Alcohol-related aggression in males and females: effects of blood alcohol concentration, subjective intoxication, personality, and provocation.

This study tested the combined predictive ability of blood alcohol concentration (BAC), subjective intoxication, and aggressive personality traits on physical aggression in males and females in High- and Low-provocation conditions. Sixty intoxicated White social drinkers (30 males and 30 females) competed against a fictitious opponent on a modified version of the Taylor aggression paradigm in which subjects both received and delivered electric shocks to their opponents in provoking and nonprovoking conditions. Provocation conditions (High and Low) were defined by the intensity of the shocks the subjects received. Aggression was operationalized as the intensity of the shocks selected by the subjects. Results indicated that, for males in the High-provocation condition, aggressive personality traits, subjective intoxication, and BAC were effective predictors of physical aggression. However, in the Low-provocation condition, only aggressive personality traits and BAC predicted aggression. None of the variables were effective predictors of aggression for intoxicated females.