Relational Aggression and Its Association with Other Forms of Aggression: An Applied Latent Profile Analysis

Abstract

Relational aggression (RA) is characterised by social manipulation and covert harm, often involving fluid and overlapping experiences of both perpetration and victimisation. We used latent profile analysis (LPA) to identify subgroups of young Australian adults based on their self-reported experiences of RA and explore whether these RA typologies are associated with broader aggressive traits and behaviours. We used a community sample of Australian adults aged 18-25 (N = 206, Mean age = 21.8, SD = 2.24, 77% female). Three distinct profiles emerged: predominantly victimised, combined victims-perpetrators (enmeshed), and the uninvolved. We observed strong indications that the experience of RA, even when predominantly as victimisation, was associated with increased odds of experiencing and perpetrating any aggression or violent behaviour compared to the uninvolved (OR = 5.17, [1.42-18.87] and OR = 3.21 [1.09-9.63] for the enmeshed and victimised classes, respectively, perpetrating any violent act). Conclusion: These results suggest the bidirectional nature of RA extends into young adulthood, and that distinct RA profiles exhibit differing patterns of broader aggressive behaviour. This study highlights that any approaches to further investigating or intervening with RA require consideration of the bidirectional nature of RA between perpetration and victimisation.

Keywords: aggression; latent profile analysis; relational aggression; victimization; violence.

Figure 1

RA and trait aggression across latent profiles. Note: *, †, and ‡ represent pairwise comparisons between victimised–enmeshed, victimised–uninvolved, and enmeshed–uninvolved, respectively. Singular, double, and triple symbols represent significance of <0.05, <0.01, and <0.001, respectively. Variables have been standardised for clarity.