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Distinguishing instrumental and hostile aggression: does it make a difference?

An analogue task of instrumental and hostile aggression during a competitive game, modified to minimize overlap between aggressive responses, was evaluated in 8- to 14-year-old clinically referred boys (n = 33). Postgame interviews indicated that the hostile response, an aversive noise, was perceived by over 80% of subjects as hostile and not instrumental. In contrast, the instrumental response, blocking the opponent's game, was perceived about equally as having instrumental and hostile functions. The hostile aggressive response was uniquely correlated with continuous performance task impulsive commission errors (r = .51), which supported the theoretical relation of hostile aggression to poor impulse control. These results suggest that instrumental and hostile aggression can be distinguished and when precisely defined are distinct in theoretically important ways.

Adolescent↗

Hostility and recidivism in sexual offenders.

In this study, we examined the association of hostility, as measured by the Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory (BDHI), with offence characteristics and recidivism in 656 adult male sexual offenders. Hostility was significantly associated with having prior violent charges, the use of violence in the index sexual offence, sexual recidivism, and violent recidivism. After controlling for risk level, as measured by a modified version of the Rapid Risk Assessment for Sexual Offence Recidivism (RRASOR-mod), the significant association between hostility and sexual and violent recidivism remained. When examined by type of offender, hostility was significantly associated with recidivism in intrafamilial and extrafamilial child molesters, but not in rapists or mixed offenders. Given the predictive value of hostility independent of the RRASOR-mod, the present findings confirm and encourage treatment efforts directed toward the management of hostility and anger in sexual offenders.

Adult↗

Dimensions of hostility and myocardial infarction in adult males.

The present case-control study investigated the association between dimensions of hostility and myocardial infarction (MI) in adult males. Hostility was measured with the Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory (BDHI), which assesses two distinct dimensions of hostility, namely experiential and expressive hostility. Cases were 81 males who were admitted in hospital because of a first MI. The reference group consisted of 168 age-matched, healthy male neighbourhood controls. Analyses revealed that especially experiential hostility (comprised of the subscales Resentment and Suspicion) was significantly associated with MI. These results are in contrast with the findings of previous studies, which showed expressive hostility to be positively related to coronary heart disease (CHD). Explanations for these contradictory findings are discussed.

Adult↗

Cynical hostility and carotid atherosclerosis in African American and white women: the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation (SWAN) Heart Study.

BACKGROUND: Hostility is associated with increased cardiovascular disease mortality and morbidity and may be related to subclinical atherosclerosis; less is known about this association among women and minority groups. METHODS: We examined the association between hostility and intimal-medial thickening (IMT) as well as presence/absence of plaque in the carotid arteries in middle-aged white and African American women. Hostility was measured by a 13-item questionnaire and IMT and plaque were assessed by B-mode ultrasonography in 589 participants from the Chicago and Pittsburgh sites of the SWAN. RESULTS: In age- and site-adjusted models, each 1-point increment in hostility score predicted a significant 0.0057-mm higher mean IMT (P < .0001) and 0.0081-mm higher maximum IMT (P < .0001)--effects that were identical in magnitude to each 1-year increment in age. Adjustments for race, education, body mass index, resting systolic blood pressure, and smoking diminished these associations, but they remained significant (P < or = .01). With hostility scores modeled in approximate tertiles, high scorers (> or = 6) had greater mean (P = .0005) and maximum (P = .0004) IMT than low scorers (0 or 1); moderate and low scorers did not differ (age-adjusted mean values for low, moderate, and high scorers were 0.657, 0.662, and 0.694 mm, respectively, for mean IMT; those for low, moderate, and high scorers were 0.855, 0.860, and 0.906 mm, respectively, for maximum IMT). Hostility was unrelated to presence of plaque and did not interact with race, education, smoking, and body mass index. CONCLUSIONS: Hostility is related to small but significantly greater subclinical atherosclerosis in middle-aged women; this association is not explained by traditional risk factors.

