Digital Commons Network^™

Cyberbullying, Relational, And Social Aggression, Latitia Lattanzio

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cyberbullying is a relatively new phenomenon that has only begun to be significantly investigated within the last decade. To date, researchers have failed to develop a uniform definition or determine appropriate terminology. These deficits have inhibited a comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon. Although a comprehensive conceptualization of cyberbullying has yet to be established, the phenomenon has been recognized as a significant problem affecting our youth. Many of the existing studies are descriptive in nature and emphasize the need for more research. In an effort to drive future studies, many have postulated on the possible similarities between cyberbullying and traditional indirect …

Bullying Of Linguistically Diverse Learners: Results From The Youth Risk Behavior Survey, Jenna Woodarek

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Bullying is a serious phenomenon yielding significant consequences for youth who are victimized, often targeted due to their perceived level of difference from their peers. This “otherness” can often be amplified in minoritized populations, especially those which have multiple, cooccurring vulnerabilities to be targets of bullying. After a period of bullying rates decreasing in the US, special interest group inquiries found bullying rates to be on the rise again and reportedly motivated by ethnicity or race, immigrant status, and proficiency in the English language. The present research study aims to expand upon the existing pertinent literature base specific to the …

Psychopathic Personality Traits As A Moderator Of The Relationship Between Social Intelligence And Relational Aggression, Savannah Merold

Master's Theses

Social intelligence has been identified as one of many predictors of relational aggression. It is likely that a certain level of social intelligence may be necessary for relationally aggressive behaviors to be effective (e.g., some ability to understand human behavior is necessary to effectively harm others through the manipulation of status, social relationships, or sense of belonging). And yet, social intelligence is unlikely to be sufficient to produce relationally aggressive behavior. Merely because someone has the requisite levels of social intelligence to use relational aggression does not mean that he or she will be motivated to do so. There is …

Oprm1 Genotype Interacts With Serotonin System Dysfunction To Predict Alcohol-Heightened Aggression In Primates, Carlos A. Driscoll, Stephen G. Lindell, Melanie L. Schwandt, Stephen J. Suomi, J. Dee Higley, Markus Heilig, Christina S. Barr

Faculty Publications

Although the notion that alcohol promotes violence is widespread, not all individuals are aggressive while intoxicated. Genetic variation could be a contributing factor to individual differences in alcohol-heightened aggression. The present study examines the effects of OPRM1C77G genotype on responses to threat in rhesus macaques under normal conditions and following alcohol administration. Prior studies have shown that a low CSF level of 5-HIAA is a trait marker for individuals prone to escalated aggression. We wanted to examine whether the predictive value for this marker on aggression was moderated by OPRM1 genotype. Animals were administered alcohol (BAC 100-200 mg%), were provoked …

Metaanalysis Of The Relationship Between Violent Video Game Play And Physical Aggression Over Time, Anna T. Prescott, James Sargent, Jay G. Hull

Dartmouth Scholarship

To clarify and quantify the influence of video game violence (VGV) on aggressive behavior, we conducted a metaanalysis of all prospective studies to date that assessed the relation between exposure to VGV and subsequent overt physical aggression. The search strategy identified 24 studies with over 17,000 participants and time lags ranging from 3 months to 4 years. The samples comprised various nationalities and ethnicities with mean ages from 9 to 19 years. For each study we obtained the standardized regression coefficient for the prospective effect of VGV on subsequent aggression, controlling for baseline aggression. VGV was related to aggression using …

The Relationship Between Parenting And Child Trauma: An Intergenerational Investigation, Miriam A. Dreyer

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study examined the intergenerational transmission of trauma by investigating the relationship between parental trauma and child trauma exposure by considering parenting variables including emotion regulation, aggression, monitoring, and punitiveness as potential mechanisms of transmission. Though ample research exists which suggests that experiences of trauma are passed down from one generation to the next, this intergenerational transmission is not inevitable, and the mechanisms of transmission need to be better understood. Parenting is a crucial construct to examine given that it shapes interactions between two generations and represents a forum for intervention.

The study was a secondary analysis of a selection …

Subthreshold Ptsd And Associated Psycholgical Distress In Trauma Exposed Male And Female Veterans, Matthew A. Southard

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) represents the upper end of a stress-response continuum to traumatic events, rather than a discrete pathological syndrome (Ruscio, et al., 2002). Individuals with PTSD report higher levels of anxiety, depression, anger, aggression, and adjustment difficulties compared to non-traumatized individuals (Ginzburg, Ein-Dor, & Soloman, 2009; Thompson et al, 2011; Novaco and Chemtob, 2002; Kotler et al, 2001; Orth & Wieland, 2006). Subthreshold PTSD represents a less severe range on the stress-response continuum and these individuals may experience similar rates of symptoms of anger, aggression, and depression as those with full-PTSD (Jakupcak, et al., 2007; Mylle & Maes, …

