Psychophysiology of proactive and reactive relational aggression

This study investigated the joint effects of parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system reactivity to social and non-social stressors on proactive (i.e., goal-directed, unemotional) and reactive (i.e., emotional, impulsive) functions of relational aggression. Two hundred and forty-seven (Mage = 18.77 years) participants completed a series of stressor tasks while their sympathetic arousal (i.e., skin conductance) and parasympathetic arousal (i.e., respiratory sinus arrhythmia) were assessed. Participants also provided self-reports of their aggressive behavior. In the standardized social stressor only, physiological reactivity was related to aggression, such that respiratory sinus arrhythmia augmentation predicted proactive relational aggression whereas heightened skin conductance reactivity predicted reactive relational aggression. Finally, in the context of low skin conductance reactivity, respiratory sinus arrhythmia augmentation was related to heightened proactive and reactive aggression, whereas respiratory sinus arrhythmia withdrawal was protective. Results suggest that the benefits hypothesized to accompany respiratory sinus arrhythmia withdrawal may only occur among individuals with low “fight or flight” stress responses. Findings extend research on the physiological indicators of aggression to relational aggression, and highlight the importance of assessing functions of aggression, as well as physiological reactivity to multiple stressors.