Men and women, alcohol and aggression.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the acute effects of alcohol on aggressive behavior in men and women in a laboratory setting. Participants were 526 (261 men and 265 women) healthy social drinkers between 21 and 35 years of age. They were randomly assigned to either an alcohol or a placebo group. Aggression was measured using a modified version of the Taylor Aggression Paradigm in which electric shocks are received from, and delivered to, a same gender fictitious opponent during a supposed competitive interpersonal task. Aggression was operationalized as the intensity and duration of shocks that participants administered to their "opponent." Overall, men were more aggressive than women. Alcohol increased aggression for both men and women but this effect was stronger for men. This is one of the first laboratory studies to demonstrate that alcohol increases aggression in women.

Neural and Behavioral Correlates of Alcohol-Induced Aggression Under Provocation

“…The absence of a gender effect on behavioral and neural alcohol effects of aggression further suggests that alcohol-induced aggression occurs in men as well as women (Dougherty et al, 1999;Giancola et al, 2009;Duke et al, 2011) but requires further investigation due to a small sample size.…”

Consumo de alcohol en hombres penados por violencia contra la pareja: factores individuales y contextuales

“…Lo que no podemos saber a partir de nuestros datos es si existe una relación de causa y efecto entre consu-mo abusivo de alcohol y mayor presencia de síntomas clínicos, ni en qué dirección se daría tal relación. En segundo lugar, en cuanto a la relación entre consumo de alcohol y otras sustancias, observamos que en muchos estudios ni siquiera se realiza la distinción entre ambos tipos de consumo al analizar las consecuencias del mismo, por lo que nuestros resultados concuerdan con la literatura previa (Fernández-Montalvo et al, 2011;Giancola et al, 2009). Por último, como sucede en numerosos estudios anteriores, los participantes que destacan por un alto consumo de alcohol puntúan de manera significativa en impulsividad (MacKillop et al, 2007).…”

“…E n el ámbito de la violencia contra la mujer en las relaciones de pareja, uno de los factores de riesgo destacados en numerosos estudios ha sido el consumo abusivo de alcohol (Calafat et al, 2011;Giancola et al, 2009). Por ello, la Organización Mundial de la Salud (2010), ha identificado el consumo perjudicial de alcohol como uno de los 50 factores de riesgo en la violencia contra la pareja y la violencia sexual.…”

Alcohol Use and Risky Behaviour: Evidence of Anxiolysis-Disinhibition from a Naturalistic Drinking Study

“…For example, Giancola et al (2009) found that aggression increased for both males and females after alcohol consumption, but was more apparent in males. Here however, the impact of gender and alcohol were additive rather than interactive.…”

“…The link between alcohol and violent crimes is particularly strong with nearly half of the one million violent crimes annually reported being attributed to alcohol (Office for National Statistics, 2012). Giancola et al (2009) experimentally assessed the effects of alcohol on aggression in both males and females, finding aggression increased for both sexes after alcohol, but that this increase was more apparent in males. However, research into adolescents does show increasing rates of violence among females too (Odgers et al, 2007), and Graves (2007) concludes that gender differences in serious violent acts are fading.…”