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

侵略对个人和社会都有显著的负面影响。攻击性行为受到贫穷和压力的影响。在目前的研究中，研究人员试图了解在急性和慢性压力暴露的背景下，青少年的攻击性是如何在生物学上有利的。研究人员还考虑了攻击行为在生物学上的潜在性别差异，以及这种缓冲效应对后来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、创新的干预措施至关重要。最近的进化发展模型认为，有问题的行为，包括攻击性，不一定是“缺陷”，而是对压力、不稳定或不利环境的适应性反应。然而，尽管来自动物模型的证据表明攻击可以减少生理应激，但没有针对人类的研究系统地评估攻击作为对抗应激暴露对生物调节影响的潜在保护缓冲。在这个项目中，研究人员通过两项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、由美国国家科学基金会资助的纵向研究上，该研究对250名社会人口统计学上不同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童年早期（4-14岁）开始就有了很好的特征。研究1采用纵向设计来测试儿童风险暴露（0-8岁）与17岁时多系统生物失调指标之间的关系，这些指标在青春期早期（10-14岁）被攻击性所缓冲。研究二采用实验室实验的方法，将青少年暴露在压力下，在压力源后操纵攻击机会，并测试攻击对压力生理的影响。总之，这些研究有可能极大地修改现有的攻击模型，对提高当代干预措施的有效性具有重要意义，这些干预措施目前没有考虑攻击的积极生物学功能，特别是对高危青少年。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.