The Relationship between Alexithymia, Callous Affect, and Aggressive Behaviors in Emerging Adulthood: Are Aggressive Acts Related to Not Feeling or Not Knowing How You Feel?

During emerging adulthood, it is common for young adults to experience elevated levels of psychopathy in order to develop a sense of identity (Smits, et al. 2011). Psychopathic traits such as callous affect, impulsivity, and narcissism have been known to be a risk factor for aggressive behaviors (Marsee, et al. 2005). In prior research, callous affect has shown to be a driving factor in predicting aggression. Callous affect and Alexithymia are similar in the fact that they both hinder empathy (Young & Kyranides. 2021). Alexithymia, or difficulty accessing one\u27s emotions and understanding how one feels, appears to be another trait that has some predicting value when looking at aggression (Farah, et al. 2018). This study is intended to examine the relationship between Alexithymia, callous affect, aggression, and emerging adulthood. It is expected that subjects who are experiencing lower levels of emerging adulthood would be associated with higher levels of Alexithymia, and would also be associated with a higher level of aggression across all forms of aggressive behaviors measured in the current study (i.e., Proactive, Reactive, Direct, and Indirect). It is also expected higher levels of callous affect and Borderline Personality traits would be associated with higher levels of aggression. It is also expected that those who score higher levels of alexithymia would be associated with lower levels of callous affect and Borderline traits. It is also expected that subjects who score higher in aggression, Callous Affect, Borderline traits, and Alexithymia would be associated with lower levels of emotional regulation