The purpose of the present study was to extend previous knowledge concerning the link between self-esteem and aggression by examining the mediating role of emotion dysregulation among offenders and community participants. A sample of 153 incarcerated violent offenders and a community sample of 197 individuals completed self-report measures of self-esteem level, emotion dysregulation, and trait aggression. Offenders reported lower levels of self-esteem than community participants, as well as greater levels of emotional nonacceptance and hostility. Bootstrapping analyses were performed to test whether emotion dysregulation mediated the association between self-esteem level and aggression. In the offender sample, mediation models were significant for three of the four aspects of trait aggression that were considered. Emotion dysregulation fully mediated the links that low self-esteem had with physical aggression, anger, and hostility. The same pattern (with the addition of full mediation for verbal aggression) was confirmed in the community sample. Our findings suggest that emotion dysregulation may play an important role in the connection between low self-esteem and aggression. Alternative models of the associations among these variables were tested and discussed. As a whole, the present results are consistent with those of other studies and suggest that it may be beneficial to include emotion regulation modules as part of prevention and treatment programs for violent offenders.
Objective: Prior research has long emphasized the role of alexithymia and impulsivity to explain aggressive tendencies. Recently, a growing body of research seems to support the relevance of the broader construct of emotion dysregulation to understand aggression. The present study was the first to comprehensively examine the relative contribution of, and the mechanisms linking alexithymia, impulsivity, and emotion dysregulation in predicting aggression dimensions. Method: Male violent offenders (N = 221) and community participants (N = 245) completed multifaceted self-report measures of alexithymia, impulsivity, emotion dysregulation, and aggression. Regression analyses tested the independent contribution of each facet on aggression dimensions. Bootstrap analyses examined the indirect effect of alexithymia on aggression through emotion dysregulation and impulsivity. Results: Offenders reported higher levels of difficulties identifying feelings, emotional nonacceptance, physical aggression, and hostility. Difficulties in identifying and describing feelings, and motor and attentional impulsivity, explained unique variance in physical aggression, anger, and hostility in both samples, and also in verbal aggression among community participants. In both samples, negative urgency and emotional nonacceptance explained additional variance in aggression dimensions above and beyond the influence of alexithymia and impulsivity. Emotion dysregulation and impulsivity mediated the relation between alexithymia and aggression in both samples, with emotion dysregulation demonstrating a relatively stronger effect. Conclusions: Findings emphasize the unique relevance of alexithymia, impulsivity, and emotion dysregulation facets in explaining aggressive tendencies. Clinical implications include the importance of focusing on emotion regulation skills—such as accepting emotions and do not act on them—to reduce aggression tendencies.
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