David S Chester1, Kathleen K Bucholz2, Grace Chan3, Chella Kamarajan4, Ashwini K Pandey4, Leah Wetherill5, John R Kramer6, John I Nurnberger5,7, Jessica E Salvatore1, Danielle M Dick1,8. 1. From the Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, USA. 2. Department of Psychiatry, Washington University, St Louis, Missouri, USA. 3. Department of Psychiatry, University of Connecticut, Farmington, Connecticut, USA. 4. Department of Psychiatry, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York, USA. 5. Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA. 6. Department of Psychiatry, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, USA. 7. Department of Psychiatry, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. 8. Department of Human and Molecular Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, USA.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Aggression often occurs alongside alcohol and drug misuse. However, it is not clear whether the latent and manifest relations among alcohol-related, drug-related, and non-substance-related aggression are separate manifestations of a single construct or instead are 3 distinct constructs. METHODS: To examine these associations, we conducted a preregistered analysis of 13,490 participants in the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism. In a structured interview, participants reported their lifetime perpetration of these 3 aggression phenotypes. RESULTS: The data were better fit by a model that treated these aggression phenotypes as 3 distinct latent factors, as compared to models in which the items all loaded onto 1 ("general") or 2 ("substance-related" and "non-substance-related") aggression factors. This 3-factor model fit better for men than women. Subsequent exploratory analyses then showed that among these 3 factors, alcohol-related aggression explained the variance of overall aggression better than the other 2 factors. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that these 3 forms of aggression are distinct phenotypes (especially among men). Yet, people's alcohol-related aggression can accurately characterize their overall aggressive tendencies across these domains. Future research will benefit from articulating the unique and shared pathways and risk factors underlying each of these facets of aggression.
BACKGROUND:Aggression often occurs alongside alcohol and drug misuse. However, it is not clear whether the latent and manifest relations among alcohol-related, drug-related, and non-substance-related aggression are separate manifestations of a single construct or instead are 3 distinct constructs. METHODS: To examine these associations, we conducted a preregistered analysis of 13,490 participants in the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism. In a structured interview, participants reported their lifetime perpetration of these 3 aggression phenotypes. RESULTS: The data were better fit by a model that treated these aggression phenotypes as 3 distinct latent factors, as compared to models in which the items all loaded onto 1 ("general") or 2 ("substance-related" and "non-substance-related") aggression factors. This 3-factor model fit better for men than women. Subsequent exploratory analyses then showed that among these 3 factors, alcohol-related aggression explained the variance of overall aggression better than the other 2 factors. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that these 3 forms of aggression are distinct phenotypes (especially among men). Yet, people's alcohol-related aggression can accurately characterize their overall aggressive tendencies across these domains. Future research will benefit from articulating the unique and shared pathways and risk factors underlying each of these facets of aggression.
Authors: Roman Kotov; Robert F Krueger; David Watson; Thomas M Achenbach; Robert R Althoff; R Michael Bagby; Timothy A Brown; William T Carpenter; Avshalom Caspi; Lee Anna Clark; Nicholas R Eaton; Miriam K Forbes; Kelsie T Forbush; David Goldberg; Deborah Hasin; Steven E Hyman; Masha Y Ivanova; Donald R Lynam; Kristian Markon; Joshua D Miller; Terrie E Moffitt; Leslie C Morey; Stephanie N Mullins-Sweatt; Johan Ormel; Christopher J Patrick; Darrel A Regier; Leslie Rescorla; Camilo J Ruggero; Douglas B Samuel; Martin Sellbom; Leonard J Simms; Andrew E Skodol; Tim Slade; Susan C South; Jennifer L Tackett; Irwin D Waldman; Monika A Waszczuk; Thomas A Widiger; Aidan G C Wright; Mark Zimmerman Journal: J Abnorm Psychol Date: 2017-03-23
Authors: Kasey G Creswell; Aidan G C Wright; Janine D Flory; Carillon J Skrzynski; Stephen B Manuck Journal: Psychol Med Date: 2018-09-04 Impact factor: 7.723
Authors: Peter R Giancola; Emily L Helton; Abigail B Osborne; Michael K Terry; Angie M Fuss; Johnna A Westerfield Journal: J Stud Alcohol Date: 2002-01
Authors: John I Nurnberger; Ryan Wiegand; Kathleen Bucholz; Sean O'Connor; Eric T Meyer; Theodore Reich; John Rice; Marc Schuckit; Lucy King; Theodore Petti; Laura Bierut; Anthony L Hinrichs; Samuel Kuperman; Victor Hesselbrock; Bernice Porjesz Journal: Arch Gen Psychiatry Date: 2004-12