A relação entre agressividade, funções executivas e comportamento antissocial em universitários

Abstract

The aggressive behavior is essential for survival, however, this behavior may become ill-adapted as it causes harm and even death for individuals. Studies demonstrate the involvement of the Prefrontal Cortex (CPF), which is responsible for executive functions (FE) in the control of aggressive and impulsive behaviors; moreover, aggressive and impulsive behaviors may be related to antisocial personality traits, often found at a level subclinical in the general population. These traits vary within a spectrum, making individuals differently vulnerable to different forms of aggression and impulsivity. This study aimed to investigate aggressive behaviors (physical, verbal, anger, hostility and relational) and impulsive (attentional, non-planning and motor) behaviors in university students, taking into account the executive components (attention, operational memory, decision making and planning, cognitive flexibility and inhibitory control), relating this result to the possible existence of traits of antisocial behavior in these individuals. For this, a quantitative study of the observational type was carried out. A sociodemographic questionnaire was used to identify the participants, and a flexible battery with 7 neuropsychological tests was later performed. The instruments used were: Impulsivity scale of Barrat- BIS-11 (evaluation of impulsivity and evaluation of inhibitory control if used as na inverse measure); the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire (evaluation of physical aggression, verbal, anger, hostility and general aggression); The Relational Aggression Scale (evaluation of relational aggression); Levenson Psychopathology Scale (evaluation of traits of antisocial behavior); the Stroop Test (evaluation of inhibitory control); the Digt Span (attention assessment and operational memory) and the Iowa Gambling Task-IGT (evaluation of decision-making and planning). One hundred fifty-five college students from different undergraduate courses, aged between 18 and 35 years (M = 23.25, SD = 3.89) were evaluated, 92 (59.4%) women and 63 men (40.6%). Descriptive statistics were used to present the results, and inferential statistics of the Pearson correlation types were used to verify the level of relationship between the studied variables. The results reported the existence of statistically significant relationships between global impulsivity and relational aggression (n = 155, r = 0.26, p <0.05); overall impulsivity and general aggressiveness (n = 155, r = 0.36, p <0.05); general aggressiveness and antisocial behavior (n = 155, r = 0.51, p <0.05); relational aggression and antisocial behavior (n = 155; r = 0.45, p <0.05); impulsiveness and antisocial behavior (n = 155, r = 0.46, p <0.05) and general aggression and relational aggression (n = 155, r = 0.54, p <0.05). In contrast, there was no significant relationship between impulsivity, aggressiveness (physical, verbal, anger, hostility and relational), and traits of antisocial behavior with executive function domains (attention, operational memory, decision making and inhibitory planning and control, and cognitive flexibility). This study contributes to understand the relationship of these variables in an adult population, since studies with this type of sample are still scarce.