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Why men are more aggressive: What a mother should know
June 21, 2006Aggression in men may be due to variations in one of two genes involved in the activity of the neurotransmitter serotonin, according to results of a study reported at the 6th International Congress of Neuroendocrinology (ICN 2006), which takes place June 19 — 22 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in downtown Pittsburgh.
However, men with the "aggression" genes aren't necessarily all cads; genetics appears to be predictive only if men have hostile attitudes and fathers who never completed high school. Moreover, a genetic predisposition toward aggression could be rebuffed by a mother who nurtures her infant, suggests another study involving primates.
Summaries of these studies' findings and research revealing new information about the molecular and biophysical mechanisms that determine sexual arousal and sexual behavior follow:
No argument here: Research determining why some men are more aggressive
What pushes some men to the outer limits of machismo, to be more confrontational or apt to get into scuffles and arguments? According to results of a study involving 531 white men of European descent, belligerence may be attributable to variations in one of two genes involved in the activity of the neurotransmitter serotonin. However, men with the "aggression" genes aren't necessarily all cads, cautions Stephen Manuck, Ph.D., professor of psychology at the University of Pittsburgh, who led the research. Genetics appears to be predictive of aggression only if men also have more cynical and hostile attitudes toward others or fathers who never completed high school.
The Pitt study is the first to look at whether aggression in "normal" men may, in part, be attributed to the same serotonin-related genetic alterations that have been associated with aggressive behaviors in certain psychiatric and criminal populations. Indeed, the study found those who reported past fights, conflicts with authority figures or breaking objects in bouts of anger were more likely to carry the "low activity" MAOA gene variant that's been linked to criminal violence. Monoamine oxidase-A, or MAOA, is an enzyme that inactivates serotonin, helping to keep its levels in proper balance. Yet the low activity MAOA gene was only associated with aggressive "acting out" among men with oppositional attitudes. Variation in another serotonin gene, the serotonin 2A receptor, which is necessary for the neurotransmitter to act, also was predictive of antagonistic behavior, but only among men whose fathers had less than a high-school education. The same gene has been implicated in personality and anti-social disorders and in some criminal offenders.
Maternal buffer can prevent aggression
It can be a real jungle out there, and parents often do their best to shield their children from the worst of influences. According to new research, mothers can offer some added protection that fathers can't: a buffer against the development of aggressive behavior. According to primate studies, those with a genetic susceptibility for hostile behavior can grow up to be docile in nature, provided they had loving and caring mothers as infants.
Up to 10 percent of rhesus monkeys living in the wild are overly aggressive and react inappropriately even in the most benign situations, a trait they typically develop at a young age and seldom grow out of. Moreover, researchers have recently found, these aggressive animals have lower levels of the brain chemical serotonin, an observation noted through adulthood. Like their wild counterparts, monkeys studied in the laboratory that have a variation of a certain serotonin-related gene also make less serotonin and are more impulsive and aggressive, but only if they had mothers who did not bond with them as infants. As Stephen J. Suomi, Ph.D., chief, Laboratory of Comparative Ethology at the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development, has demonstrated, monkeys with the same gene-based serotonin deficiency who were reared by more nurturing mothers avoid developing aggressive behaviors. "Maternal buffering," he suggests, can trump genetics. The same may be true in humans.
Getting to the essential mechanisms of brain arousal and sexual behavior
To understand what brings about arousal of the central nervous system leading to sexual behavior, scientists have had to discover specific biochemical reactions within a select group of neurons in the hypothalamus, says Donald Pfaff, Ph.D., professor and head of the Laboratory of Neurobiology and Behavior at Rockefeller University. The process involves a complement of sex steroid hormones, perhaps as many as 120 genes and a host of environmental variables (not least among them, arousing stimuli and a suitable mate).
In these brain mechanisms, interactions between genes and the immediate environment play an essential part. Other, longer-term interactions stem from an animal's treatment about the time of birth. Those longer-term interactions are hypothesized to depend on chemical modification of either DNA through a process called methylation or of proteins covering the DNA. These so-called epigenetic mechanisms can produce heritable changes in behaviors without changing the animal's DNA sequence. Dr. Pfaff's new results reveal some of the molecular and biophysical mechanisms that dictate when and how chemical messages for generalized arousal affect the neurons in the hypothalamus that control sexual arousal and sexual behaviors.
Held in a different part of the world every four years under the auspices of the International Neuroendocrine Federation, this year's congress — Bridging Neuroscience and Endocrinology — is being sponsored by the American Neuroendocrine Society and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. The first full day of the program, June 20, is being held in conjunction with the 10th Annual Meeting of the Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology.
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
No argument here: Research determining why some men are more aggressive
What pushes some men to the outer limits of machismo, to be more confrontational or apt to get into scuffles and arguments? According to results of a study involving 531 white men of European descent, belligerence may be attributable to variations in one of two genes involved in the activity of the neurotransmitter serotonin. However, men with the "aggression" genes aren't necessarily all cads, cautions Stephen Manuck, Ph.D., professor of psychology at the University of Pittsburgh, who led the research. Genetics appears to be predictive of aggression only if men also have more cynical and hostile attitudes toward others or fathers who never completed high school.
