A POSITIVE CORRELATION BETWEEN SELF-RATINGS OF DEPRESSION AND LABORATORY-MEASURED AGGRESSION

Aggression and depressive symptoms have been linked using self-rating scales as measures of aggression. In order to study this relationship using an objective measure of aggression, we studied normal controls ( 42 women and 23 men) with the Point Subtraction Aggression Paradigm (P SAP) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). There was a significant positive correlation (r = 0.442, P = 0.003) between the level of aggre ssive responding on the PSAP and the level of depressive symptoms on t he BDI in women but not in men (r = 0.064, P = 0.773). This study prov ides some evidence of a link between aggressive behavior and depressiv e symptoms in a non-clinical population, possibly due to a common neur ochemical etiology. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.