The effects of a provocation on aggression for three types of alcohol users

Abstract

Investigated the effects of a provocation on aggression for three types of alcohol users. The Alcohol Use Inventory was used to select 30 light‐moderate and 30 moderate drinkers. Thirty abstainers were selected as a control group. Half of each group was assigned randomly to one of two treatments, a provocation or a no‐provocation. After treatment, each S completed the Adjective Rating Form (ARF) verbal aggression scales and the Multiple Affect Adjective Checklist (MAACL). The results of this study indicated that, for both instruments, the provocation elicited significantly more feelings of hostility and verbal aggression than the no‐provocation. However, there were no significant level effects, nor was there a significant interaction between level of drinking and presence of a provocation. The failure to find significant level effects was attributed to the abstainers' scores. With the abstainer category excluded from the analysis, additional findings resulted in significant level effects for the MAACL hostility scales, but not for the ARF verbal aggression scales. It was recommended that future studies investigate risk factors of abstinence and eliminate the abstainer category as a control.

Personality Characteristics, Locus of Control and Hostility among Alcoholics and Non-Alcoholics

“…Alcoholics are more aggressive, hostile and troubled ones. Similar results have also been reported by (Baldwin and Randolph 1982, Rajendran and Cherian 1992, Michel 2003. Further non-alcoholic individuals are higher on internal locus of control and same time give importance to powerful others.…”

“…Many studies found positive relationship between alcoholism and hostile & aggressive behavior (Baldwin & Randolph 1982, Rajendran and Cherian 1992, Michel et al 2003, Schumacher et al 2008. Abelsohn and Spuy (1978) reported that significant differences were found in hostility on different stages of ages in alcoholics.…”

Docosahexaenoic acid does not affect aggression of normal volunteers under nonstressful conditions. A randomized, placebo‐controlled, double‐blind study

“…Consequently, the presence or absence of mental stress may have contributed to the radically different result. In general, the presence of a stressor increases the degree of aggression (23,24). Actually, hostility (the Multiple Affect Adjective Checklist) and aggression (the Adjective Rating Form) scales of nondrinkers were higher than those of moderate drinkers when subjects were not provoked, whereas, after provocation, both scales increased in the two groups, and those of moderate drinkers became higher than for nondrinkers (24).…”

“…In general, the presence of a stressor increases the degree of aggression (23,24). Actually, hostility (the Multiple Affect Adjective Checklist) and aggression (the Adjective Rating Form) scales of nondrinkers were higher than those of moderate drinkers when subjects were not provoked, whereas, after provocation, both scales increased in the two groups, and those of moderate drinkers became higher than for nondrinkers (24). Thus, it is possible that the results obtained from the psychological testing methods without stressor as performed in the present study were different from the previous results (12).…”