Abstract:
The personality and neuropsychological factors associated with relational
aggression were examined in a group of30 grade 6,7, and 8 girls identified through
cluster analysis as being highly, yet almost exclusively, relationally aggressive and a
group of 30 nonaggressive matched controls. Parents of the students in both groups
completed the Coolidge Personality and Neuropsychological Inventory (1998), a 200-
item DSM-IV -TR aligned, parent-as-respondent, standardized measure of c.hildren' s
psychological functioning. It was found that high levels of relational aggression, in the
absence of physical and verbal aggression, were associated with symptoms of DSM-IV -
TR Axis I oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorder and a wide variety of
personality traits associated with DSM-IV -TR Axis II paranoid, borderline, narcissistic,
histrionic, schizotypal, and passive aggressive personality disorders. Implications of these
findings for theory, practice, and further research are discussed.
