Collaborative Research: Aggression as Biological Adaptation: Investigating Development in Stressful Contexts

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This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).Aggression has significant negative impacts on individuals and societies. Aggressive behaviors are influenced by poverty and stress. In the current study, the researchers seek to understand how youth aggression might be biologically advantageous in the context of both acute and chronic stress exposure. The investigators also consider potential gender differences in the biological benefits of aggression, as well as potential influences of this buffering effect on later risky behaviors. Understanding the functions of aggression, and its potential benefits for youth growing up in the context of adversity is critical to inform the development and implementation of effective, innovative interventions.Recent evolutionary models of development argue that problematic behaviors, including aggression, are not necessarily “deficits,” but rather reflect adaptive responses to stressful, unstable or disadvantageous environments. However, despite evidence from animal models showing that aggression can reduce physiological stress, no research with humans has systematically evaluated aggression as a potential protective buffer against the effects of stress exposure on biological regulation. In this project, the researchers critically evaluate hypotheses with two rigorous and complementary study designs that build on an ongoing, NSF-funded longitudinal study of 250 sociodemographically diverse adolescents whose risk exposure, aggression, and biological functioning have been well characterized since early childhood (ages 4-14). Study 1 uses a longitudinal design to test relations between childhood risk exposure (ages 0-8) and a multisystem indicator of biological dysregulation at age 17 as buffered by aggression across early adolescence (ages 10-14). Study 2 uses a laboratory experiment to expose youth to stress, manipulate opportunities to aggress following the stressor, and test the effects of aggression on stress physiology. Together, these studies have the potential to dramatically revise extant models of aggression with significant implications for improving the effectiveness of contemporary interventions, which do not currently consider the positive biological function of aggression, particularly for high-risk youth.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.