NCJ Number
203219
Journal
Aggression and Violent Behavior Volume: 8 Issue: 6 Dated: November-December 2003 Pages: 621-644
Date Published
November 2003
Length
24 pages
Annotation
This article reviews recent psychobiosocial studies of the association between hormonal changes and aggression/violence in children and adolescents.
Abstract
SCIENCEDIRECT and MEDLINE-derived online reviews of bibliographies were systematically searched for articles related to hormones and aggression in children and adolescents published within the last 15 years. The abstracted data of each publication are presented in this article, hormone by hormone, with a brief discussion of the main findings. Results are summarized in relation to age, sex, and the type of aggression. The review of the available research found few systematic studies of the relationship between aggression and hormones. Most of the research on this topics has attempted to uncover direct links between measures of biological status, such as levels of hormone T, and individuals' behavior (levels of aggression, risk-taking, and nurturance). There have been no well-developed studies of the interaction between biology and an individual's environment in the genesis of aggressive behavior. Most of the studies of human aggression have failed to take into account that hormonal levels vary over time and context. There are no longitudinal data on whether the status of being in the top 10 percent of T distribution in childhood is predictive of being in the top 10 percent of T distribution in adulthood. The link between hormones and aggression shows a reciprocal and circular interplay between both. In the development of aggression, psychosocial factors are involved, linked to the metabolic and physiological pathways, along with genetic characteristics. Assuming that T and CORT are two hormones that hold promise for clarifying linkages between biology, behavior, and environments within the context of the family, an important next step is to examine the influence of both on family dynamics and subsequent child development, as well as how family relationships and experiences in turn affect the way biological factors manifest themselves. 103 references