No sex differences in the origins of covariation between social and physical aggression

Abstract

BackgroundPrior work has indicated both theoretical and empirical overlap between social and physical aggression. The extent to which their covariance can be explained by the same underlying genetic or environmental factors, however, remains unclear. It is also uncertain whether or how the origins of their covariance might vary across sex. The current study sought to fill these gaps in the literature.MethodsWe examined maternal and teacher reports of youth physical and social aggression in over 1000 6–10 years old (mean age = 8.02 years) twin pairs from the Michigan State University Twin Registry. We made use of the bivariate correlated factors model to clarify the origins of their association. We further tested both sex difference and no-sex difference versions of that model to determine whether there are sex differences in the association between social and physical aggression, as often assumed.ResultsThe covariation between social and physical aggression was due to overlapping genetic factors and common environmental conditions. Specifically, 50–57% of the genetic factors, 74–100% of the shared environmental factors, and 28–40% of the unique environmental factors influencing physical aggression also influenced social aggression according to both mother and teacher reports. These shared etiological factors did not differ across sex.ConclusionsThese findings argue against the common assumption that social aggression is the ‘female version’ of male physical aggression, and instead suggest that social aggression may be best conceptualized as a form of antisocial behavior that shares developmental pathways with other manifestations of externalizing pathology.

Gender, Anxiety, and Legitimation of Violence in Adolescents Facing Simulated Physical Aggression at School

“…The absence of gender differences in the use of violence in the present research was in line with previous research in this area [ 31 ]. Early studies about the prevalence of antisocial behavior in boys versus girls reported stronger genetic influences in girls and stronger environmental influences in boys.…”

“…On the other hand, female teenagers seem to have a prosocial orientation and inclination to solve problems assertively, empathize, and be concerned with others. However, new evidence has found no gender differences related to aggression manifestations [ 31 ], which could be associated with a generational and cultural change in parenting and relationship patterns [ 32 ].…”

Twin Differences in Harsh Parenting Predict Youth’s Antisocial Behavior

“…Given these considerations, our team has adopted a combined informant approach whenever possible, which is thought to allow for a more complete assessment of child symptomatology than would the use of any one informant alone (Achenbach et al, 1987). We thus created three sets of composites, echoing the various composites used in our prior work: all available adult informants (mother, father, teacher; as in Slawinski, Klump, & Burt, 2019), all available family informants (mother, father, child; as in Burt et al, 2006), and all available informants (mother, father, teacher, child; as in Burt, Clark, Pearson, Klump, & Neiderhiser, 2020). Data were averaged across the relevant informants to create each composite.…”

Modeling variation in empathic sensitivity using go/no-go social reinforcement learning

“…Because we used a mixed-gender community sample, we focused on social aggression, which is also known as indirect or relational aggression (Archer & Coyne, 2005). This is a common form of antisocial behavior (Björkqvist et al, 1994;Burt et al, 2012) employed at relatively similar rates by females and males (Archer, 2004;Björkqvist et al, 1994;Burt et al, 2012;Czar et al, 2011;Eagly & Steffen, 1986;Slawinski et al, 2018), which involves the use or manipulation of social relationships as a means of harming others psychologically or detrimentally affecting their social status (Archer & Coyne, 2005;Burt & Donnellan, 2010).…”