196
Views
0
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
ORIGINAL RESEARCH

Autistic Traits and Aggressive Behavior in Chinese College Students: A Serial Mediation Model and the Gender Difference

, , , &
Pages 1385-1397 | Received 07 Dec 2023, Accepted 18 Mar 2024, Published online: 21 Mar 2024

References

  • Association AP. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-5™. 5th ed. American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc.; 2013:xliv, 947.
  • Baio J, Wiggins L, Christensen DL, et al. Prevalence of autism spectrum disorder among children aged 8 years - autism and developmental disabilities monitoring network, 11 sites, United States, 2014. MMWR Surveill Summ. 2018;67(6):1–23. doi:10.15585/mmwr.ss6706a1
  • Loomes R, Hull L, Mandy WPL. What is the male-to-female ratio in autism spectrum disorder? A systematic review and meta-analysis. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2017;56(6):466–474. doi:10.1016/j.jaac.2017.03.013
  • Ruzich E, Allison C, Smith P, et al. Measuring autistic traits in the general population: a systematic review of the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ) in a nonclinical population sample of 6900 typical adult males and females. Mol Autism. 2015;6(1):2. doi:10.1186/2040-2392-6-2
  • Baron-Cohen S, Wheelwright S, Skinner R, Martin J, Clubley E. The autism-spectrum quotient (AQ): evidence from asperger syndrome/high-functioning autism, males and females, scientists and mathematicians. J Autism Dev Disord. 2001;31(1):5–17. doi:10.1023/a:1005653411471
  • Goekcen E, Petrides KV, Hudry K, Frederickson N, Smillie LD. Sub-threshold autism traits: the role of trait emotional intelligence and cognitive flexibility. Br J Psychol. 2014;105(2):187–199. doi:10.1111/bjop.12033
  • Baron-Cohen S. The extreme male brain theory of autism. Trends Cogn Sci. 2002;6(6):248–254. doi:10.1016/S1364-6613(02)01904-6
  • Gernsbacher MA, Stevenson JL, Dern S. Specificity, contexts, and reference groups matter when assessing autistic traits. PLoS One. 2017;12(2):e0171931. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0171931
  • Argyropoulos A, Gilby KL, Hill-Yardin EL. Studying autism in rodent models: reconciling endophenotypes with comorbidities. Review. Front Hum Neurosci. 2013;7:417. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2013.00417
  • Burrows EL, Laskaris L, Koyama L, et al. A neuroligin-3 mutation implicated in autism causes abnormal aggression and increases repetitive behavior in mice. Mol Autism. 2015;6:62. doi:10.1186/s13229-015-0055-7
  • Farmer C, Butter E, Mazurek MO, et al. Aggression in children with autism spectrum disorders and a clinic-referred comparison group. Autism. 2015;19(3):281–291. doi:10.1177/1362361313518995
  • Farmer CA, Aman MG. Aggressive behavior in a sample of children with autism spectrum disorders. Res Autism Spectr Disord. 2011;5(1):317–323. doi:10.1016/j.rasd.2010.04.014
  • Ming X, Brimacombe M, Chaaban J, Zimmerman-Bier B, Wagner GC. Autism spectrum disorders: concurrent clinical disorders. J Child Neurol. 2008;23(1):6–13. doi:10.1177/0883073807307102
  • Hill AP, Zuckerman KE, Hagen AD, et al. Aggressive behavior problems in children with autism spectrum disorders: prevalence and correlates in a large clinical sample. Res Autism Spectr Disord. 2014;8(9):1121–1133. doi:10.1016/j.rasd.2014.05.006
  • Kaartinen M, Puura K, Helminen M, Salmelin R, Pelkonen E, Juujärvi P. Reactive aggression among children with and without autism spectrum disorder. J Autism Dev Disord. 2014;44(10):2383–2391. doi:10.1007/s10803-012-1743-1
  • Triandis HC. Collectivism and individualism as cultural syndromes. Cross Cult Res. 1993;27(3–4):155–180. doi:10.1177/106939719302700301
  • Yu BL, Li J, Liu W, Huang SH, Cao XJ. The effect of left-behind experience and self-esteem on aggressive behavior in young adults in China: a cross-sectional study. J Interperson Violence. 2022;37(3–4):1049–1075. doi:10.1177/0886260520922373
  • Anderson CA, Bushman BJ. Human aggression. Annu Rev Psychol. 2002;53(1):27–51. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.53.100901.135231
