Objective: In this study, we examined whether dispositional moral disengagement is associated with a specific act of laboratory-based aggression. No study, to our knowledge, has yet demonstrated this simple, yet necessary, link. We also investigated whether situational context moderated this relationship. Method: A university sample of 181 participants completed the Moral Disengagement Scale and the Hot Sauce Paradigm in an experimental design. Participants allocated hot sauce for consumption by a fictional partner who had insulted them (experimental conditions) or not (control condition). In two of three experimental conditions, participants were given instructions incorporating statements of diffusion of responsibility and displacement of responsibility; the third experimental condition measured baseline aggression in a Revenge-only condition, without additional moral disengagement statements. Results: Dispositional moral disengagement was correlated with behavioral aggression, but only in the Revenge-only condition. This relationship disappeared in the Diffusion-primed and Displacement-primed conditions, demonstrating that situational context moderates the relationship between moral disengagement and aggression. Conclusions: Moral disengagement is indeed associated with specific acts of interpersonal aggression. However, while moral disengagement may play a substantial role in predicting aggression, the situational context must be taken into account. Our data suggest that situational characteristics can disrupt the association between trait moral disengagement and aggression, and this may be an avenue for future prevention research.

Patients with comorbid schizophrenia and panic symptoms share a distinct clinical presentation and biological characteristics, prompting some to propose panic psychosis as a separate subtype of schizophrenia. Less is known about these patients’ neuropsychological profiles, knowledge of which may facilitate target-specific treatments and research into the etiopathophysiology for such cases. A total of 255 schizophrenia patients with panic disorder (n=39), non-panic anxiety disorder (n=51), or no anxiety disorder (n=165) were assessed with the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale – Revised, the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, the Trail Making Test, the Controlled Oral Word Association Test, the Animal Naming subtest of the Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination, and the Wechsler Memory Scale – Revised. Psychotic symptoms were assessed with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale. Patients with panic disorder demonstrated a higher verbal IQ and better problem solving, set switching, delayed recall, attention, and verbal fluency as compared to schizophrenia patients without comorbid anxiety. The schizophrenia-panic group reported a higher level of dysthymia on stable medication. Our findings suggest that patients with schizophrenia and comorbid panic disorder exhibit distinct cognitive functioning when compared to other schizophrenia patients. These data offer further support for a definable panic-psychosis subtype and suggest new etiological pathways for future research.

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Objective: Investigate (1) the association of child adiposity with parent-to-child and parent-to-parent hostility, (2) the mediation of these associations by dietary behaviours, and (3) moderation by gender. Design: One hundred thirty-five couples with 6- to 14-year-old children completed measures of emotional and physical aggression, overreactive discipline, and child diet. Parent-to-parent hostility was also coded from laboratory observations. Main Outcome Measure: Child adiposity was a combination of body mass index and waist-to-hip ratio. Results: Mother-to-child hostility was associated with child adiposity. This association was concentrated in boys and was not significantly explained by child dietary factors. Mother-to-father hostility was not significantly associated with boys’ or girls’ adiposity. Girls’ adiposity was not significantly associated with family hostility. Fathers’ hostility was not linked to child adiposity. Conclusion: This is the first study to take a family-level approach to understanding the relation of hostility to child adiposity by examining relations among adiposity and both mothers’ and fathers’ hostility directed toward one another and toward their children. Our findings highlight the potential role played by mothers’ emotional hostility in boys’ adiposity and suggest that, if this role is further substantiated, mother-son emotional hostility may be a promising target for the prevention of child obesity.

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