Black or African American↗

Anger, hostility, and male perpetrators of intimate partner violence: a meta-analytic review.

There has been significant interest in, and controversy about, whether anger and hostility problems are meaningfully related to male-to-female intimate partner violence (IPV). In this meta-analytic review, we empirically evaluated whether the constructs of anger and hostility discriminated between IPV perpetrators and nonviolent comparison males. Thirty-three studies reporting data from 28 independent samples were included for analysis. IPV perpetrators consistently reported moderately higher levels of anger and hostility than nonviolent men across assessment methods (i.e., self-report, observational, and spouse-specific). In prior reviews, relationship distress has been proposed as a moderating variable between relationship distress and IPV. In this review, IPV perpetrators also consistently reported moderately higher levels of anger and hostility than relationship-discordant nonviolent men. Additionally, comparisons of subtypes of IPV perpetrators found that men in moderate-high severity IPV subtypes reported higher levels of anger and hostility than low-moderate IPV subtypes. While the pattern of results in this review suggests that elevated anger and hostility are distinguishing characteristics of IPV perpetrators, empirically based conclusions regarding the functional and contextual relationship between anger, hostility, and IPV remain elusive. The implications and limitations suggested by this review are discussed in the context of emerging models of anger and IPV and treatment programs for abusive men.

Affect↗

Neighborhood Hostility is Associated With the Relationship Between Park Proximity and Physical Activity Among Youth: National Evidence From Chile.

PURPOSE: Physical inactivity among youth is highly prevalent worldwide. Although proximity to parks and recreational facilities is generally associated with higher physical activity (PA), unsafe or hostile neighborhood environments may limit their use. This study examined whether neighborhood hostility moderates the association between access to recreational facilities and adherence to World Health Organization PA guidelines among Chilean youth. METHODS: This cross-sectional study analyzed data from the 2024 National Physical Activity and Sport Survey of Chile, including 3,477 urban participants stratified into childhood (5-10 years), early adolescence (11-13 years), and late adolescence (14-17 years). Built environment exposures included perceived access to recreational facilities, a cumulative neighborhood hostility score (0-5). Logistic regression models were stratified by age group and adjusted for covariates. Interaction terms assessed moderation by neighborhood hostility, and causal mediation analyses were performed. RESULTS: Adherence to World Health Organization guidelines was low (41.9% in childhood, 43.8% in early adolescence, and 43.9% in late adolescence). Greater distance to recreational facilities was associated with lower odds of meeting activity guidelines. Higher neighborhood hostility was independently associated with lower PA levels. Among adolescents, neighborhood hostility substantially attenuated the association between proximity and activity. Mediation analyses indicated partial mediation, with effective park utilization emerging as the strongest mechanism, accounting for 21.8% of the association (p < .001), followed by psychological motivation (11.9%). DISCUSSION: Proximity to recreational infrastructure alone is insufficient to promote PA in hostile neighborhoods. Policy approaches should integrate infrastructure provision with strategies addressing neighborhood safety and promoting active engagement.

Humans↗

Association of C-reactive protein elevation with trait aggression and hostility in personality disordered subjects: a pilot study.

OBJECTIVE: The presence of personality traits of aggression and hostility, in generally healthy human subjects, has been shown to be associated with elevations of C-reactive protein (pCRP), which, in turn, has also been shown to be associated with an increased risk of cardiac disease. In this pilot study, the author tests the hypothesis that pCRP elevations are associated with the traits of aggression and hostility in personality disordered subjects, a group at high risk for the presence of aggression and hostility. METHOD: Participants were 99 medically healthy subjects meeting DSM-IV criteria for personality disorder for which both pCRP levels and Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory (BDHI) Aggression and Hostility data were available. RESULTS: Subjects with pCRP levels > or = 1.0 mg/L or higher were found to have significantly higher BDHI Aggression and BDHI Hostility scores than subjects with pCRP levels < 1.0 mg/L. Addition of a number of control variables reduced, but did not generally eliminate, differences in the BDHI scores. In contrast, measures of general dimensions of personality did not differ as a function of pCRP Status. CONCLUSIONS: The association of elevations in pCRP level in medically healthy personality disordered subjects with higher scores of trait aggression and hostility suggests the presence of chronic inflammation in highly aggressive/hostile personality disordered subjects similar to that observed in otherwise healthy individuals at risk for coronary artery disease. Further studies are warranted to determine the clinical correlates of this finding.

