Rethinking Testosterone and Aggression: Testosterone and Contextual Influences of Harsh Discipline on Proactive Aggression in Youth

• In Event: A Biosocial Perspective: How Biological and Social Factors Interact to Increase Risk for Antisocial Behavior

Abstract

Testosterone is proposed to link to aggression and more recently to dominance/status-seeking. Although animal research on the testosterone-behavior link is relatively conclusive, prior research in humans has collectively revealed only a weak association between basal testosterone and aggression. The current study contributes to the literature of basal testosterone by emphasizing the social context and a behavioral outcome (i.e., proactive aggression) that overlaps with aggression and dominance. We proposed that harsh discipline might be a salient social context that would push the latent dominant tendency (purportedly indicated by high testosterone) to manifest as proactive aggression as a result of children’s observational learning. We tested the interaction of testosterone and harsh discipline on proactive aggression in a large urban community sample of children aged 11 to 12 years (N = 439; 50% boys; 80% African American). A multi-group analysis revealed a significant interaction in that harsh discipline had a positive association for boys with testosterone greater than 48.50 pg/mL (the 48th percentile of boys’ testosterone level) and for girls with testosterone greater than 40.83 pg/mL (the 46th percentile of girls’ testosterone level). The patterns were very similar across sexes. This is the first study to document an invariant sex effect of testosterone and harsh discipline. We will discuss the potential mechanism of this biosocial interaction on proactive aggression and how the findings fit into the large literature of testosterone.

Authors

• Frances Chen, Georgia State University

• Adrian Raine, University of Pennsylvania

• Douglas A. Granger, University of California Irvine