  • Kanne SM, Mazurek MO. Aggression in children and adolescents with ASD: prevalence and risk factors. J Autism Dev Disord. 2011;41(7):926–937. doi:10.1007/s10803-010-1118-4
  • Mazurek MO, Kanne SM, Wodka EL. Physical aggression in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders. Res Autism Spectr Disord. 2013;7(3):455–465. doi:10.1016/j.rasd.2012.11.004
  • Georgiades S, Szatmari P, Duku E, et al. Phenotypic overlap between core diagnostic features and emotional/behavioral problems in preschool children with autism spectrum disorder. J Autism Dev Disord. 2011;41(10):1321–1329. doi:10.1007/s10803-010-1158-9
  • Miller JD, Lynam DR. Reactive and proactive aggression: similarities and differences. Pers Individ Dif. 2006;41(8):1469–1480. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2006.06.004
  • Carroll A, McCarthy M, Houghton S, Sanders O’Connor E, Zadow C. Reactive and proactive aggression as meaningful distinctions at the variable and person level in primary school‐aged children. Aggress Behav. 2018;44(5):431–441. doi:10.1002/ab.21763
  • Crick NR, Dodge KA. A review and reformulation of social information-processing mechanisms in children’s social adjustment. Psychol Bull. 1994;115(1):74. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.115.1.74
  • Dodge KA. Social cognition and children’s aggressive behavior. Child Dev. 1980;51(1):162–170. doi:10.2307/1129603
  • Dodge KA, Coie JD, Lynam D. Aggression and Antisocial Behavior in Youth. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; 2007.
  • Martinelli A, Ackermann K, Bernhard A, Freitag C, Schwenck C. Hostile attribution bias and aggression in children and adolescents: a systematic literature review on the influence of aggression subtype and gender. Aggress Violent Behav. 2018;39:25–32. doi:10.1016/j.avb.2018.01.005
  • Bondü R, Richter P. Interrelations of justice, rejection, provocation, and moral disgust sensitivity and their links with the hostile attribution bias, trait anger, and aggression. Front Psychol. 2016;7:795. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00795
  • Bird G, Viding E. The self to other model of empathy: providing a new framework for understanding empathy impairments in psychopathy, autism, and alexithymia. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2014;47:520–532. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2014.09.021
  • Ziv Y, Hadad BS, Khateeb Y. Social information processing in preschool children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. J Autism Dev Disord. 2014;44(4):846–859. doi:10.1007/s10803-013-1935-3
  • Zucchelli MM, Nori R, Gambetti E, Giusberti F. The influence of high autistic personality traits on the attribution of intentionality in typically developing individuals. J Cogn Psychol. 2018;30(8):840–853. doi:10.1080/20445911.2018.1530241
  • Bird G, Cook R. Mixed emotions: the contribution of alexithymia to the emotional symptoms of autism. Transl Psychiatry. 2013;3(7):e285–e285. doi:10.1038/tp.2013.61
  • Milosavljevic B, Leno VC, Simonoff E, et al. Alexithymia in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder: its relationship to internalising difficulties, sensory modulation and social cognition. J Autism Dev Disord. 2016;46(4):1354–1367. doi:10.1007/s10803-015-2670-8
  • Bagby RM, Taylor GJ, Parker JD. The Twenty-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale--II. Convergent, discriminant, and concurrent validity. J Psychosom Res. 1994;38(1):33–40. doi:10.1016/0022-3999(94)90006-x
  • Jasinski MJ, Lumley MA, Latsch DV, Schuster E, Kinner E, Burns JW. Assessing anger expression: construct validity of three emotion expression-related measures. J Pers Assess. 2016;98(6):640–648. doi:10.1080/00223891.2016.1178650
  • Roberton T, Daffern M, Bucks RS. Beyond anger control: difficulty attending to emotions also predicts aggression in offenders. Psychol Violence. 2015;5(1):74. doi:10.1037/a0037214
  • Zu P, Xu S, Zhao Y, Cai C, Tao F. Analysis on the influential factors for aggressive behavior among adolescents in Anhui province. Chin J Epidemiol. 2012;33(8):872–873.