Adult↗

Hostility differentially predicts cardiovascular risk factors in African American and White young adults.

OBJECTIVE: Hostility may influence racial disparities in cardiovascular disease through differential associations with cardiovascular risk factors. This study explored racial variations in relations between hostility and selected cardiovascular risk factors. METHODS: Cook-Medley Hostility (Ho) scores and 11 risk factors were examined among 66 healthy, White and African American young adults. RESULTS: Controlling for age, gender, and body mass index, the interaction of hostility and race yielded significant (or marginal) associations with resting systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP, DBP), cardiac index (CI; i.e. cardiac output adjusted for body size), total peripheral resistance (TPR), insulin (INS), triglycerides (TG) and percent body fat (PBF). Contributing substantial variance, hostility was positively associated with SBP, DBP, TPR, TG and INS, and negatively associated with CI among African Americans. Conversely, hostility was negatively associated with TPR and PBF among Whites. CONCLUSION: Hostility may confer greater cardiovascular risk among young African Americans than Whites.

Adult↗

Aggression, and some related psychological constructs (anger, hostility, and impulsivity); some comments from a research project.

The purpose of the present study was: first, to offer a few theoretical considerations on the concept of human aggression and its main types; and second, to analyse the relationship between those types of aggression and other related psychological constructs, such as anger, hostility, and impulsivity, summarizing the main empirical results of our research in progress. In order to assess their eventual correlations, several self-report techniques were compared: (a) AQ, used to measure several kinds of aggression, anger, and hostility; (b) CAMA, a questionnaire already used in a variety of cultures, for measuring attitudes toward interpersonal aggression in different instrumental and hostile situations; (c) ASQ, an instrument for measuring experienced anger and its expression in assertive or aggressive ways; and (d) BIS, used to prove three impulsiveness sub-traits: motor, attentional, and non-planning impulsiveness. The different definitions of aggression may be grouped according to whether the primary goal is distress or harm, focusing primarily on the objective infliction of harm, or on the subjective intention of harming. Most classifications in the literature show two kinds of aggression, even if different names are used: Hostile Aggression (among other names it is also known as 'reactive, impulsive, or affective') is an act primarily oriented to hurt another individual; and Instrumental Aggression (also known as 'proactive, premeditated, or predative') is a means or tool for solving problems or for obtaining a variety of objectives. As predicted, there was a positive correlation between experience and expression of anger. Anger involved physiological arousal and prepared for aggression. Anger and impulsiveness were also positively correlated with hostile aggression, but not with instrumental aggression. In the case of impulsiveness, non-planning impulsiveness was positively correlated with some situations related to hostile aggression, such as emotional agitation or lack of communication, but not with instrumental one. Finally, hostility positively correlated with anger and different kinds of aggression, but not its degree of justification. In sum, aggression can be reflected in the different personality constructs, measured by self-reports.

Aggression↗

Hostility changes following antidepressant treatment: relationship to stress and negative thinking.

It is unclear whether changes in hostility following treatment are primarily related to improvement in depressive symptoms or are also closely associated with reductions in negative thinking or perceived stress. We evaluated 94 outpatients with major depression before and after eight weeks of fluoxetine treatment by administering the Symptom Questionnaire (SQ) Hostility Scale, the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D), the Cognitions Questionnaire (CQ) and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). We observed significant elevations in scores on these questionnaires in depressed patients as compared to normal controls. Following treatment with fluoxetine, there was a statistically significant reduction in scores on all four questionnaires. We observed that changes in SQ Hostility were significantly positively related to changes in both depression severity and perceived stress, with these relationships remaining significant after adjusting for gender and baseline SQ Hostility. The relationship between SQ Hostility changes and reductions in negative thinking became significant only after adjusting for gender and baseline SQ hostility. Our results suggest that the marked decrease in hostility following antidepressant treatment is related to a reduction in depressive symptoms, stress levels and negative thinking.

