| Abstract: | Research has shown a relationship between community violence exposure and heightened aggression in young adults (Scarpa, in press). This study tests the role of psychophysiological functioning in mediating this relationship. Fifty-four university students (mean age = 20.25) were selected from a screening sample (N= 476) based upon high- and low-violence exposure. Salivary cortisol, heart rate (HR), and heart rate variability (HRV) were obtained before and after two stressor tasks. Aggression was reported before the tasks. Aggression was significantly correlated with reduced baseline HR, increased baseline HRV, and increased poststressor cortisol. However, exposed groups did not differ psychophysiologically, suggesting that psychophysiological functioning does not serve as a mediator. Instead, violence exposure and psychophysiological functioning have independenteffects on aggressive behavior. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. |
