Predicting physical aggression among female adolescents using the protection-risk interaction mechanism (PRIM) model

According to the United States Surgeon General, the growth in violence rates among females has outpaced the growth in violence rates among males, although reasons for these significant increases remain unclear. Based on the developmental processes of gender identity, socialization, and social-information processing, possible theoretical explanations as to the function of aggression among female adolescents are offered. Within those theoretical frameworks, the current study uses structural equation modeling to test the utility and validity of a new model called the Protection-Risk Interaction Mechanism (PRIM) model in an effort to add several important pieces of information to the current literature on aggression. Using a data set composed of clinically-referred adolescents receiving community-based mental health services, the current study adds five major pieces of information to the current literature regarding female aggression. First, this study focuses exclusively on a clinical sample of female adolescents. Second, this study focuses on risk and protective processes rather than factors. Third, this study examines risk and protective processes simultaneously rather than in isolation. Fourth, this study examines how risk and protective processes interact to predict female aggression. Fifth, this study examines how protective processes change the relationship between risk and female aggression and attempts to illuminate the function of female aggression. Results of the structural equation models indicated that higher levels of anxiety/depression and attention/hyperactivity-impulsivity consistently were associated with an increased likelihood of aggression while peer rejection was marginally related to an increased likelihood of aggression. A history of physical and/or sexual abuse as well as current substance use was not associated with female aggression. The protective process of social competence was strongly and negatively related to female aggression. Although social competence both mediated and moderated the relationship between aggression and attention/hyperactivity-impulsivity in traditional regression analyses, those relationships were not indicated in the PRIM structural equation model. Recommendations are made for future research and clinical practice.