Adult↗

Healthy high-hostiles evidence low-alpha power (7.5-9.5Hz) changes during negative affective learning.

The present experiment was designed to better understand the impact of positive and negative emotional processing among low- and high-hostile individuals. Based on previous research which found increased sympathovagal balance among low-hostiles to the negative version of the Affective Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AAVL), it was hypothesized that low-hostiles would experience increased cortical arousal to this stimulus whereas their high-hostile counterparts would not. As expected, low-hostiles experienced significantly reduced low-alpha power (7.5-9.5Hz) relative to high-hostiles during the presentation of the negative AAVL. In a replication of prior research, significant primacy and recency effects were noted for the negative and positive word lists, respectively. Results are discussed in terms of cerebral activation theory and the potential impact of emotional processing among high-hostile individuals and their likelihood to develop coronary heart disease.

Adolescent↗

Self-directed hostility and family functioning in normal-weight bulimics and overweight binge eaters.

The aim of this study was to examine whether overweight binge eaters demonstrate similar perceptions of family interactions and views of the self as do normal-weight bulimics. We compared 37 obese binge eaters and 37 normal-weight bulimics to 38 normal-weight non-bulimic controls, and 10 overweight nonbulimic controls on the Bulimia Test (BULIT). Profile of Mood States (POMS), Structural Analysis of Social Behavior (SASB) Short Form, which includes measure of hostility of family interactions and self-directed hostility; the Family Interaction Survey (FIS), and a measure of history of physical and sexual abuse and familial psychopathology. Both normal-weight bulimics and overweight binge eaters differed from nonbulimic controls across all measures of symptomatology, family functioning, history of abuse, familial psychopathology, and self-directed hostility. Normal-weight bulimics demonstrated significantly higher BULIT scores and self-directed hostility than did overweight binge eaters. Post hoc analysis showed that among binge eaters and bulimics, self-directed hostility accounted for a significant percentage of the variance of BULIT scores when controlling for the effects of age, BMI, family hostility, and mood. The possible role of self-directed hostility in the maintenance of bulimic symptomatology is discussed.

Adult↗

Hostility and registered sickness absences: a prospective study of municipal employees.

BACKGROUND: Prior evidence on the relationship between hostility and minor health problems is limited to cross-sectional self-report studies. In the present study, this relationship was examined prospectively. METHODS: Hostility of 1077 municipal employees was measured by a questionnaire survey and minor health problems by using 4-year register-based absence data including medically certificated diagnoses. RESULTS: High hostility predicted a high total number of long-term sickness absence spells among men, but not among women. In separate diagnostic categories (musculo-skeletal, traumas and injuries, respiratory), hostility related positively and linearly to absences due to traumatic causes and curvilinearly (U-shape) to absences due to musculo-skeletal causes. Controlling the effects of health risk behaviour and demographic background did not significantly change these figures. However, health risk behaviour moderated the relations of hostility to overall long-term sickness absences, and to traumatic and musculo-skeletal absences, being significantly stronger in high-risk groups. No association was found between hostility and non-certificated short-term absence spells. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that hostility plays a role in the aetiology of minor health problems.

Absenteeism↗

Prediction of peer-rated adult hostility from autonomy struggles in adolescent-family interactions.

Observed parent-adolescent autonomy struggles were assessed as potential predictors of the development of peer-rated hostility over a decade later in young adulthood in both normal and previously psychiatrically hospitalized groups of adolescents. Longitudinal, multireporter data were obtained by coding family interactions involving 83 adolescents and their parents at age 16 years and then obtaining ratings by close friends of adolescents' hostility at age 25 years. Fathers' behavior undermining adolescents' autonomy in interactions at age 16 years were predictive of adolescents-as-young-adults' hostility, as rated by close friends at age 25 years. These predictions contributed additional variance to understanding young adult hostility even after accounting for concurrent levels of adolescent hostility at age 16 years and paternal hostility at this age, each of which also significantly contributed to predicting future hostility. Results are discussed as highlighting a pathway by which difficulties attaining autonomy in adolescence may presage the development of long-term difficulties in social functioning.

