From emotional dysregulation to violence: Psychological pathways associated with aggressive behavior

Violence and hostile behavior are major public health problems worldwide. Emotional dysregulation is now seen to be a major psychological mechanism driving violent behavior, yet the processes by which it functions are still not well known.

This study examined the mechanisms by which emotional regulation is linked to violent behavior, the moderating effect of impulsivity and chronic stress, and the moderating effect of affective instability.

We measured emotional dysregulation (DERS), violent behavior (Modified Conflict Tactics Scale), impulsivity (UPPS-P), affective instability, and chronic stress using a cross-sectional design and a nationally representative sample consisting of 1847 participants (M age = 32.4 years, SD = 11.2, 52.3% female). The moderated mediation model was tested using hierarchical regression, structural equation modeling, and bootstrapped mediation analyses (5000 resamples).

A direct correlation was observed between emotional dysregulation and violent behavior (R = 0.34, 95% CI [0.29, 39]), indicating that 28.7% of the variance was due to emotional regulation. This relationship was mediated by impulsivity (indirect effect = 0.12, 95% CI [0.08, 0.17]) and chronic stress (indirect effect = 0.09, 95% CI [0.05, 0.14]). This association was moderated by affective instability (=0.18, p < .001) at high levels. The integrated moderated mediation model attributed 43.6% of the variance on violent behavior, including demographic covariates, direct effect, as well as parallel mediators, moderating by affective instability.

Findings indicate that blended intervention strategies that focus on emotional control skills, impulse control and stress management might be applicable in violence prevention programs especially among individuals that are highly affective and unstable.