Content uploaded by Matthew S Stanford
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Matthew S Stanford on Jan 04, 2018
Content may be subject to copyright.
Irritability and impulsiveness: Relationship to self-reported impulsive aggression
Abstract
Impulsive aggressive behavior was assessed in a group of 214 college students through self-report. All subjects completed the Anger Attack Questionnaire, Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory (BDHI) and the Barratt Impulsiveness Questionnaire (BIS-11). Fifty-one subjects (24%) were classified as impulsive aggressive. Analysis of the BDHI and BIS-11 found that impulsive aggressive subjects scored significantly higher than nonaggressives on impulsiveness (BIS-11) and all subscales of the BDHI with the exception of Negativism and Suspicion. Correlation analysis demonstrated that impulsiveness and BDHI Irritability were significantly correlated with number of impulsive aggressive episodes in the previous month, while BDHI Assault was not. Impulsiveness was also found to be significantly related to BDHI Irritability but not to BDHI Assault. Irritability assesses an explosive, uncontrolled type of hostility; assault on the other hand assesses more of a provoked or retaliatory type of hostility which is not likely to be related to impulse control or impulsive aggression. The results of this study clearly demonstrate the usefulness of self-report data in the assessment of impulsive aggressive behavior. BDHI Irritability and BIS-11 impulsiveness both appear to be measuring similar aspects of behavioral control. It is suggested that the BDHI Irritability and BIS-11 scales may be useful in the identification of impulsive aggressive individuals early in their contact with the criminal justice and/or mental health systems.
... Individuals exposed to sexual violence are at an exponentially greater risk for developing PTSD, compared to other types of trauma (e.g., physical assault) [63][64][65]. Further, robust evidence has linked PTSD symptoms to heightened impulsivity [66,67], and heightened impulsivity with increased substance use [68,69]. Although not assessed here, individuals exposed to sexual violence in the current study may be at an increased risk for using opioids due to increased PTSD symptoms and the impact of PTSD on impulsivity. ...
Interpersonal violence and opioid use disorder are significant and intersecting public health concerns in the USA. The current study evaluated the consequences associated with opioid use (e.g., physical, social, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and impulse control) as a function of a history of exposure to interpersonal trauma, specifically physical and sexual violence. Participants were 84 trauma-exposed individuals recruited from the community who use opioids (M age = 43.5 50% men; 55% white). Whereas no significant differences emerged in the consequences of opioid use based on a history of physical violence, individuals with a history of sexual violence demonstrated higher levels of impulsive consequences of opioid use compared to individuals without a history of sexual violence. These data highlight the importance of considering the role of exposure to sexual violence in the context of opioid use disorder treatment.
... 755). On the other hand, the non-significant relationship between irritability and managers' job performance may be explained based on the results of previous studies of Caprara et al. (2007) and Stanford et al. (1995) which demonstrated that differences in irritability's associated-effects among persons may be the result of the person's domain of functioning and other individual characteristics such age. ...
Purpose
This study aims to examine the predictors of the managers’ work performance under the risk-as-feelings hypothesis during the Covid-19 pandemic in four European countries. Specifically, it aims to investigate the impact of risk-related job stressors and behavioral and emotional reactivities on non-managers and managers performance in risky circumstances.
Design/methodology/approach
The author assessed simultaneously the effects of occupational health risk perception and the resulting feelings and emotional state such irritability and commitment change, the effects of income and others organizational and personal variables as performance stressors. The author used a sample of 652 employees divided on two groups (71% non-managers and 23% managers). Data are obtained from the dataset in Prochazka et al. , (2020) collected using online survey delivered to employees employed in their companies for a minimum of five months in the period between Mai and June 2020.
Findings
The results confirm the risk-as-feelings hypothesis and show significant effect of occupational health risk perception and associated emotional responses (irritability and commitment) on the work performance for non-managers’ group. However, for managers’ group the main determinant of work performance is the organizational commitment as explained by the job-demands-resources-model (JDRM).
