Gender differences in emotional risk for self- and other-directed violence among externalizing adults.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE Women and men generally differ in how frequently they engage in other-and self-directed physical violence and may show distinct emotional risk factors for engagement in these high-impact behaviors. To inform this area, we investigated gender differences in the relationship of emotional tendencies (i.e., anger, hostility, and anhedonic depression) that may represent risk for other-directed (i.e., physical fighting, attacking others unprovoked) and self-directed violence (i.e., self-injury, suicide attempts). METHOD The ethnically-diverse sample consisted of 372 adults (252 men and 120 women ages 18–55) with a history of criminal convictions. Facets of emotional risk assessed with the Aggression Questionnaire (Buss & Warren, 2000) and Mood and Anxiety Symptom Questionnaire (Watson et al., 1995) were entered simultaneously as explanatory variables in regression analyses to investigate their unique contributions to other- and self-directed physical violence in men and women. RESULTS Analyses revealed anhedonic depressive tendencies negatively predicted other-directed violence and positively predicted self-directed violence in both men and women, consistent with a model of depression in which aggression is turned inwards (Henriksson et al., 1993). Gender differences, however, emerged for the differential contributions of anger and hostility to other-and self-directed violence. Specifically, trait anger (i.e., difficulty controlling one’s temper) was associated with other-directed violence selectively in men, whereas trait hostility (i.e., suspiciousness and alienation) was associated with self- and other-directed violence among women. CONCLUSIONS The divergent findings for trait anger and hostility underscore the need to examine gender-specific risk factors for physical violence to avoid excluding potentially useful clinical features of these mental health outcomes.

Spatial Proximity to Incidents of Community Violence Is Associated with Fewer Suicides in Urban California

“…[32][33][34] Suicidal behavior and interpersonal violence share several common risk factors, and there is evidence that troubled individuals tend to specialize in either inward-or outward-directed violence. [35][36][37] This study may be capturing differences in patterns of this expression across communities.…”

Convergent and Divergent Validity of the Student Engagement in School Success Skills Survey

“…Similar to Sadeh et al (2011), Fischer & Evers (2011 found that females expressed subjective anger, or self-anger, more often than males. Buntaine and Costenbader (1997) found that both genders' self-reports (assessments) indicated no significant differences.…”

“…Although research depicts females as more emotionally expressive, males have a reputation of being more predisposed to anger. According to Sadeh, Javdani, Finy, and Verona (2011), females experience anger, but may express it differently than males. For example, instead of expressing anger by striking objects, adolescent females may talk to friends or peers (Fischer & Evers, 2011).…”

“…Similarly, Burt, Patel, and Lewis (2012) reported that incorporating social and relational competencies into anger management groups reduced anger, but there was no discussion of anger differences between genders. Sadeh et al (2011) indicated that women expressed more self-anger (i.e., anger directed internally toward themselves) than males, but did not investigate whether differences existed between genders before the study.…”

Predicting violence among individuals who engage in self-injury

“…Gender, for example, appears to be differentially associated with violence and self-injury. Specifically, previous studies have found that males had higher interpersonal violence scores whereas females achieved higher self-directed violence scores (Sadeh et al, 2011). In addition, specific aspects of emotional disorders such as depression appear to differentiate between self-and other directed violence.…”