Objective.While aggression in children and adolescents remains a leading cause for seeking mental health services, the nosology of aggression remains underdeveloped.Prior work characterized youth with aggression by utilizing secondary analyses of large research protocolbased data sets, which revealed a profile characterized by high levels of aggression impulsive/reactive (AIR) and symptoms of hyperactivity/impulsivity. The goal of this study was to evaluate whether the AIR profile was present in a clinical sample using similar methodology with novel dimensional measures of AIR.Method.Medical records of patients ages 4 to 17 years presenting with behavior concerns to outpatient, inpatient and emergency department settings were reviewed.Caregivers completed dimensional measures evaluating symptoms of aggression, mania, depression, and hyperactivity/impulsivity. Latent profile analysis was performed with indicators representing the same six content domains as in prior work: AIR, depression, mania, rule-breaking, self-harm, and hyperactivity-impulsivity.Results.A total of 430 patients completed the questionnaires and were included in the analyses.Patients' mean age was 12.52 years, 53% were female participants.Four profiles were identified: predominantly AIR with hyperactivity-impulsivity (n=83) and low mood symptoms, high AIR and high mood symptoms (n=54), high AIR, mood and self-harm (n=56), and moderate overall symptom profile (n=237).Children with high AIR and hyperactivity-impulsivity symptoms were more likely to be younger male participants (mean age 9.8 years), have younger age of onset of aggressive behaviors (5.1 years), and were less likely to have an abuse history. J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o fConclusion.This work further validated the previously described AIR profile in a new cohort of youth presenting for clinical care.Future studies should focus on developing diagnostic criteria for children with AIR.
Stepanova et al. (2026) studied this question.