Higher aggression is related to poorer academic performance in compulsory education

Eero Vuoksimaa; Richard J. Rose; Lea Pulkkinen; Teemu Palviainen; Kaili Rimfeld; Sebastian Lundström; Meike Bartels; Catharina van Beijsterveldt; Anne Hendriks; Eveline L. de Zeeuw; Robert Plomin; Paul Lichtenstein; Dorret I. Boomsma; Jaakko Kaprio

doi:10.1111/jcpp.13273

Higher aggression is related to poorer academic performance in compulsory education

Eero Vuoksimaa^*, Richard J. Rose, Lea Pulkkinen, Teemu Palviainen, Kaili Rimfeld, Sebastian Lundström, Meike Bartels, Catharina van Beijsterveldt, Anne Hendriks, Eveline L. de Zeeuw, Robert Plomin, Paul Lichtenstein, Dorret I. Boomsma, Jaakko Kaprio

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

34 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Background: To conduct a comprehensive assessment of the association between aggression and academic performance in compulsory education. Method: We studied aggression and academic performance in over 27,000 individuals from four European twin cohorts participating in the ACTION consortium (Aggression in Children: Unraveling gene-environment interplay to inform Treatment and InterventiON strategies). Individual level data on aggression at ages 7–16 were assessed by three instruments (Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment, Multidimensional Peer Nomination Inventory, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire) including parental, teacher and self-reports. Academic performance was measured with teacher-rated grade point averages (ages 12–14) or standardized test scores (ages 12–16). Random effect meta-analytical correlations with academic performance were estimated for parental ratings (in all four cohorts) and self-ratings (in three cohorts). Results: All between-family analyses indicated significant negative aggression–academic performance associations with correlations ranging from −.06 to −.33. Results were similar across different ages, instruments and raters and either with teacher-rated grade point averages or standardized test scores as measures of academic performance. Meta-analytical r’s were −.20 and −.23 for parental and self-ratings, respectively. In within-family analyses of all twin pairs, the negative aggression–academic performance associations were statistically significant in 14 out of 17 analyses (r = −.17 for parental- and r = −.16 for self-ratings). Separate analyses in monozygotic (r = −.07 for parental and self-ratings), same-sex dizygotic (r’s = −.16 and −.17 for parental and self-ratings) and opposite-sex dizygotic (r’s = −.21 and −.19 for parental and self-ratings) twin pairs suggested partial confounding by genetic effects. Conclusions: There is a robust negative association between aggression and academic performance in compulsory education. Part of these associations were explained by shared genetic effects, but some evidence of a negative association between aggression and academic performance remained even in within-family analyses of monozygotic twin pairs.

Original language	English
Journal	Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13273
Publication status	Accepted/In press - 1 Jan 2020

Keywords

Aggression
cognition
development
educational attainment
school performance

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10.1111/jcpp.13273

Cite this

Vuoksimaa, E., Rose, R. J., Pulkkinen, L., Palviainen, T., Rimfeld, K., Lundström, S., Bartels, M., van Beijsterveldt, C., Hendriks, A., de Zeeuw, E. L., Plomin, R., Lichtenstein, P., Boomsma, D. I., & Kaprio, J. (Accepted/In press). Higher aggression is related to poorer academic performance in compulsory education. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13273

@article{da090edb7b9b431d881e6dc885b09362,

title = "Higher aggression is related to poorer academic performance in compulsory education",

abstract = "Background: To conduct a comprehensive assessment of the association between aggression and academic performance in compulsory education. Method: We studied aggression and academic performance in over 27,000 individuals from four European twin cohorts participating in the ACTION consortium (Aggression in Children: Unraveling gene-environment interplay to inform Treatment and InterventiON strategies). Individual level data on aggression at ages 7–16 were assessed by three instruments (Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment, Multidimensional Peer Nomination Inventory, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire) including parental, teacher and self-reports. Academic performance was measured with teacher-rated grade point averages (ages 12–14) or standardized test scores (ages 12–16). Random effect meta-analytical correlations with academic performance were estimated for parental ratings (in all four cohorts) and self-ratings (in three cohorts). Results: All between-family analyses indicated significant negative aggression–academic performance associations with correlations ranging from −.06 to −.33. Results were similar across different ages, instruments and raters and either with teacher-rated grade point averages or standardized test scores as measures of academic performance. Meta-analytical r{\textquoteright}s were −.20 and −.23 for parental and self-ratings, respectively. In within-family analyses of all twin pairs, the negative aggression–academic performance associations were statistically significant in 14 out of 17 analyses (r = −.17 for parental- and r = −.16 for self-ratings). Separate analyses in monozygotic (r = −.07 for parental and self-ratings), same-sex dizygotic (r{\textquoteright}s = −.16 and −.17 for parental and self-ratings) and opposite-sex dizygotic (r{\textquoteright}s = −.21 and −.19 for parental and self-ratings) twin pairs suggested partial confounding by genetic effects. Conclusions: There is a robust negative association between aggression and academic performance in compulsory education. Part of these associations were explained by shared genetic effects, but some evidence of a negative association between aggression and academic performance remained even in within-family analyses of monozygotic twin pairs.",

keywords = "Aggression, cognition, development, educational attainment, school performance",

