Psychopathology constructs can be articulated using hierarchical approaches in which higher-order, broad construct dimensions give rise to more specific phenotypes at lower levels (e.g., the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology [HiTOP]; Kotov et al., 2017). The ability for a general factor, characterized by alcohol-related aggression, to best explain the variance across the three specific aggression phenotypes we examined suggests that a hierarchical approach is likely to be an accurate and generative means to studying aggressive behavior and its relations with other externalizing behaviors. Within the HiTOP model, aggression falls underneath the broader category of externalizing behaviors (Creswell, Wright, Flory, Skrzynski, & Manuck, 2019). Externalizing is split into ‘antagonistic externalizing’ (which subsumes antisocial behaviors such as aggression) and ‘disinhibited externalizing’ (which subsumes both antisocial behaviors and substance misuse; Kotov et al., 2017). Based on this articulation, alcohol-related and drug-related aggression are most likely to fall under both of these externalizing dimensions, whereas non-substance-related aggression is more likely to exclusively fall underneath ‘antagonistic externalizing’. Future research is needed to test these possibilities and subsequently place these three aggression phenotypes within the HiTOP and other hierarchical frameworks of externalizing behaviors and psychopathology.