Originality/value
The originality of this study is to employ the risk-as-feelings hypothesis (Loewenstein et al. , 2001) in a management research question such as job performance predictors. Thus, this study contributes to the literature on job performance in two significant ways. First, it examines the risk-related job’s stressors as determinants of managers and non-managers performance under the risk-as-feelings hypothesis. Second, it tests the importance of functional differences as an approach to better investigate the framework of the JDRM (Bakker and Demerouti, 2017).
... Another theoretical foundation is based on the restorative effect of green space on the negative psychology and moods of perpetrators (Grahn and Stigsdotter, 2003;Nutsford et al., 2013). Criminal activities, like aggression and violence, have been linked to mental fatigue (Kuo and Sullivan, 2001), irritability (Coccaro et al., 1997;Kant et al., 1998;Stanford et al., 1995), inattentiveness (Stewart, 1985;Scholte et al., 1997), and impulsivity (Markovitz, 1995;Tuinier et al., 1996). However, these can be relieved by interacting with nature (Lee and Maheswaran, 2011;Hartig et al., 2014). ...
Criminal behavior has been traditionally linked to green space. However, studies on the relationship between green space and crime vary in their conclusions and even contradict each other. This variability is primarily attributed to the mixing-up of specific crimes and the less-explored influencing mechanisms. This study considers Toronto and focuses on a specific kind of crime, assault, for exploring whether green space influences the neighborhood assault rate. If so, then how does it affect the assault rate? By considering the neighborhood as the spatial analysis unit, the indicators of green space and its component structure (namely the composition of trees, shrubs, and grass) are included in the regression analysis model used in this study. The dual effect (both positive and negative) of walkability on crime is treated as the moderator in the regression model. Our analysis revealed that high percentages of green space, tree area, and grass area potentially inhibit assault occurrence, while the shrub area percentage has no statistically significant association with the assault rate. When walkability reaches a certain degree (84th or/and 50th percentiles in this study), it can enhance the inhibitory impact of the green space and its component structure (including trees, shrubs, and grass) on the assault rate. Comparatively, this reduction effect is more significant for green space composed of grass. Therefore, we can infer that increasing the percentage of trees and grass, while simultaneously improving walkability, can reduce residents’ risk of being assaulted at the neighborhood level.
... Interpersonal aggression was measured using one item from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2012) and one item from the Impulsive Aggression Quick Screen (IA-QS) (Stanford, Greve, & Dickens, 1995). YRBS items are widely used measures of aggressive and delinquent behavior (Eaton, Davis, Barrios, Brener, & Noonan, 2007;Martins & Alexandre, 2009;Peleg-Oren, Saint-Jean, Cardenas, Tammara, & Pierre, 2009;Rutman, Park, Castor, Taualii, & Forquera, 2008) and have demonstrated strong reliability (Brener et al., 2002;Zullig, Pun, Patton, & Ubbes, 2006). ...
