Examining the Presence of Anxiety in Aggressive Individuals: The Illuminating Role of Fight-or-Flight Mechanisms

• Published in: Child & youth care forum Vol. 41; no. 3; pp. 247 - 258
• Main Authors: Kunimatsu, Melissa M., Marsee, Monica A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer US 01.06.2012; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aggression; Aggressiveness; Anxiety; Behavior Problems; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Child & adolescent psychiatry; Child and School Psychology; Cognition & reasoning; Correlation; Emotions; Externalizing problems; Information Processing; Internalizing problems; Isolation; Literature Reviews; Original Paper; Profiles; Psychology; Resistance (Psychology); Role; Self Control; Subtypes; Control; Anxiety; Forms of aggression; Functions of aggression; Emotion regulation; Social information processing
• ISSN: 1053-1890; 1573-3319
• DOI: 10.1007/s10566-012-9178-6

Background Although internalizing and externalizing problems are often considered in isolation from one another, they frequently co-occur in individuals leading to unique behavioral profiles. Objective To examine the overlap and divergence of anxious and aggressive behaviors, as well as the differential presence of anxiety within the forms, functions, and subtypes of aggression. Methods This is a theoretical literature review conducted by reviewing recent manuscripts detailing numerous correlates of anxiety and aggression and then synthesizing them into a potential conceptual model. Results Conceptualizing anxiety and aggression as behavioral representatives of the fight-or-flight response, this paper considers their overlap and divergence on various emotional (e.g., emotion regulation) and cognitive (e.g., perceptions of control) mechanisms. Variations in these mechanisms as they relate to the forms (relational/overt), functions (proactive/reactive), and form-function subtypes of aggression are also examined. Conclusions The clinical utility of considering these cognitive and emotional mechanisms when dealing with aggressive behavior is discussed. Concluding remarks seek to conceptualize anxiety and aggression as parts of an interconnected fight-or-flight system.