Psychologically aggressive parenting and later aggression: Salivary alpha-amylase reactivity and sex as moderators

Psychologically aggressive parenting (PAP) exposure negatively affects children's development of aggression. Nevertheless, not all children exposed to PAP display aggressive behaviors. Sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activity may influence the impact of early adversity on aggression. This study examines whether SNS reactivity and sex moderate the link between psychologically aggressive parenting (PAP) during childhood and later aggression. Emerging adults (N = 182, mean age = 19.03 years, 53 % female) retrospectively reported on their childhood PAP and current aggression. Salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) collected from a social stress task indexed SNS reactivity to stress. Childhood PAP was associated with emerging adulthood anger, hostility, physical, and verbal aggression. Moreover, males were more likely to exhibit anger, verbal, and physical aggression and had higher levels of sAA reactivity than females. A significant three-way interaction between childhood PAP, sAA reactivity, and sex accounted for participants' current verbal aggression. The link between childhood PAP and later verbal aggression was stronger for males at higher levels of sAA reactivity. Females with higher levels of sAA reactivity displayed lower levels of verbal aggression regardless of PAP exposure. Males and females with lower levels of sAA reactivity were at elevated risk for verbal aggression regardless of PAP exposure. Moreover, we found a significant two-way interaction between PAP and sex on anger, such that higher levels of PAP exposure were associated with more anger among males, but not females. These findings highlight the importance of examining interactions between biological and environmental factors and sex in accounting for later aggression.