Risk factors of aggressive behavior in female patients with schizophrenia

To investigate the risk factors associated with violent behavior in female patients with schizophrenia.

A total of 85 female patients with schizophrenia were assessed using the Modified Over Aggression Scale (MOAS), the Positive and Negative Symptoms Scale (PANSS), the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), and the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R). Based on their MOAS scores, patients were divided into non-violent and violent groups. Univariate analysis and binary logistic regression were conducted to identify the risk factors for aggressive behavior.

Violent patients exhibited significantly higher scores than non-violent patients in terms of positive symptom, paranoid syndrome and aggressive syndrome of PANSS, emotional abuse and sexual abuse of CTQ, and antisocial features of PCL-R. Moreover, logistic analysis revealed that positive symptom (OR = 1.506, 95% CI 1.164-1.947, P = 0.002), paranoia (OR = 1.776, 95% CI 1.114-2.833, P = 0.016), aggressive syndrome (OR = 1.734, 95% CI 1.047-2.872, P = 0.033), antisocial tendency (OR = 1.679, 95% CI 1.012-2.785, P = 0.045) and emotional abuse (OR = 1.783, 95% CI 1.187-2.678, P = 0.005) were the risk factors for the occurrence of aggression in female patients with schizophrenia.

This study highlighted the significant association between violence in female schizophrenia patients and psychopathy traits, childhood trauma as well as personality characteristics. These findings underscored the potential utility of incorporating PCL-R and CTQ assessments into the clinical evaluation of aggression in this population.