What Are the Causes of Passive-Aggressive Behavior?

• Passive-agressive behavior can involve acting out."I'll show you to your room, sir. (HDR)" is Copyrighted by Flickr user: atomicpuppy68 (Becky) under the Creative Commons Attribution license.
  
  

Effects

• The NIH says psychiatrists no longer recognize passive-aggressive disorder as an official diagnosis. Nevertheless, the symptoms associated with the behavior may benefit from professional help.
  
  People with passive-aggressive may use nonverbal cues to express the feelings they are unable verbally articulate. A person with a passive-aggressive personality may intentionally arrive late for an event they didn't want to attend and proceed to make up excuses for their tardiness.
  
  

Causes

• A combination of genetic and environmental factors my responsible for passive-aggressive behavior. According to steadyhealth.com, over-controlling parents may set the stage for passive-aggressive disorder in their offspring. The theory is that parental rigidity may lead to ongoing power struggles that can result in silent protests and resentful obedience linked with passive-aggressive behaviors.
  
  Several personality traits are believed to be associated with the development of passive-aggressive behavior.
  
  

Personality Traits

• High neuroticism includes perfectionism and unrealistic expectations, irritability, anger and a sense of hopelessness. High extraversion is defined as talking to excess and revealing inappropriate information, thrill-seeking and attempts to control others. The term high-conscientiousness refers to individuals who are prone to being workaholics and to overachieve. They frequently exhibit signs of compulsiveness, such as cleaning to excess.
  
  

Additional Factors

• Low openness simply means someone has limited acceptance or understanding of another person's opinion or lifestyle choices. Low agreeableness is characterized by paranoid thinking and cynical points of view. This personality has serious trust issues and has an inflated sense of self.
  
  

Symptoms

• Some common symptoms of passive-aggressive behavior include acting sullen, feeling resentful, blaming others, refusing to consider other people's suggestions, avoiding responsibility by declaring they simply forgot, and intentionally performing a task poorly.
  
  

Diagnosis and Treatment

• Passive-aggressive behaviors are typically diagnosed by a psychological evaluation and a assessment of the patients symptoms. A therapist may help someone with passive-aggressive tendencies identify and work through the issues that may be contributing to their behaviors. The NIH says the prognosis for passive-aggressive disorder is positive with treatment.