As the second leading cause of death among youth between the ages of 10 and 24 in the United States, suicide is a pressing public health concern. In addition to clinical risk factors such as a history of suicide attempts and psychopathology, several social factors relate to suicide risk, such as high interpersonal conflict (e.g., bully victimization, interpersonal aggression) and low social connectedness. While low social connectedness is associated with an increased likelihood of suicidal ideation and behavior, high connectedness has been shown to have a role in attenuating the effects of bullying victimization on suicide risk. However, less is known regarding the relationships between victimization, connectedness, and suicide risk prospectively or regarding how domains of connectedness may be differentially protective. Additionally, though interpersonal conflict and low social connectedness are empirically supported suicide risk factors, little is known about the role of these factors in the hours just prior to a suicide attempt. Such factors are potentially modifiable and could be important targets for suicide risk prevention efforts. Accordingly, this dissertation is comprised of two studies that examine the proximal and distal relationship between interpersonal conflict, social connectedness, and suicide risk in samples of high-risk youth. The first study prospectively examines the interaction between bullying victimization, social connectedness, and suicide risk in a sample of victimized youth. This study has two primary aims: 1) to examine the prospective relation between bullying victimization severity and suicide risk, and 2) to examine the protective role of connectedness in specific relational domains (family, school, community) in moderating the prospective relation between bullying victimization severity and suicide risk. Participants are youth (N = 142), ages 12-15, recruited from a general emergency department and assessed at three time points across sixteen months. All youth screened positive for bullying victimization. Family, school, and community connectedness were prospectively associated with decreased suicide risk (higher self- esteem, lower depression, decreased suicidal ideation). Moreover, school connectedness was found to protect youth against the negative impact of victimization on self-esteem and suicidal viii ideation. Similarly, school connectedness buffered the negative impact of electronic victimization on suicidal ideation and relational victimization on self-esteem. The second study utilizes a case-crossover design to examine interpersonal conflict, bullying involvement, and social connectedness as proximal suicide risk factors in a sample of youth with a recent suicide attempt. This study has the primary aim of examining whether (per parent and adolescent reports) interpersonal conflict, bullying involvement, and social connectedness are warning signs for suicide attempts. Participants are youth (N = 32), ages 12-17, recruited from psychiatric and pediatric emergency departments who reported a suicide attempt within the previous two weeks. Results indicate that interpersonal conflict and social withdrawal, per adolescent report, are related to increased likelihood of making a suicide attempt. Additionally, interpersonal conflict, bullying involvement, and social withdrawal, per parent report, are related to increased likelihood of making a suicide attempt. Taken together, findings have the potential to inform prevention and intervention approaches focused on targeting interpersonal conflict, bullying victimization, and social connectedness to attenuate suicide risk.
... We utilized two tools to assess aggressiveness: the Impulsive Aggression Quick Screen (IA-QS) and the Impulsive/Premeditated Aggression Scale (IPAS). The IA-QS (Stanford et al., 1995) is a brief semi-structured interview that screens for impulsive aggression. It uses DSM-IV-TR criteria for Intermittent Explosive Disorder along with the Irritability subscale from the Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory. ...
Child maltreatment research is increasingly recognizing the need to capture patterns of co-occurrence between different types of abuse/neglect and to consider their associations with psychosocial functioning. Few studies have examined these issues in justice-involved youth despite the fact that rates of maltreatment and trauma-related psychopathology are disproportionately high among this population. This study examined profiles of self-reported child physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect among incarcerated juveniles in Victoria, Australia, using latent class analysis. We also investigated associations between maltreatment profiles and mental health and behavioral problems. Data pertaining to juveniles’ experiences of maltreatment and mental health and behavioral functioning were collected from interviews, questionnaires, files, and administrative datasets. A three-class solution provided the best fit for the data and was conceptually meaningful: a “low/rare maltreatment” class (41%); “high physical and emotional abuse” class (23%); and a “poly-victimization” class (36%). Youth in the “poly-victimization” class experienced especially serious mental health and behavioral disturbances, including higher rates of mental illness, greater severity of internalizing and externalizing symptoms, impulsivity, substance abuse, self-harm and suicidal behavior, irritability, and early-onset violence. Results suggest there may be benefit in considering screening and assessment procedures in youth justice settings to identify poly-victimized youth in need of more intensive monitoring and treatment to address their complex clinical and behavioral profiles.
Background
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder in children and adolescents characterized by persistent patterns of hyperactivity, impulsivity, and inattentiveness. ADHD persists for many into adulthood. While irritability is not a diagnostic symptom of ADHD, temper outbursts and irritable moods are common in individuals with ADHD. However, research on the association between irritability and ADHD symptoms in adolescents and young adults remains limited.
Method
Prior research has used linear regression models to examine longitudinal relations between ADHD and irritability symptoms. This method may be impacted by the potential presence of highly colinear variables. We utilized a hierarchical clustering technique to mitigate these collinearity issues and implemented a non-parametric machine learning (ML) model to predict the significance of symptom relations over time. Our data included adolescents (N=148, 54% ADHD) and young adults (N=124, 42% ADHD) diagnosed with ADHD and neurotypical (NT) individuals, evaluated in a longitudinal study.