  • Velotti P, Garofalo C, Petrocchi C, Cavallo F, Popolo R, Dimaggio G. Alexithymia, emotion dysregulation, impulsivity and aggression: a multiple mediation model. Psychiatry Res. 2016;237:296–303. doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2016.01.025
  • Poquerusse J, Pastore L, Dellantonio S, Esposito G. Alexithymia and Autism Spectrum Disorder: a Complex Relationship. Frontiers in Psychology. 2018;9:1196. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01196
  • Liu H, Wang W. Relationship between autism traits and suicide idea: the mediating role of alexithymia and depression. Chin J Clin Psychol. 2019;27(5):889–893.
  • Lemerise EA, Arsenio WF. An integrated model of emotion processes and cognition in social information processing. Child Dev. 2000;71(1):107–118. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00124
  • Smeijers D, Benbouriche M, Garofalo C. The association between emotion, social information processing, and aggressive behavior: a systematic review. Eur Psychol. 2020;25(2):81–91. doi:10.1027/1016-9040/a000395
  • Gawda U, Kroek M. Cognitive mechanisms of alexithymia in schizophrenia: investigating the role of basic neurocognitive functioning and cognitive biases. Psychiatry Res. 2019;271:573–580. doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2018.12.023
  • Philipp-Wiegmann F, Rösler M, Retz-Junginger P, Retz W. Emotional facial recognition in proactive and reactive violent offenders. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci. 2017;267(7):687–695. doi:10.1007/s00406-017-0776-z
  • Jolliffe D, Farrington DP. Is low empathy related to bullying after controlling for individual and social background variables? J Adolesc. 2011;34(1):59–71. doi:10.1016/j.adolescence.2010.02.001
  • Van der Graaff J, Branje S, De Wied M, Meeus W. The moderating role of empathy in the association between parental support and adolescent aggressive and delinquent behavior. Aggress Behav. 2012;38(5):368–377. doi:10.1002/ab.21435
  • Jiang Q, Yang YT, Liu CL, Yuan JW. The differing roles of cognitive empathy and affective empathy in the relationship between trait anger and aggressive behavior: a Chinese College Students Survey. J Interpers Violence. 2021;36(19–20):NP10937–NP10957. doi:10.1177/0886260519879229
  • Wilkowski BM, Robinson MD. The anatomy of anger: an integrative cognitive model of trait anger and reactive aggression. Review. J Pers. 2010;78(1):9–38. doi:10.1111/j.1467-6494.2009.00607.x
  • Weiner B. A cognitive (attribution)-emotion-action model of motivated behavior: an analysis of judgments of help-giving. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1980;39(2):186. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.39.2.186
  • Zhao XD, Li XJ, Song YM, Li CB, Shi WD. Autistic traits and emotional experiences in Chinese college students: mediating role of emotional regulation and sex differences. Res Autism Spectr Disord. 2020;77:101607. doi:10.1016/j.rasd.2020.101607
  • Schuck RK, Flores RE, Fung LK. Brief Report: sex/gender differences in symptomology and camouflaging in adults with autism spectrum disorder. J Autism Dev Disord. 2019;49(6):2597–2604. doi:10.1007/s10803-019-03998-y
  • Faul F, Erdfelder E, Buchner A, Lang A-G. Statistical power analyses using G*Power 3.1: tests for correlation and regression analyses. Behav Res Methods. 2009;41(4):1149–1160. doi:10.3758/brm.41.4.1149
  • Zhang L, Sun YT, Chen FF, et al. Psychometric properties of the Autism-Spectrum Quotient in both clinical and non-clinical samples: Chinese version for mainland China. BMC Psychiatry. 2016;16:213. doi:10.1186/s12888-016-0915-5
  • Dillon KH, Allan NP, Cougle JR, Fincham FD. Measuring hostile interpretation bias: the WSAP-hostility scale. Assessment. 2016;23(6):707–719. doi:10.1177/1073191115599052
  • Raine A, Dodge K, Loeber R, et al. The reactive-proactive aggression questionnaire: differential correlates of reactive and proactive aggression in adolescent boys. Aggress Behav. 2006;32(2):159–171. doi:10.1002/ab.20115
  • Podsakoff PM, MacKenzie SB, Lee JY, Podsakoff NP. Common method biases in behavioral research: a critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. Review. J Appl Psychol. 2003;88(5):879–903. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.88.5.879
  • Fang J, Zhang M. Assessing point and interval estimation for the mediating effect: distribution of the product, nonparametric bootstrap and markov chain monte carlo methods. Acta Psychologica Sinica. 2012;44(10):1408–1420.