Examining Links Between Social Anxiety And Relational Aggression In Adolescence: The Influence Of Rumination And Anger, Shannon L. Brothers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Social anxiety is linked to more covert forms of aggressive behavior, particularly reactive and relational aggression in early adolescent and young adult samples. Adolescents with social anxiety and those who engage in reactive relational aggression are also more likely to have difficulties regulating emotions (e.g., anger) and show maladaptive cognitive coping styles (e.g., rumination). The goal of the present study was to assess the relationship between social anxiety and reactive relational aggression in adolescents (14-17 years), combining the form and function of aggression, and to examine trait anger and anger rumination as underlying factors that may explain the relationship between …

Neural Mechanisms Of The Rejection-Aggression Link, David S. Chester, Donald R. Lynam, Richard Milich, C. Nathan Dewall

Psychology Faculty Publications

Social rejection is a painful event that often increases aggression. However, the neural mechanisms of this rejection–aggression link remain unclear. A potential clue may be that rejected people often recruit the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex’s (VLPFC) self-regulatory processes to manage the pain of rejection. Using functional MRI, we replicated previous links between rejection and activity in the brain’s mentalizing network, social pain network and VLPFC. VLPFC recruitment during rejection was associated with greater activity in the brain’s reward network (i.e. the ventral striatum) when individuals were given an opportunity to retaliate. This retaliation-related striatal response was associated with greater levels of …

Violence And Aggression In School Settings, Barbara Katic

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

Violence and aggression continue to cause harm to American schools and communities, which has been visibly illustrated by the continual perpetration of school shootings. In order to prevent these situations for occurring again, the etiology of violent and aggressive behaviors must be studied. Utilizing an ecological perspective, both the risk factors and protective factors of violence and aggression, also known as a dual strategy approach, are examined within an educational context. Specific risk factors reviewed include weapons exposure and social rejection, while protective factors reviewed include school connectedness and pro-social relationships. Implications regarding the prevention of violent and aggressive acts …

The Role Of Emotion Regulation In The Relationship Between Trait Anger And Relational Aggression, Skylar Hicks

Master's Theses

Relational aggression (RA) has been linked to a number of serious problems for all age ranges, especially in young children, adolescents, and emerging adults. Elevated trait anger appears to be positively related to both peer and romantic RA, and there is some evidence that difficulties with emotion regulation are positively associated with RA as well. The present study investigated the role of emotion regulation as a potential moderator of the relationship between trait anger and RA in a college student sample (N = 307) while taking general negative affect into account. As expected, trait anger was a positive predictor …

The Effects Of Violence In Video Games On Individual Levels Of Hostility In Young Adults, Grant Jones

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

For a while, video games have been the target of scrutiny with regards to their perceived potential to adversely affect younger individuals. In particular, it is often argued that these video games, particularly those of violent nature, may increase hostility to an extent that it manifests itself in violent behavior. This thesis aims to denote what effects these video games have on young adults, particularly in relation to the respondents’ indicated extent of adverse childhood experiences, trait anger, and competitiveness, all three of which were assumed to have a positive relationship with hostility. A survey was distributed to students attending …

School Counselors' Role In Reducing Aggression In Children In Alternative Education Programs, Deirdra Sanders-Burnett

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite efforts to reduce the occurrence of physical aggression in traditional school environments, some students persist in engaging in physical aggression and are assigned to alternative education programs as an alternative to expulsion. However, relatively little is known about the types of services that school counselors provide to help these students. This case study investigated the services that school counselors provide to the young children attending disciplinary alternative education programs in a public-school district in central Florida. The participants consist of two school counselors who provided services to the students assigned to the alternative disciplinary programs and two district-level administrators …

Effects Of Competition In Violent And Nonviolent Video Games On Aggressive/Prosocial Behavior, Christopher Edward Hawk

Theses and Dissertations

Previous research shows that playing violent video games leads to increases in aggressive feelings, thoughts, and behaviors. However, recent research has questioned the reliability of these findings. Two important variables associated with aggressive outcomes that have yet to be fully explored in the violent video game literature are the competitive aspects of the games and the outcomes of that competition (e.g., winning or losing). The present study was a two (gameplay: violent vs. nonviolent) by two (difficulty: easy vs. hard) by three (competition: no competition vs. competition win vs. competition lose) between-subjects factorial design, with aggressive/prosocial behavior measured as the …

Jealousy? Or Just Hostility Toward Other Dogs? The Risks Of Jumping To Conclusions, James A. Serpell

