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Symptoms of Aggression Functions and Sleep: A Network Analysis Approach
Tampke, Elizabeth Claire
Tampke, Elizabeth Claire
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Abstract
More research is needed to understand how aggression is associated with problematic sleep, which is both a cause and consequence of aggression. Previous work has used factor analytic models to examine the distinct, yet overlapping, functions (i.e., proactive and reactive) of aggression. However, network analysis may be a useful statistical tool for examining aggression because it identifies key symptoms through evaluating the associations between specific symptoms (rather than their higher-order factors). Furthermore, this method could identify which aggression symptoms are associated with specific symptoms of poor sleep quality. The current study used network analysis to (1) evaluate the symptomatology structure of proactive and reactive aggression as well as aggression and sleep quality (i.e., communities), (2) identify the core symptoms of proactive and reactive aggression as well as sleep quality (i.e., centrality), (3) identify the aggression and sleep symptoms that are the most salient targets for interventions to reduce aggression (i.e., “key players”), and (4) evaluate differences in these outcomes based on child- and teacher-report of aggression. Results indicated that both child- and teacher-reported Aggression networks resulted in a two-community structure (i.e., proactive and reactive) and child- and teacher-reported Aggression Plus Sleep networks resulted in a 3-community structure (i.e., proactive aggression, reactive aggression, and sleep quality); however, communities were not as well defined as anticipated. Child- and teacher-reported networks were found to be similar to each other overall but demonstrated some differences. In contrast to expectations, proactive and reactive aggression symptoms were equally central in child- and teacher-reported Aggression and Aggression Plus Sleep networks. However, centrality indices of strength, closeness, and betweenness were not statistically robust and, therefore, should be interpreted with caution. While different symptoms were identified as key players in the teacher and child networks, in both Aggression networks proactive aggression symptoms were identified as key players over reactive aggression symptoms. In both Aggression Plus Sleep networks, sleep onset latency (Falling_Asleep) was identified as a key player. In contrast to expectations, both reactive and proactive aggression symptoms were both positively and negatively correlated with sleep quality symptoms in teacher- and child-reported networks. Findings suggest that proactive aggression symptoms are important to target for aggression interventions and that improvements in sleep quality may enhance aggression interventions. Additional findings and their implications are discussed in turn.
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2021-08-31
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University of Kansas
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Keywords
Clinical psychology, middle childhood, network analysis, proactive aggression, reactive aggression, sleep quality