assaultive trauma. Notably, all three levels of analysis (cortical thickness, pathological personality traits and assaultive trauma exposure) explained non-overlapping variance in aggressive behavior when examined simultaneously in integrative models. Together, the findings provide a multilevel assessment of the biopsychosocial factors associated with the frequency of aggression. They also indicate that cortical thickness explains novel variance in these harmful behaviors not captured by well-established personality and environmental risk factors for aggression. Key words: aggression; cortical thickness; personality; trauma
Aggression represents a significant public health concern, causing serious physical and psychological harm. Although many studies have sought to characterize the etiology of aggression, research on the contributions of risk factors that span multiple levels of analysis for explaining aggressive behavior is lacking. To address this gap, we investigated the direct and unique contributions of cortical thickness (level 1), pathological personality traits (level 2) and trauma exposure (level 3) for explaining lifetime physical aggression in a high-risk sample of community adults (N=129, 47.3% men). First, the frequency of lifetime aggression was inversely associated with cortical thickness in regions of prefrontal and temporal cortices that have been implicated in executive functioning, inhibitory mechanisms and socio-emotional processing. Further, aggression was positively associated with pathological personality traits (antagonism and disinhibition) and exposure to assaultive trauma. Notably, all three levels of analysis (cortical thickness, pathological personality traits and assaultive trauma exposure) explained non-overlapping variance in aggressive behavior when examined simultaneously in integrative models. Together, the findings provide a multilevel assessment of the biopsychosocial factors associated with the frequency of aggression. They also indicate that cortical thickness explains novel variance in these harmful behaviors not captured by well-established personality and environmental risk factors for aggression. Key words: aggression; cortical thickness; personality; trauma