Relational aggression, social aggression, and antisocial personality features: An investigation of bullying behavior in a sample of adolescent offenders

Bullying is a destructive subtype of aggression that can take direct and indirect forms. This study investigated relationships between two indirect forms of bullying (relational aggression and social aggression), the aggressor's level of interpersonal maturity, and antisocial personality features (narcissism and callous-unemotional traits). Participants included 58 male and 21 female offenders between the ages of 13 and 18 from an urban school serving youth who were adjudicated through the juvenile justice system. Data were obtained from a de-identified data set that contained responses to questions from three self-report rating scales: the Young Adult Social Behavior Scale (YASB), the Antisocial Process Screening Device (APSD), and the Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits (ICU). Multiple regression analyses indicated that narcissism uniquely and significantly predicted both relational aggression and social aggression, while callous-unemotional traits uniquely and significantly predicted low levels of interpersonal maturity. Correlation analyses indicated that there were no statistically significant differences between males and females in the combined presence of narcissism and relational aggression, social aggression, and interpersonal maturity, nor in the combined presence of callous-unemotional traits and relational aggression, social aggression, and interpersonal maturity. Results provide evidence that narcissism is associated with indirect forms of aggression, while callous-unemotional traits are associated with less ability or willingness to resolve interpersonal conflict, respect others' points of view, and maintain a confidence. Moreover, the lack of significant gender differences in this study parallels other research that suggests that adjudicated female youth may experience a greater degree of maladjustment overall than adjudicated male youth, thereby minimizing gender differences in the expression of aggression that have typically been found in studies utilizing community samples.