© 2005 Springer Publishing Company 589 BRIEF REPORT Effects of Trauma Exposure on Anger, Aggression, and Violence in a Nonclinical Sample of Men Matthew Jakupcak, PhD Seattle, WA Puget Sound Health Care System Matthew T. Tull, PhD University of Massachusetts Boston This study assessed the impact of traumatic exposure and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms on anger, aggression, and violence among civilian male college stu- dents. Results suggest that civilian men who have been exposed to a potentially traumatic event (PTE) and report symptoms of PTSD indicate more trait anger, more internal anger and hostility, and more aggression and violence than men who do not report symptoms of PTSD. Results are contrasted to those found in clinical samples of male veterans with PTSD and discussed in terms of understanding and treating anger and aggression in non- clinical, trauma-exposed populations. Keywords: PTSD; anger; hostility; aggression A lthough irritability is a diagnostic symptom of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD; American Psychiatric Association, 1994), research of male combat veter- ans with PTSD has suggested more severe expressions of negative affect, includ- ing excessive anger, hostility, and violence (Chemtob, Hamada, Roitblat, & Muraoka, 1994; Frueh, Henning, Pellegrin, & Chobot, 1997; Lasko, Gurvitis, Kuhne, Orr, & Pittman, 1994; McFall, Wright, Donovan, & Raskin, 1999; Novaco & Chembtob, 2002). As might be expected, these aggressive tendencies have a negative impact on the quality of inter- personal relationships of veterans (Carrol, Rueger, Foy, & Donahoe, 1985; Jordan et al., 1992). Research has also demonstrated a relationship between aggression and PTSD in clinical samples of civilian men. Dutton (1995) compared men in treatment for wife- assault to nonviolent civilian male controls and found that the violent men reported sig- nificantly higher levels of PTSD symptoms and demonstrated PTSD-like profiles on a global measure of psychiatric symptoms. However, it is unclear if the degree and nature of outwardly expressed anger associated with PTSD is consistent across trauma-exposed Violence and Victims,Volume 20, Number 5, October 2005