Innate Competitiveness: The Young Male Syndrome

Résumé

Unemployed young males are the most likely to commit risky, violent actions in the face of competition. Such aggressive actions are often seen as impulsive and detrimental, raising the question of why this behaviour has evolutionarily persisted if it often leads to harm. One proposed explanation is that males compete for mates with only the most aggressive succeeding in mating. However, this explanation disregards risky actions that young males engage in to preserve their social status. Evidently, innate competitiveness for a mate cannot alone explain young adult inclination to homicidal actions, and why this behaviour persists requires further research.