The Pitt study is the first to look at whether aggression in "normal" men may, in part, be attributed to the same serotonin-related genetic alterations that have been associated with aggressive behaviors in certain psychiatric and criminal populations. Indeed, the study found those who reported past fights, conflicts with authority figures or breaking objects in bouts of anger were more likely to carry the "low activity" MAOA gene variant that's been linked to criminal violence. Monoamine oxidase-A, or MAOA, is an enzyme that inactivates serotonin, helping to keep its levels in proper balance. Yet the low activity MAOA gene was only associated with aggressive "acting out" among men with oppositional attitudes. Variation in another serotonin gene, the serotonin 2A receptor, which is necessary for the neurotransmitter to act, also was predictive of antagonistic behavior, but only among men whose fathers had less than a high-school education. The same gene has been implicated in personality and anti-social disorders and in some criminal offenders.
Maternal buffer can prevent aggression
It can be a real jungle out there, and parents often do their best to shield their children from the worst of influences. According to new research, mothers can offer some added protection that fathers can't: a buffer against the development of aggressive behavior. According to primate studies, those with a genetic susceptibility for hostile behavior can grow up to be docile in nature, provided they had loving and caring mothers as infants.
Up to 10 percent of rhesus monkeys living in the wild are overly aggressive and react inappropriately even in the most benign situations, a trait they typically develop at a young age and seldom grow out of. Moreover, researchers have recently found, these aggressive animals have lower levels of the brain chemical serotonin, an observation noted through adulthood. Like their wild counterparts, monkeys studied in the laboratory that have a variation of a certain serotonin-related gene also make less serotonin and are more impulsive and aggressive, but only if they had mothers who did not bond with them as infants. As Stephen J. Suomi, Ph.D., chief, Laboratory of Comparative Ethology at the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development, has demonstrated, monkeys with the same gene-based serotonin deficiency who were reared by more nurturing mothers avoid developing aggressive behaviors. "Maternal buffering," he suggests, can trump genetics. The same may be true in humans.
Getting to the essential mechanisms of brain arousal and sexual behavior
To understand what brings about arousal of the central nervous system leading to sexual behavior, scientists have had to discover specific biochemical reactions within a select group of neurons in the hypothalamus, says Donald Pfaff, Ph.D., professor and head of the Laboratory of Neurobiology and Behavior at Rockefeller University. The process involves a complement of sex steroid hormones, perhaps as many as 120 genes and a host of environmental variables (not least among them, arousing stimuli and a suitable mate).
In these brain mechanisms, interactions between genes and the immediate environment play an essential part. Other, longer-term interactions stem from an animal's treatment about the time of birth. Those longer-term interactions are hypothesized to depend on chemical modification of either DNA through a process called methylation or of proteins covering the DNA. These so-called epigenetic mechanisms can produce heritable changes in behaviors without changing the animal's DNA sequence. Dr. Pfaff's new results reveal some of the molecular and biophysical mechanisms that dictate when and how chemical messages for generalized arousal affect the neurons in the hypothalamus that control sexual arousal and sexual behaviors.
Held in a different part of the world every four years under the auspices of the International Neuroendocrine Federation, this year's congress — Bridging Neuroscience and Endocrinology — is being sponsored by the American Neuroendocrine Society and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. The first full day of the program, June 20, is being held in conjunction with the 10th Annual Meeting of the Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology.
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
Aggression Current Events and Aggression News RSSDaycare may double TV time for young children, study finds
In a new study, the amount of television viewed by many young children in child care settings doubles the previous estimates of early childhood screen time, with those in home-based settings watching significantly more on average than those in center-based daycares.
The narrow line between love and jealousy
A new study carried out at the University of Haifa has found that the hormone oxytocin, the "love hormone", which affects behaviors such as trust, empathy and generosity, also affects opposite behaviors, such as jealousy and gloating.
Male sabertoothed cats were pussycats compared to macho lions
Despite their fearsome fangs, male sabertoothed cats may have been less aggressive than many of their feline cousins, says a new study of male-female size differences in extinct big cats.
Hormone that affects finger length key to social behavior
The hormones, called androgens, are important in the development of masculine characteristics such as aggression and strength.
Angry faces: Research suggests link between facial structure and aggression
Angry words and gestures are not the only way to get a sense of how temperamental a person is. According to new findings in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, a quick glance at someone's facial structure may be enough for us to predict their tendency towards aggression.
Stress-induced changes in brain circuitry linked to cocaine relapse
Stress-evoked changes in circuits that regulate serotonin in certain parts of the brain can precipitate a low mood and a relapse in cocaine-seeking, based on mouse studies published online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
When ants attack: Researchers recreate chemicals that trigger aggression in Argentine ants
Experiments led by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have demonstrated that normally friendly ants can turn against each other by exploiting the chemical cues they use to distinguish colony-mates from rivals.
Adolescents' gambling a part of a cluster of problem behaviors
Ten percent of young adolescent boys -- or one in 10 -- exhibit a symptom of conduct disorder as well as a symptom of risky or problem gambling, according to new research findings from the University at Buffalo's Research Institute on Addictions (RIA).
Being a standout has its benefits, study shows
Standing out in a crowd is better than blending in, at least if you're a paper wasp in a colony where fights between nest-mates determine social status.
Eating sweets every day in childhood 'increases adult aggression'
Children who eat sweets and chocolate every day are more likely to be violent as adults, according to new research.
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