Men and Women, Alcohol and Aggression Peter R. Giancola, Cheri A. Levinson, Michelle D. Corman, Aaron J. Godlaski, David H. Morris, Joshua P. Phillips, and Jerred C. D. Holt University of Kentucky The purpose of this study was to examine the acute effects of alcohol on aggressive behavior in men and women in a laboratory setting. Participants were 526 (261 men and 265 women) healthy social drinkers between 21 and 35 years of age. They were randomly assigned to either an alcohol or a placebo group. Aggression was measured using a modified version of the Taylor Aggression Paradigm in which electric shocks are received from, and delivered to, a same gender fictitious opponent during a supposed competitive interpersonal task. Aggression was operationalized as the intensity and duration of shocks that participants administered to their “opponent.” Overall, men were more aggressive than women. Alcohol increased aggression for both men and women but this effect was stronger for men. This is one of the first laboratory studies to demonstrate that alcohol increases aggression in women. Keywords: alcohol, aggression, women, gender differences The fact that there is an association between acute alcohol consumption and aggressive behavior is no longer in dis- pute. A Canadian general population study found that alco- hol was present in roughly 38% of incidents involving serious arguments, 57% of incidents involving threats, and 68% of incidents involving physical aggression. This study also demonstrated that acute alcohol intoxication, and not chronic alcohol consumption, was more chiefly related to aggressive behavior (Wells, Graham, & West, 2000). A British study of heavy drinkers reported that 76% of serious arguments and 94% of physical fights occurred on days in which high levels of alcohol (10 –12 drinks) were consumed (Rolfe et al., 2006). A Russian investigation found a high correlation (r = .75) between daily distributions of homi- cides because of alcohol. In other words, homicides were lowest on weekdays, when alcohol consumption was at its nadir, and highest on weekends, when consumption reached its apogee (Pridemore, 2004). Finally, a Swedish study determined that violent offenders were 13 times more likely to commit a violent act within 24 hours of consuming alcohol (Haggård-Grann, Hallqvist, Långstro ¨m, & Mo ¨ller, 2006). Gender Differences in Aggression Crime statistics indicate that men are disproportion- ately more violent than women (U.S. Department of Justice, 2008). Whereas a large body of empirical liter- ature does not dispute this claim, it does suggest that gender differences in aggression might be smaller than expected and not always consistent across studies (for reviews see Archer, 2004; Bettencourt & Miller, 1996; Eagly & Steffen, 1986; Frodi, Macaulay, & Thome, 1977; Harris, 1996; Hyde, 1984; Richardson & Ham- mock, 2007; Verona & Vitale, 2006). Recent research with adolescents shows rising rates of violence among girls (Odgers et al., 2007) and that gender differences in serious violent behavior are diminishing over time (Graves, 2007). A meta-analytic study by Archer (2000) determined that, in the context of intimate partner vio- lence, women are slightly more likely to engage in phys- ical aggression than men and tend to exhibit such behav- ior more frequently. However, male perpetrated violence is more likely to cause physical injury and have other negative consequences. In a narrative review of her re- search program, Richardson (2005) echoed these findings in her conclusions that “females are not passive creatures but that they are perpetrators as well as victims of aggression” (p. 238) and that male-female differences in physical aggression have been overestimated, possibly even outside of the realm of intimate partner violence. However, she also stated that men do engage in more aggression than women and that such aggression has more serious repercussions (i.e., injury, financial costs, etc.). Although the literature may be unclear about gender differences in overall aggression, marked male-female dis- tinctions have been identified with regard to different types of aggression. Men appear to exhibit greater levels of “di- rect” physical aggression compared with women whereas there appear to be no gender differences with respect to “indirect” aggression (reviewed in Richardson & Ham- mock, 2007). Direct aggression encompasses any direct route of aggression that results in the victim’s ability to Peter R. Giancola, Cheri A. Levinson, Michelle D. Corman, Aaron J. Godlaski, David H. Morris, Joshua P. Phillips, and Jerred C. D. Holt, Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky. This research was supported by Grant R01-AA-11691 from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the Na- tional Center for Research Resources. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Peter R. Giancola, Department of Psychology, Kastle Hall, Uni- versity of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0044. E-mail: giancola .uky@gmail.com Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology © 2009 American Psychological Association 2009, Vol. 17, No. 3, 154 –164 1064-1297/09/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/a0016385 154