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Violent interpersonal trauma predicts aggressive thoughts and behaviors towards self and others: findings from the National Comorbidity Survey-Adolescent Supplement

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of the current study is to examine the relation between adolescent traumatic event exposure and aggression directed towards the self and others. Theoretical perspectives underscore the particularly pernicious effects of violent traumas intentionally perpetrated by others in terms of negative posttraumatic outcomes. However, a careful comparison of trauma type in relation to aggression has not been done with youth. The current project, therefore, examined differences between youth with a history of violent interpersonal trauma (VIT) compared to those with a non-violent trauma type history in terms of aggressive behavior directed towards others as well as aggressive self-directed thoughts (suicidal ideation).

Method

The sample was drawn from the National Comorbidity Survey-Replication and consisted of 1928 adolescents (M = 15.4; SD = 1.47 years), each assigned to one of four age- and gender-matched trauma history groups.

Results

Consistent with hypotheses, among trauma-exposed youth, those who had experienced or witnessed a VIT (compared to those reporting a non-VIT only) evidenced elevated aggression, even after controlling for a number of theoretically relevant covariates (e.g., gender, age, household income, demographic factors).

Conclusion

Results indicate that youth with a history of VIT may be at unique risk for experiencing aggression directed towards others and the self compared to those without this specific trauma history. This is important because trauma type is an easily assessed indicator of potentially elevated risk for these types of deleterious outcomes. Findings are situated in a research agenda aimed at continuing to refine our understanding of the link between interpersonal trauma and aggression.

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Notes

  1. Sampling weights for the NCS-A dataset are often used to ensure analyses are conducted on a nationally representative sample [28]. However, because we selected a sub-sample of adolescents based on history of exposure to a traumatic event, our sample is not nationally representative of the US adolescent population thus sampling weights were not applied.

  2. Chi square tests of independence indicated a significant difference in the proportion of cases from the four groups endorsing serious thoughts of suicidality [χ2 (3, N = 1876) = 59.469, p < .001], having attacks of anger where they broke something [χ2 (3, N = 1928) = 102.618, p < .001], having attacks of anger where they hit/attempted to hit someone [χ2 (3, N = 1927) = 117.242, p < .001], or an anger attack where they threatened to hit another person [χ2 (3, N = 1090) = 13.381, p = .004]. Specifically, (a) serious thoughts of suicidality, (b) anger attacks where valuables were broken, and (c) anger attacks where someone else was hit each were endorsed by fewer adolescents in the No Trauma and non-VIT groups, and significantly more adolescents in the VIT and Both groups, than expected by chance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychological Science, University of Arkansas, 216 Memorial Hall, Fayetteville, AR, 72701, USA

    Teah-Marie Bynion, Emily R. Mischel, Sasha M. Rojas & Ellen W. Leen-Feldner

  2. University of North Texas, Denton, USA

    Renee Cloutier & Heidemarie Blumenthal

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  1. Teah-Marie Bynion
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Correspondence to Teah-Marie Bynion or Ellen W. Leen-Feldner.

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Bynion, TM., Cloutier, R., Blumenthal, H. et al. Violent interpersonal trauma predicts aggressive thoughts and behaviors towards self and others: findings from the National Comorbidity Survey-Adolescent Supplement. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 53, 1361–1370 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-018-1607-x

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