Animal Sentience

Cook et al. (2018) provide a fascinating demonstration of amygdala activation in dogs when they witnessed their owners giving food to another (fake) dog, but not when they placed food in a bucket. Dogs’ neurological responses were positively correlated with their reported levels of ‘dog-directed aggression’ as measured by the C-BARQ, and dogs with initially strong amygdala responses habituated on subsequent trials. The authors interpret their findings as possible evidence for an emotion akin to jealousy in dogs. However, alternate interpretations involving either dog aggression/fear or emotional responses to food seem more plausible and avoid the welfare risks associated with …

Inferring Emotion From Amygdala Activation Alone Is Problematic, Thomas F. Denson

Animal Sentience

Cook et al. investigated neural responses in domestic dogs in an experiment designed to elicit jealousy. Relative to a control condition, watching the dogs’ caregivers feed a fake dog activated the amygdala bilaterally. Dogs rated higher in dog-directed aggressiveness showed larger initial amygdala activation. Amygdala activity in this context is insufficient evidence to infer that the dogs experienced jealousy or even negative affect. The experimental design does not provide an adequate level of control to infer the presence of jealousy.

Can A Dog Be Jealous?, Yaoguang Jiang, Annamarie W. Huttunen, Michael L. Platt

Animal Sentience

Whether humans alone experience complex emotions like jealousy or envy remains hotly debated, partly because of the difficulty of measuring them without a verbal report. Cook, Berns and colleagues use functional brain imaging to identify in dogs neural responses very similar to those evoked by jealousy in humans. When dogs see their caregiver reward a facsimile dog, their amygdala is activated and the strength of this response predicts aggressive behavior — just as jealousy leads to aggression in humans. The authors conclude that dogs feel something very similar to human jealousy. This novel and creative study tackles one of the …

Effects Of Nostalgia On Responses To Negative Feedback, Michaela K. Avino, Thomas Cotter, Simron Richard, Athena Cairo, Jeffrey Green

Undergraduate Research Posters

Nostalgia is a bittersweet emotion evoked by memories of cherished personal experiences. Though nostalgia is a self-focused emotion, it has many interpersonal effects as well. Feeling nostalgia increases feelings of social connectedness and self esteem, and may protect against negative effects of existential threat (Wildschut et al., 2006). However, less is known about the extent to which nostalgia relates to anger and aggression. We hypothesized that nostalgia would buffer against the effect of negative feedback on feelings of anger and motivation to aggress. Undergraduate students wrote about a nostalgic or objective memory, and then received negative feedback about another personal …

Teacher Descriptions Of Oppositional Defiant Disorder And Bully-Victim Behavior Among Middle School Male Students, Randy Heller

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

While current psychological theory and research suggest conceptual associations between bullying and behavioral disorders, there is a gap in the literature examining such relationships. Although contemporary theories of aggression describe emotional, social, and cognitive risk factors that are common both, associations between bully-victim patterns and ODD have not been studied to date. This exploratory study addressed this gap by surveying 27 teachers to assess their reports of aggressive behaviors and socioemotional patterns of 58 male middle school students who were identified through school investigations as involved in bullying incidents. Between-group differences for students classified as bullies, victims, or bully-victims were …

Predictive Relationship Between Anger And Violence In Canadian Secondary Students, Lawrence Alfred Deck

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Violence among Canadian secondary students remains a concern for administrators, teachers, community members, and students. The purpose of this retrospective quantitative nonexperimental study was to examine the predictive relationship between anger and violence among secondary students in Canada using the Anger Regulation and Expression Scale (ARES). The general aggression model provided the framework for the study. Survey data were collected from 138 students using the ARES. Demographic data and archival data from students' school files were also collected. Results of receiver operator characteristic analysis and binary logistic regression indicated that the ARES total score provided fair to good predictive ability …

Jealousy In Dogs? Evidence From Brain Imaging, Peter Cook, Ashley Prichard, Mark Spivak, Gregory S. Berns

Animal Sentience

Domestic dogs are highly social and have been shown to be sensitive not only to the actions of humans and other dogs but to the interactions between them. We used the C-BARQ scale to estimate dogs’ aggressiveness, and we used noninvasive brain imaging (fMRI) to measure activity in their amygdala (an area involved in aggression). More aggressive dogs had more amygdala activation data while watching their caregiver give food to a realistic fake dog than when they put the food in a bucket. This may have some similarity to human jealousy, adding to a growing body of evidence that differences …

Situating The Study Of Jealousy In The Context Of Social Relationships, Christine E. Webb, Frans B. M. De Waal

Animal Sentience

Whereas the feelings of other beings are private and may always remain so, emotions are simultaneously manifested in behavior, physiology, and other observables. Nonetheless, uncertainty about whether emotions can be studied adequately across species has promoted skepticism about their very presence in other parts of the animal kingdom. Studying social emotions like jealousy in the context of the social relationships in which they arise, as has been done in the case of animal empathy, may help dispel this skepticism. Empathy in other species came to be accepted partly because of the behavioral similarities between its expression in nonhuman animals and …