Longitudinal Relations between Relational Aggression and Disruptive Behavior Symptoms

What is it about?

Some researchers consider relational aggression (a non-physical form of bullying) as a developmentally normative behavior while others see it as a sign of some underlying psychopathology. In order to go more in depth in this debate, we examined bidirectional associations between relational aggression and two psychiatric disorders, oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and conduct disorder (CD), using data from a longitudinal study of 674 Mexican-origin youth followed from age 10 to 16. We found that individuals who engaged in relational aggression tended to increase over time in ODD and CD symptoms, and conversely, individuals exhibiting symptoms of ODD and CD tended to increase in relational aggression. That means that relational aggression seems to be both a developmentally normative behavior and a predictor of future mental health problems.

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Why is it important?

The evidence about relational aggression can be a predictor of future mental health problems makes us aware of the importance of preventing relationally aggressive behaviors since early ages in order to reduce the risk to develop oppositional defiant and conduct disorder symptoms in children and adolescents. Now the challenge is to know more about how and why these associations hold for some individuals but not others. Future research should investigate the moderating and mediating processes that explain these relations.