Adolescent↗

An exploration of the relation between hostility and disease.

Hostility has been studied mainly in relation to coronary heart disease (CHD). However, given the pathways linking hostility to CHD, it might be expected that hostility also relates to non-CHD. Therefore, the relation between the expression and the experience of hostility and various health outcomes was examined in a cross-sectional design. The data were collected among male patients with a myocardial infarction in the age range of 30-70 years (N = 279) and a population sample of men in the same age group (N = 2663). Based on checklist of the most frequent disorders, the subjects from the latter group were divided into subsamples according to their disease status. Three components of hostility, i.e., resentment, suspicion, and aggression, were measured by the Buss Durkee Hostility Inventory (Buss & Durkee, 1957). The overall finding was that all components of hostility were related to non-CHD disease but not to CHD.

Adult↗

Cynical hostility, depressive symptoms, and the expression of inflammatory risk markers for coronary heart disease.

Although the prognostic significance of depression and hostility has been established, little is known about how they operate together to influence disease processes. This study explored the independent and interactive relationships between these constructs and the expression of inflammatory markers implicated in the pathogenesis of coronary heart disease. One hundred adults completed measures of cynical hostility and depressive symptoms, and had blood drawn to assess serum levels of interleukin-1 beta, interleukin-6, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha. Depression was directly related to inflammatory markers, but hostility was not. A significant interaction between hostility and depression emerged. Among participants scoring low in depressive symptoms, hostility was positively associated with interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha concentrations. Hostility's association with these inflammatory markers was much weaker among participants with moderate depressive symptoms, however, and virtually nil among participants with severe depressive symptoms. Neither depression nor hostility was associated with interleukin-1 beta concentrations. These findings highlight the importance of considering both the independent and interactive relationships among psychosocial characteristics involved in disease.

Adult↗

Influence of age, sex, and family on Type A and hostile attitudes and behaviors.

We describe the influence of age, sex, and family on Type A and hostility indices that have been related to rates of coronary heart disease (CHD). The sample consisted of 120 girls and 95 boys (ages 6 to 18 years) and 141 women and 120 men (ages 31 to 62 years) from 142 families residing in an upper middle class community. Results showed little familial aggregation of Type A and hostility. Adults had higher Structured Interview (SI) Potential for Hostility ratings than did children, whereas children had higher Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)-derived Hostility scores and SI Anger-In ratings than did adults. Male adults and male children had higher SI Potential for Hostility ratings and MMPI-derived Hostility scores than did their female counterparts. The heightened hostility of males may account, in part, for their heightened risk of CHD relative to females'.

Adolescent↗

Defensive hostility: relationship to multiple markers of cardiac ischemia in patients with coronary disease.

Three studies assessed whether the combined traits of hostility and defensiveness identify a group of hostile individuals with functionally severe coronary artery disease (CAD). CAD patients completed the Cook-Medley Hostility Inventory (Ho) and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (MC). Patients were classified into 4 groups: defensive hostile (DH: high Ho, high MC), low hostile (LH: low Ho, low MC), high hostile (HH: high Ho, low MC), and defensive (Def: low Ho, high MC). DH in comparison to HH, LH, and Def CAD patients demonstrate the greatest perfusion defects as measured by exercise thallium scintigraphy; DH patients exhibit the most frequent ischemic episodes during ambulatory electrocardiographic monitoring; and in a laboratory study, DH patients exhibit the most severe mental stress-induced ischemia assessed by echocardiography. Thus, the combination of high hostility and high defensiveness are associated with more functionally severe CAD and may predispose CAD patients to a more adverse prognosis.

Aged↗