Results
Results from the linear regression analysis indicate a significant association between irritability at time-point 1 (T1) and hyperactive-impulsive symptoms at time-point 2 (T2) in adolescent females (β=0.26, p-value < 0.001), and inattentiveness at T1 with irritability at T2 in young adult females (β=0.49, p-value < 0.05). Using a non-parametric-based approach, employing the Random Forest (RF) method, we found that among both adolescents and young adults, irritability in adolescent females significantly contributes to predicting impulsive symptoms in subsequent years, achieving a performance rate of 86%.
Conclusion
Our results corroborate and extend prior findings, allowing for an in-depth examination of longitudinal relations between irritability and ADHD symptoms, namely hyperactivity, impulsivity, and inattentiveness, and the unique association between irritability and ADHD symptoms in females.
Objective:
Given the large and complex array of suicide risk factors, theoretical frameworks are critical to furthering our understanding of risk. This study prospectively examined several key constructs of the interpersonal-psychological theory of suicidal behavior (IPTS) in a large, geographically diverse sample of U.S. adolescents.
Method:
Conducted in collaboration with the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network, adolescents, ages 12 to 17, were recruited from emergency departments. Baseline and 6-month follow-up samples were comprised of 6,448 (59% female sex) and 2,009 (64% female sex) adolescents, with self-identified race/ethnicity as follows (baseline/follow-up): White (52%/54%), Black (22%/23%), Multiracial (6%/6%), American Indian (3%/3%), other/unknown race (15%/14%), and Latinx (25%/23%). Youth and parents completed adolescent suicide risk surveys at baseline and 6-month follow-up (retention, 69%). Latent class analysis was used to identify classes of painful and provocative events (PPE), considered a precursor to acquired capability.
Results:
In keeping with IPTS tenets, thwarted belongingness (TB), perceived burdensomeness (PB), and the interaction between TB and PB were each significant predictors of suicidal ideation at baseline and follow-up. However, only PB and PPE were significant predictors of cross-sectional suicide attempts and only TB and PPE were significant predictors of prospective suicide attempts in models that adjusted for baseline suicidal ideation. The three-way interaction among PB, TB and PPE was nonsignificant.
Conclusions:
Results from this large-scale prospective study suggest the importance of TB, PB, and PPE to our understanding of suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts among adolescents, pointing to promising prevention and intervention targets.
The specific relationships between impulsiveness, inattention, sad, low mood, and irritability have not been systematically examined in young people with major depressive disorder with and without persistent depressive disorder. The relationships are important to clarify because these symptom dimensions may increase suicidal risk in children and adolescents with these depressive disorders. A total of 313 medication-naive young people (aged 6-16 years) with active major depressive disorder (MDD) alone, persistent depressive disorder (DD) alone, and comorbid MDD and DD were identified. "Inattention," "sad/unhappy," and "irritable" mood were identified by parent standardized questionnaire. Standard multiple regression was used to investigate how well inattention, sad/unhappy, and irritable mood predict impulsiveness. Inattention (32% of the variance, increased) and irritable mood (5% of the variance, increased) both made independent significant contributions to impulsiveness, whereas sad/unhappy mood did not. Decreasing irritability via more targeted and comprehensive management approaches may ameliorate impulsiveness in young people with these depressive disorders.
The study investigates how commuting strain affects daily self-control capacities at work and at home. Irritability (i.e., increased readiness to express negative emotions when facing frustration) and concentration (i.e., a cognitive control capacity that relies on attention) were used as indicators of (impaired) self-control. Based on 5-day diary data from N = 185 train commuters, we found that on days with a strenuous ride from home to work, commuters indicated higher irritability and lower concentration capacity at work. On days with higher strain during the work-to-home ride, commuters reported to be more irritable back home. Moreover, commuters with low emotional stability turned out to be more affected by commuting strain but only if considering self-control impairment at home.
