NCJ Number
214276
Journal
Aggression and Violent Behavior Volume: 11 Issue: 3 Dated: May-June 2006 Pages: 237-264
Date Published
May 2006
Length
28 pages
Annotation
This article reviews the research literature regarding sex differences in aggression, focusing on the potential psychological factors that mediate the relationship between sex and aggression.
Abstract
Overall, the available research suggests that there are no sex differences in anger, which enhances aggression, but there are sex differences in fear, particularly the fear of physical danger. Fear inhibits aggression, which accounts for the significant sex differences found in aggressive behavior. Research also suggests that aggression diminishes with age. The author concludes that if aggression inhibition is built on fear, it accounts for diminished aggression with age as fear of physical danger increases with age. The article begins with a consideration of the psychological factors that both enhance and diminish the probability of aggression, including the roles of anger and fear. Research indicates that three forms of behavioral inhibition--reactive, effortful, and self control--are built on fear and are negatively associated with aggression, particularly in females. The author also considers the roles of empathy and guilt in the inhibition of aggression before discussing the different predictions offered by gender and evolutionary theories with regard to the hypothesis that sex differences in aggression are rooted in fear-based inhibition. Future research should focus on integrating gender and aggression theories to more accurately describe how emotion and inhibition may explain sex differences in aggression. Tables, figure, references