Poster #120 - Biological and Social-Emotional Correlates of Childhood Aggression

• In Event: 1-061 - Poster Session 02
  In Poster Session: PS 02 Section - Moral Development

Integrative Statement

Childhood aggression is associated with biological irregularities, including physiological underarousal and amygdala dysfunction (Raine, 2013). How these irregularities contribute to aggression, however, remains poorly understood. One possibility is that they interfere with children’s social-emotional capacities, such as the ability to feel guilt after wrongdoing; a dearth of guilt is associated with greater aggression (Malti, 2016), dampened physiological reactivity, and atypical amygdala functioning (Blair, 1997). Testing whether biological factors are associated with aggression through their effects on children’s experiences of guilt will foster a more comprehensive understanding of the origins of aggressive behavior.

We examined whether physiological underarousal and lower fear recognition—a marker of amygdala dysfunction—indirectly predicted aggression through their effects on guilt proneness in a community sample of Canadian 8-year-olds (N = 150). Aggression was caregiver reported (Little et al., 2003). Physiological arousal was assessed via skin conductance and respiratory sinus arrhythmia during a hypothetical task where children imagined themselves stealing from/pushing another child. Fear recognition was assessed with a facial morph task (Gao & Mauer, 2009). The degree to which children felt more or less guilt after imagining stealing/pushing was assessed via semi-structured interview (Malti et al., 2009).

As depicted in Figure 1, a higher fear recognition threshold (i.e., worse fear recognition) was directly associated with lower levels of guilt. Skin conductance and respiratory sinus arrhythmia reactivity while transgressing interacted to predict guilt. Simple slopes analyses revealed that sharper declines in skin conductance were associated with lower levels of guilt for children who increased in respiratory sinus arrhythmia (β = .24, p = .027), whereas skin conductance reactivity was not associated with guilt for children who declined in respiratory sinus arrhythmia (β = -.03, p = .62). In other words, a “rest and digest” physiological response—indicating physiological underarousal—while transgressing was associated with lower reports of guilt after transgressing. Both lower fear recognition and physiological underarousal while transgressing were associated with greater aggression indirectly through their association with low levels of guilt. Specifically, the indirect effect of fear recognition threshold on aggression through guilt was significant, β = .05, 95% CI [.01, .11]. The indirect effect of skin conductance reactivity at high respiratory sinus arrhythmia reactivity on aggression through guilt was also significant, β = -.05, 95% CI [-.16, -.01] (R2 = .14 for aggression).

Results suggest that neurobiological/physiological deficits promote aggression through their effects on children’s social-emotional functioning. Assessing biological and social-emotional factors offers a more comprehensive understanding of the origins of aggression. Intervention strategies that improve the social-emotional acuity of children with biological deficits (e.g., via guilt induction) may prevent such deficits from translating into aggression.

Authors

• Tyler Colasante, University of Toronto at Mississauga
  Presenting Author

• Marc Jambon, University of Toronto
  Non-Presenting Author

• Tina Malti, University of Toronto
  Non-Presenting Author