26 male 27–47 yr old chronic alcohol abusers who had been violent while intoxicated and 25 male 34–52 yr old nonviolent alcohol abusers were administered the Buss-Durkee Hostility-Guilt Inventory. All Ss were Caucasians with a reported daily intake of ethanol of 227 ^h ml ± 89 ^H ml for at least the last 5 yrs. Violence was documented by police records and by patient and family reports. Violent drinkers scored significantly higher than controls on the Total Hostility score and on subscales measuring Assault, Irritability, Verbal Hostility, Indirect Hostility, and Resentment.
• Dysfunction of the central serotonergic system has been variously associated with depression and with suicidal and/or impulsive aggressive behavior. To evaluate central serotonergic function in relation to these variables, prolactin responses to a singledose challenge with fenfluramine hydrochloride (60 mg orally), a serotonin releasing/uptake-inhibiting agent, were examined in 45 male patients with clearly defined major affective (n = 25) and/or personality disorder (n 20) and in 18 normal male control patients. Prolactin responses to fenfluramine among all patients were reduced compared with responses of controls. Reduced prolactin responses to fenfluramine were correlated with history of suicide attempt in all patients but with clinician and selfreported ratings of impulsive aggression in patients with personality disorder only; there was no correlation with depression. These results suggest that reduced central serotonergic function is present in a subgroup of patients with major affective and/or personality disorder and is associated with history of suicide attempt in patients with either disorder, but with impulsive aggression in patients with personality disorder only.
The heritability of self-reported personality traits related to impulsiveness, irritability, and the inhibition of assertive or aggressive behavior was examined in up to 500 healthy monozygotic and dizygotic twin pairs raised together or apart. Two factors related to “(lack of) assertiveness / aggression” (Factor I) and “impulsive irritability” (Factor II) were examined using traditional and model-fitting procedures. Results of model-fitting procedures were consistent with a genetic, but not a shared environmental, influence for both factors. Further analysis suggested a nonadditive genetic influence for Factor II and an additive influence for Factor I. Bivariate model-fitting analyses suggest that self-reported “irritable impulsiveness” and “(lack of) assertiveness / aggressiveness” show substantial, though different, genetic influences.
To explore the relationship between central noradrenergic receptor responsivity and indices of impulsive aggression, growth hormone responses to infusions with the α2-adrenergic receptor agonist clonidine (GH[CLON]) and responses on the Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory (BDHI) were examined in healthy male volunteers and male patients with major affective or personality disorder. GH[CLON] values were found to correlate significantly with the BDHI “Irritability” subscale in all subjects, but especially in healthy volunteer and personality disorder patients. GH[CLON] values did not correlate with the BDHI “Assault” subscale. These results suggest a role for central α2-adrenergic receptor responsivity in the personality trait characterized by behavioral irritability, but not overt assaultiveness, in humans.
26 male 27–47 yr old chronic alcohol abusers who had been violent while intoxicated and 25 male 34–52 yr old nonviolent alcohol abusers were administered the Buss-Durkee Hostility-Guilt Inventory. All Ss were Caucasians with a reported daily intake of ethanol of 227 ml ± 89 ml for at least the last 5 yrs. Violence was documented by police records and by patient and family reports. Violent drinkers scored significantly higher than controls on the Total Hostility score and on subscales measuring Assault, Irritability, Verbal Hostility, Indirect Hostility, and Resentment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
"Anger attacks" are spells of anger that are inappropriate to the situation and have physical features resembling panic attacks. The Anger Attacks Questionnaire, designed to assess these attacks, was administered to 79 consecutive patients (25 men and 54 women, mean age 38.8 +/- 10.3 years) diagnosed as having major depression with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R. Of these 79 depressed patients, 34 (13 men and 21 women) reported having anger attacks according to our criteria. The prevalence of anger attacks in a group of 31 younger depressed patients (48%) was significantly higher (p = .048) than that of 29 normal controls (21%) of similar age. Of the 79 depressed patients, 19 (7 men, 12 women) were treated openly with fluoxetine at 20 mg/day for at least 8 weeks. At pretreatment, 9 patients (47%) had reported anger attacks, only 3 (16%) continued to report them after treatment, and the difference was statistically significant (p less than .05).
