Bender Doris, Lösel Friedrich
Institute of Psychology, University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany.
Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Front Psychol. 2021 Apr 22;12:636501. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.636501. eCollection 2021.
Most research on aggression and delinquency concentrates on risk factors. There has been less attention for protective factors and mechanisms, in particular with regard to biosocial influences. Based on theories of autonomous arousal and stress reactance the present study addresses the influence of adrenocortical activity as a risk and/or protective factor in the development of antisocial behavior in children. We also investigated relations to anxiousness and family stressors. In a prospective longitudinal study of 150 German boys, the first measurement took place at preschool age and contained an assessment of cortisol after waking up and 30 min later. Aggressiveness and anxiousness of the children were assessed by the kindergarten teachers with the Social Behavior Questionnaire. After 6 years, the children's behavior was rated by the teachers in middle school. Variable-oriented data analyses revealed a significant correlation between the total amount of cortisol after waking up and 30 min later ( ) and anxiousness both cross-sectionally and longitudinally, but not with aggressiveness. A family stress index correlated positively with aggressiveness but neither with cortisol nor with anxiousness. There were significant correlations between aggressiveness and anxiousness at kindergarten age and the respective behavior problems 6 years later. In a linear regression analysis on aggression only family stress had a significant effect but anxiousness not. Moderator analyses on aggressiveness with anxiousness and or on with anxiousness and aggressiveness did not show any significant interactions. Longitudinally, only aggression significantly predicted aggression 6 years later in a linear regression. In addition to variable-oriented analyses, we also applied a person-oriented approach to investigate specific patterns of behavior. Children who were high in both aggressiveness and anxiousness had the highest cortisol level and those with low anxiousness and high aggressiveness the lowest. The groups with different patterns of externalizing and internalizing problems at preschool age showed significant differences in aggression 6 years later. Our results underline the need for complex pattern analyses on cortisol, aggression, and anxiousness in children and for a differentiated consideration of emotional reactive aggression and unemotional instrumental aggression.
大多数关于攻击行为和犯罪行为的研究都集中在风险因素上。对于保护因素和机制的关注较少，尤其是在生物社会影响方面。基于自主唤醒和应激反应理论，本研究探讨了肾上腺皮质活动作为儿童反社会行为发展中的风险和/或保护因素的影响。我们还研究了与焦虑和家庭压力源的关系。在一项对150名德国男孩的前瞻性纵向研究中，首次测量在学龄前进行，包括醒来后和30分钟后的皮质醇评估。幼儿园教师使用社会行为问卷对儿童的攻击性和焦虑性进行评估。6年后，中学教师对儿童的行为进行评分。变量导向的数据分析显示，醒来后和30分钟后的皮质醇总量与焦虑在横断面和纵向均存在显著相关性，但与攻击性无关。家庭压力指数与攻击性呈正相关，但与皮质醇和焦虑均无关。幼儿园年龄时的攻击性和焦虑性与6年后各自的行为问题之间存在显著相关性。在仅针对攻击性的线性回归分析中，只有家庭压力有显著影响，而焦虑没有。以焦虑为调节变量对攻击性进行分析，或以攻击性和焦虑为调节变量对皮质醇进行分析，均未显示出任何显著的交互作用。纵向来看，在一项线性回归中，只有攻击性显著预测了6年后的攻击性。除了变量导向分析外，我们还采用了以人为本的方法来研究特定的行为模式。攻击性和焦虑性都高的儿童皮质醇水平最高，而焦虑性低且攻击性高的儿童皮质醇水平最低。在学龄前具有不同外化和内化问题模式的组在6年后的攻击性方面存在显著差异。我们的结果强调了对儿童皮质醇、攻击性和焦虑进行复杂模式分析的必要性，以及对情绪反应性攻击和非情绪工具性攻击进行差异化考量的必要性。
