Aggression linked to peer-based rejection and bullying is a leading cause of injury and psychological distress among middle school-aged adolescents, and occurs at higher rates in youth exposed to harsh parenting. Tradi- tional intervention programs that target those at risk for perpetrating aggression due to harsh parenting have had only limited success. This lack of success may be due to the fact that aggression is the product of complex decision-making processes that are influenced by current states of attention, arousal, and affect. A different approach is to prevent aggression before it happens by interceding when nonverbal indices signal a shift in these critical states. An essential first step towards establishing this prevention-based approach is to isolate nonverbal behavior that reliably predicts forthcoming aggression in high-risk adolescents. Eye gaze, pupillary dilation, and facial expressions are strong nonverbal behavioral candidates given that they are well-established indices of attention, arousal, and affective states. The current proposal uses computational modeling to test the predictive link between these nonverbal behaviors elicited during an ecologically valid social rejection paradigm and subsequent expression of peer-based aggression in adolescents (11-14 years; N=80) with high and low exposure to harsh parenting. Results will lay the groundwork for our long-term objective, to develop next gen- eration interventions aimed at preventing aggression the moment its behavioral precursors are detected.

Public Health Relevance

Aggression linked to peer-based rejection and bullying is a costly public health problem that is inadequately addressed by existing interventions. The goal of this project is to implement computational modeling to predict aggression in low and high-risk youth using nonverbal behavior elicited during social rejection and aggression- related decision-making. Next generation interventions can then be designed to prevent aggression when these nonverbal indices are detected.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD)
Type
Exploratory/Developmental Grants (R21)
Project #
5R21HD093912-03
Application #
9755465
Study Section
Psychosocial Development, Risk and Prevention Study Section (PDRP)
Program Officer
Esposito, Layla E
Project Start
2018-08-04
Project End
2020-08-31
Budget Start
2019-09-01
Budget End
2020-08-31
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
2019
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Temple University
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
057123192
City
Philadelphia
State
PA
Country
United States
Zip Code
19122