All teenagers misbehave and act out at some point during their adolescent years. When a teenager becomes hostile or deliberately acts out for the purpose of causing harm, her aggression may be an indicator of an underlying issue. Understanding aggression, conduct disorders and other disorders that cause aggression may help you better understand your teen's actions.
Defining Aggression
Aggression is defined by Princeton University as being a feeling that causes an interest in violence and physical attack or as unprovoked violence toward another person. Aggressive behaviors can be verbal or physical, as long as they intend to hurt. Your teenager may show little remorse over his actions and may not understand the damage caused by his actions, according to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP).
Biology of Aggression
The structure in the brain associated with emotions--the amygdala--was enlarged in adolescents who acted in aggressive ways when compared to other teenagers, wrote Alan Mozes in a Feb. 26, 2008, edition of the "Washington Post." Causation for this finding has yet to be determined, so it is still unclear whether aggressive behavior causes the enlargement or the enlargement causes the aggressive behavior. The AACAP states that genetic vulnerabilities as well as a favorable environment can cause aggression in teens, including neurobiological development problems during the mother's pregnancy.
Oppositional Defiant Disorder
Ongoing emotional and behavioral problems that do not reflect any care or concern for the safety, the well-being or the rights of others could be diagnosed as a conduct disorder, states the AACAP. Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) is a conduct disorder marked by severely restricted daily activity due to a constant defiance and aggression toward authority. The AACAP suggests that aggression and conduct disorders are caused by familial instability, mental illness in the child's environment or other class and cultural situations.
Signs and Symptoms of Conduct Disorders
ODD and other conduct disorders can be recognized by your child's demonstration of hateful and spiteful language, being mean when upset, having frequent bouts of anger, becoming easily annoyed, deliberate attempts to upset others, defiance and refusal to cooperate and exceptionally argumentative with authority figures, according to the AACAP. Aggressive behaviors that may reflect a conduct disorder are made toward people and animals that take the form of bullying, threatening, fighting, cruelty or using weapons.
Depression
Aggressive behavior may be a symptom of depression, rather than a symptom of a conduct disorder, according to the Help Guide website. Aggression, coupled with signs of depression, may be an indicator that your teen is facing a serious problem. Warning signs of depression include sadness, irritability, frequent crying, isolation from friends and family, loss of interest in activities once loved, agitation or anxiety, fatigue, loss of concentration or thoughts of death and suicide.
Coping with Aggression
Knowing that there is hope may help you handle your aggressive child. Begin by talking to your physician. It may help you decide whether your family needs help coping with your teenager's aggressive behaviors. Parent and family-focused therapy may be a way for you to help manage your emotions and learn to deal with the conduct of your teen. Other ways your doctor may suggest seeking resolutions to your adolescent's aggression may include family therapy, involving the whole family, social skills training that focuses on your teen's ability to handle her own life, school-based treatment programs, cognitive-behavioral therapy or medication, states the AACAP.
References
- The Washington Post: Teen Aggression May Really Be a State of Mind; Feb. 26, 2008
- American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry: Conduct Disorder FAQs
- American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry: Children with Oppositional Defiant Disorder
- American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry: Conduct Disorders
- Help Guide: Teen Depression
