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Physiological Underarousal Predicts Clinically Elevated Aggression through Lower Guilt in Childhood

Tyler Colasante, University of Toronto; Tina Malti, University of Toronto

Physiological underarousal has been linked to higher aggression in community samples of children, and children with clinically elevated aggression exhibit lower physiological arousal than typically developing children. However, the reasons behind these links are still debated. One possibility is that physiological underarousal disrupts ethical emotions, such as feeling guilty after harming others, resulting in higher aggression. However, only one study has supported this hypothesis and it utilized a low-aggression community sample (Colasante et al., 2021). The roles of underarousal and ethical emotions remain unclear in children with the most severe clinical levels of aggression. The present study assessed physiological and ethical responding in samples of 150 typically developing children (Mage 8.01 years; 50% female) and 62 children referred for clinically elevated aggression (Mage 9.16 years; 16% female). Children's respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) was assessed while they imagined committing ethical transgressions (i.e., pushing/stealing), and they reported their level of guilt after each transgression. Latent difference scores modeled children's RSA reactivity from before to during each transgression, and an indirect effect model tested the link between RSA reactivity and likelihood of belonging to the community vs. clinical sample through guilt levels. Greater RSA reactivity (i.e., rest/digest response) was associated with lower guilt after transgressing, ? - .14, p .019. Lower guilt was associated with a higher likelihood of belonging to the clinical sample (OR .586, p .009 ; i.e., 1-unit decrease on 3-point guilt scale 41.4% increase in odds of clinical sample membership). The indirect effect was also significant, b .60, 95% CI [.10, 1.50], suggesting that physiological underarousal coincided with clinical risk of aggression through its association with lapses in guilt. Potential implications for screening and treatment are discussed.

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