Sensation Seeking and Violence

Abstract

Sensation seeking is a biological drive to seek out novel or exciting behaviors and has been linked to adolescent risk taking, including aggressive and violent behaviors. Prior research has documented direct associations between sensation seeking and aggression among adolescents, as well as mediation and moderation pathways by which sensation seeking can operate in combination with media violence exposure to increase risk for aggression. Nevertheless, studies examining the relation between sensation seeking and aggression in adolescents have often overlooked the confounding influence of impulsivity—a personality characteristic that tends to be positively correlated with sensation seeking but represents a distinct weakness in top‐down control and may play a more critical role in predicting adolescent aggression. Future research should focus on identifying the unique effects of sensation seeking and impulsivity in predicting adolescent aggression in order to inform the design of more targeted preventive interventions.