Catecholamine excretion, conscience function and aggressive behaviour.

This report deals with a study--carried out among 46 12-17-year-old-boys--of the relationship between: (1) the excretion of waste products of catecholamines (methyladrenaline and methylnoradrenaline) and creatinine, (2) aggressive behaviour in a laboratory setting, and (3) data obtained via a conscience-function questionnaire. The hypothesis that aggressive behaviour is positively correlated with methylnoradrenaline excretion was confirmed. As far as the conscience-function questionnaire was concerned, three dimensions could be distinguished. Methyladrenaline and methylnoradrenaline excretion proved to be reversely related to one of them, indicated as the 'intropunitiveness-aggressiveness dimension'. Intropunitive subjects appeared to have a higher methyladrenaline and a lower methylnoradrenaline excretion than aggressive subjects. The aforesaid dimension also correlated significantly with creatinine excretion, a finding which led to the interpretation that aggressive people possess greater muscular strength than more intropunitively inclined people. However, no significant correlations between aggression scores and questionnaire scores were found. The results are discussed against the background of arousal theories of aggressive behaviour.