  • Bertsch K, Florange J, Herpertz SC. Understanding brain mechanisms of reactive aggression. Review. Curr Psychiatry Rep. 2020;22(12):81. doi:10.1007/s11920-020-01208-6
  • Woan JB, Schneider BH, Greenman PS, Hum M. Conflict and childhood friendship in Taiwan and Canada. Can J Behav Sci. 2001;33:203–211. doi:10.1037/h0087142
  • Constantino JN, Kennon-McGill S, Weichselbaum C, et al. Infant viewing of social scenes is under genetic control and is atypical in autism. Nature. 2017;547(7663):340–344. doi:10.1038/nature22999
  • Baron-Cohen S. Theory of mind and autism: a review. Int Rev Res Ment Retard. 2000;169–184. doi:10.1016/S0074-7750(00)80010-5
  • Gokcen E, Frederickson N, Petrides KV. Theory of mind and executive control deficits in typically developing adults and adolescents with high levels of autism traits. J Autism Dev Disord. 2016;46(6):2072–2087. doi:10.1007/s10803-016-2735-3
  • Sabbagh MA. Understanding orbitofrontal contributions to theory-of-mind reasoning: implications for autism. Brain Cogn. 2004;55(1):209–219. doi:10.1016/j.bandc.2003.04.002
  • Quan F, Zhu W, Dong Y, et al. Brain structure links trait hostile attribution bias and attitudes toward violence. Neuropsychologia. 2019;125:42–50. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2019.01.015
  • Wang Q, Lu L, Zhang Q, Fang F, Yi L. Eye avoidance in young children with autism spectrum disorder is modulated by emotional facial expressions. J Abnorm Psychol. 2018;127(7):722–732. doi:10.1037/abn0000372
  • Garofalo C, Velotti P, Zavattini GC. Emotion regulation and aggression: the incremental contribution of alexithymia, impulsivity, and emotion dysregulation facets. Psychol Violence. 2018;8(4):470. doi:10.1037/vio0000141
  • Dai L, Zhou Y, Hu J, Deng Y. Effect of alexithymia on health anxiety: mediating role of cognition and meta-cognition. Zhong Nan da Xue Xue Bao Yi Xue Ban. 2018;43(9):1026–1031. doi:10.11817/j.issn.1672-7347.2018.09.015
  • Hosie S, Malone DT, Liu S, et al. Altered amygdala excitation and CB1 receptor modulation of aggressive behavior in the neuroligin-3R451C mouse model of autism. Front Cell Neurosci. 2018:12234. doi:10.3389/fncel.2018.00234
  • Calvete E, Orue I. The role of emotion regulation in the predictive association between social information processing and aggressive behavior in adolescents. Int J Behav Dev. 2012;36(5):338–347. doi:10.1177/0165025412444079
  • Penton-Voak IS, Thomas J, Gage SH, Mcmurran M, Mcdonald S, Munafo MR. Increasing recognition of happiness in ambiguous facial expressions reduces anger and aggressive behavior. Psychol Sci. 2013;24(5):688–697. doi:10.1177/0956797612459657
  • van Dijk A, Thomaes S, Poorthuis AM, de Castro BO. Can self-persuasion reduce hostile attribution bias in young children? J Abnorm Child Psychol. 2019;47(6):989–1000. doi:10.1007/s10802-018-0499-2