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

侵略行为对个人和社会有重大的负面影响。攻击性行为受到贫穷和压力的影响。在目前的研究中，研究人员试图了解青年攻击性在急性和慢性压力暴露的背景下如何具有生物学优势。研究人员还考虑了攻击性的生物学益处的潜在性别差异，以及这种缓冲效应对后来的危险行为的潜在影响。了解攻击性的功能及其对在逆境中成长的青少年的潜在益处对于制定和实施有效的创新干预措施至关重要。最近的发展进化模型认为，包括攻击性在内的问题行为不一定是“缺陷”，而是反映了对压力、不稳定或不利环境的适应性反应。然而，尽管动物模型的证据表明，侵略性可以减少生理压力，没有研究与人类有系统地评估侵略性作为一个潜在的保护缓冲压力暴露对生物调节的影响。在这个项目中，研究人员用两个严格和互补的研究设计来批判性地评估假设，这些研究设计建立在一项正在进行的、由NSF资助的纵向研究的基础上，该研究对250名社会人口统计学上多样化的青少年进行了研究，这些青少年的风险暴露、攻击性和生物功能从儿童早期（4-14岁）起就得到了很好的表征。研究1采用纵向设计来测试儿童期风险暴露（0-8岁）和17岁时生物失调的多系统指标之间的关系，这些指标由青春期早期（10-14岁）的攻击缓冲。研究2采用实验室实验，将青年暴露于压力下，操纵压力源后的攻击机会，并测试攻击对压力生理的影响。总之，这些研究有可能大大修改现存的侵略模型，对提高当代干预措施的有效性具有重大意义，目前不考虑侵略的积极生物学功能，特别是对高危青少年。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

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.