author = "Eero Vuoksimaa and Rose, {Richard J.} and Lea Pulkkinen and Teemu Palviainen and Kaili Rimfeld and Sebastian Lundstr{\"o}m and Meike Bartels and {van Beijsterveldt}, Catharina and Anne Hendriks and {de Zeeuw}, {Eveline L.} and Robert Plomin and Paul Lichtenstein and Boomsma, {Dorret I.} and Jaakko Kaprio",

year = "2020",

month = jan,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1111/jcpp.13273",

language = "English",

journal = "Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines",

issn = "0021-9630",

}

Vuoksimaa, E, Rose, RJ, Pulkkinen, L, Palviainen, T, Rimfeld, K, Lundström, S, Bartels, M, van Beijsterveldt, C, Hendriks, A, de Zeeuw, EL, Plomin, R, Lichtenstein, P, Boomsma, DI & Kaprio, J 2020, 'Higher aggression is related to poorer academic performance in compulsory education', Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13273

TY - JOUR

T1 - Higher aggression is related to poorer academic performance in compulsory education

AU - Vuoksimaa, Eero

AU - Rose, Richard J.

AU - Pulkkinen, Lea

AU - Palviainen, Teemu

AU - Rimfeld, Kaili

AU - Lundström, Sebastian

AU - Bartels, Meike

AU - van Beijsterveldt, Catharina

AU - Hendriks, Anne

AU - de Zeeuw, Eveline L.

AU - Plomin, Robert

AU - Lichtenstein, Paul

AU - Boomsma, Dorret I.

AU - Kaprio, Jaakko

PY - 2020/1/1

Y1 - 2020/1/1

N2 - Background: To conduct a comprehensive assessment of the association between aggression and academic performance in compulsory education. Method: We studied aggression and academic performance in over 27,000 individuals from four European twin cohorts participating in the ACTION consortium (Aggression in Children: Unraveling gene-environment interplay to inform Treatment and InterventiON strategies). Individual level data on aggression at ages 7–16 were assessed by three instruments (Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment, Multidimensional Peer Nomination Inventory, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire) including parental, teacher and self-reports. Academic performance was measured with teacher-rated grade point averages (ages 12–14) or standardized test scores (ages 12–16). Random effect meta-analytical correlations with academic performance were estimated for parental ratings (in all four cohorts) and self-ratings (in three cohorts). Results: All between-family analyses indicated significant negative aggression–academic performance associations with correlations ranging from −.06 to −.33. Results were similar across different ages, instruments and raters and either with teacher-rated grade point averages or standardized test scores as measures of academic performance. Meta-analytical r’s were −.20 and −.23 for parental and self-ratings, respectively. In within-family analyses of all twin pairs, the negative aggression–academic performance associations were statistically significant in 14 out of 17 analyses (r = −.17 for parental- and r = −.16 for self-ratings). Separate analyses in monozygotic (r = −.07 for parental and self-ratings), same-sex dizygotic (r’s = −.16 and −.17 for parental and self-ratings) and opposite-sex dizygotic (r’s = −.21 and −.19 for parental and self-ratings) twin pairs suggested partial confounding by genetic effects. Conclusions: There is a robust negative association between aggression and academic performance in compulsory education. Part of these associations were explained by shared genetic effects, but some evidence of a negative association between aggression and academic performance remained even in within-family analyses of monozygotic twin pairs.

AB - Background: To conduct a comprehensive assessment of the association between aggression and academic performance in compulsory education. Method: We studied aggression and academic performance in over 27,000 individuals from four European twin cohorts participating in the ACTION consortium (Aggression in Children: Unraveling gene-environment interplay to inform Treatment and InterventiON strategies). Individual level data on aggression at ages 7–16 were assessed by three instruments (Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment, Multidimensional Peer Nomination Inventory, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire) including parental, teacher and self-reports. Academic performance was measured with teacher-rated grade point averages (ages 12–14) or standardized test scores (ages 12–16). Random effect meta-analytical correlations with academic performance were estimated for parental ratings (in all four cohorts) and self-ratings (in three cohorts). Results: All between-family analyses indicated significant negative aggression–academic performance associations with correlations ranging from −.06 to −.33. Results were similar across different ages, instruments and raters and either with teacher-rated grade point averages or standardized test scores as measures of academic performance. Meta-analytical r’s were −.20 and −.23 for parental and self-ratings, respectively. In within-family analyses of all twin pairs, the negative aggression–academic performance associations were statistically significant in 14 out of 17 analyses (r = −.17 for parental- and r = −.16 for self-ratings). Separate analyses in monozygotic (r = −.07 for parental and self-ratings), same-sex dizygotic (r’s = −.16 and −.17 for parental and self-ratings) and opposite-sex dizygotic (r’s = −.21 and −.19 for parental and self-ratings) twin pairs suggested partial confounding by genetic effects. Conclusions: There is a robust negative association between aggression and academic performance in compulsory education. Part of these associations were explained by shared genetic effects, but some evidence of a negative association between aggression and academic performance remained even in within-family analyses of monozygotic twin pairs.

KW - Aggression

KW - cognition

KW - development

KW - educational attainment

KW - school performance

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85085663584&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1111/jcpp.13273

DO - 10.1111/jcpp.13273

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85085663584

SN - 0021-9630

JO - Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines

JF - Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines

ER -

Higher aggression is related to poorer academic performance in compulsory education

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