The Cambridge Handbook of Violent Behavior and Aggression

Aggression The Cambridge Handbook of Violent Behavior and Aggression Daniel J Flannery, Alexander T Vazsonyi, Irwin D Waldman, editors. New York (NY): Cambridge University Press; 2007. 817 p. US$60.00.

Reviewer rating: Good

In the introduction, the editors state that this volume is a result of collaboration, "dedicated to compiling what we believe to be the current state of the art and science related to the study of violence and aggression." The editors' background is mainly in developmental psychology, and this probably influenced to some extent the selection of topics in this vast volume. All 3 editors are working in the United States, and most contributions come from North America.

The 41 chapters of this book cover topics ranging from violence over the lifespan, violence taxonomy, biological bases of violence, individual factors (for example, personality) interpersonal factors (for example, family violence), contextual factors (for example, violence and culture, and also, surprisingly, psychopharmacology), methodology (including structural equation modelling), and violence prevention. The book ends with a cogent summary written by the 3 editors. On the whole, the book reflects the progress, up to about 2006, in the fields that the editors chose to cover.

Most psychiatrists will be interested in the set of chapters on biological bases of violence. This set is introduced by a well-written behavioural genetic report on model-fitting meta-analysis of criminality and aggression. This is logically complemented by a review of the genetics of aggression in mice. Autonomic, electrophysiological, and neuroimaging findings related to aggression in humans are described next. Original work on autonomic underarousal, early health factors (pre-and perinatal), malnourishment, and the interaction of these factors with rearing environment in the development of violent behaviour is described. There is an outstanding chapter on the role of serotonin and orbitofrontal cortex in impulsive aggression. An extremely brief overview of "other neurobiological factors" concludes this chapter perhaps as an afterthought; it omits or dismisses too many important findings to be useful. Chapters on neuropsychology and on interactions between nature and nurture conclude this part of the book. The set of chapters on biological bases of violence is interesting, easy to read, and provides a firm theoretical basis for the understanding of violence. Psychiatrists should become familiar with this material.

However, links to the clinic are largely missing. For example, the very large and clinically important literature on violence in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder is given less than one page in the "Neuropsychology" chapter. There is a paragraph that mentions schizophrenia and violence in the chapter on personality. This seems to be, surprisingly, the entire extent of the treatment of this area in this 817-page book. (I used the book's subject index to locate text on schizophrenia; some text might have been missed.)

The other major mental disorders receive similar inattention.

The chapters on "Psychopharmacology of Violence" and "Substance Use and Violent Behavior" are well written and up to date (that is, up to about 2006). There is a substantial overlap between these 2 chapters; its elimination would have permitted more detailed treatment of diese important subjects within the space constraints.

On the whole, the book is primarily concerned with developmental issues as they are related to crime and violent behaviour. The chapters on developmental trajectories and taxonomy are very good. On the other hand, some other chapters are not written very clearly, and there is a certain amount of redundancy. The book is a good source for statistical data, particularly on child and adolescent deviant behaviour.

Some errors in references are inevitable in a large, multi-authored volume like this one. However, me number of errors in some chapters seems excessive. For example, in Chapter 30, more than 10% of the references contain only me author's name and year, without any other bibliographic data. Elsewhere, a reference may have complete bibliographic data, but is clearly wrong. It seems that the writing style, the overlaps between chapters, and particularly me references could have used more editing.

Practising psychiatrists will miss specific information about violence in major mental illness. Nevertheless, this volume can serve as a general reference source for biological, psychological, and social causes of violence. This wealth of information comes at a very reasonable price.

[Author Affiliation]

Review by Jan Volavka, MD, PhD

Big Sky, Montana