Am J Psychiatry 1989; 146:521-525
Copyright © 1989 by American Psychiatric Association
Psychosis, aggression, and self-destructive behavior in hospitalized adolescents
I Delga, RK Heinssen, RC Fritsch, W Goodrich and BT Yates
Chestnut Lodge Research Institute, Rockville, MD 20850.
The authors studied the history of aggressive and self-destructive
behaviors in psychotic and nonpsychotic hospitalized adolescents (N = 137).
A multidimensional measure of self- and other-directed aggression was
retrospectively applied to each patient's social and developmental history.
Nonsignificant gender and diagnostic differences were obtained on ratings
of violence and suicide. Broader definitions of internal and external
aggression yielded nonsignificant diagnostic differences, but gender
differences were observed on both internal and external aggression
measures. Females displayed greater internal aggression, and males reported
higher external aggression scores. These results, compared to those of
other investigators, suggest the importance of social and cultural
variables in understanding adolescent psychosis and aggression.
