Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsRecognizing TraitsExamplesContributing FactorsTips for ManagingCoping
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
Recognizing Traits
Examples
Contributing Factors
Tips for Managing
Coping
Passive-aggressive behavior is indirect hostility rather than a direct expression of anger. A person may look or sound neutral when the intent is to be aggressive.For example, someone jealous of a job promotion may offer best wishes but then make a dismissive comment about how it’s surprising news and act to undermine your success.
Passive aggression is a pattern or theme in communication and behavior. Traits include criticism, procrastination, intentional sabotage of tasks or relationships, and being stubborn.There have been different definitions over time, but generally, it’s agreed that passive aggression may be considered a type of personality disorder.
This article will help you to recognize traits of passive aggression and their common causes. It offers ideas on how to recognize these behaviors and deal with others who express passive aggression.
Signs of Passive-Aggressive Behavior
A longstanding pattern of passive-aggressive behavior that negatively interferes frequently with work, home, or academic success can be diagnosed as passive-aggressive personality disorder.
A person with this personality disorder may show signs in the ways they behave and communicate. Passive-aggressive personality disorder is sometimes referred to as negativistic personality disorder.
DSM-5 ClassificationPassive-aggressive personality disorder is not listed on its own in the “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders” (DSM-5) but is instead classified as an unspecified personality disorder.
DSM-5 Classification
Passive-aggressive personality disorder is not listed on its own in the “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders” (DSM-5) but is instead classified as an unspecified personality disorder.
Personality Disorders: Types and Characteristics
Behavior
Passive-aggressive behavior traits are the actions, or inactions, that are taken due to negativism.This means when a person behaves passive-aggressively, it stems from skeptical or negative thoughts that become toxic when the pattern regularly interferes with work, school, relationships, or other areas of life.
Examples of passive-aggressive behavior traits include:
Communication
Passive-aggressive traits can present in communication, too. This type of communication is when there are underlying, negative thoughts or feelings but it seems passive on the surface.
Examples of passive-aggressive communication traits include:
Passive-Aggressive Examples
Passive-aggressive behavior can be present in a variety of different situations and relationship interactions, from “ghosting” avoidance in a relationship to workplace gossip. This includes the context of parenting, social settings, athletics, education, and more.
Identifying and Coping With a Passive-Aggressive Narcissist
Causes of Passive-Aggressive Behavior
It is not entirely clear what causes passive-aggressive behavior. There is limited research on the issue, though some contributing factors have been identified.
Passive-aggressive behavior is considered to be a way to self-protect against emotional challenges.For example, a person with low self-esteem may unknowingly deny their problems because facing them or thinking about them leads to stress and anxiety.
Passive aggression is seen as an immature defense mechanism in which people suppress feelings of conflict (like anger) while limiting their problem-solving abilities. It’s common for this pattern to emerge following adverse childhood experiences like abuse, trauma, or neglect.
A passive-aggressive person has learned not to risk confrontation with those in power for fear of punishment and becomes resentful.Other contributors to passive aggression can include:
Tips for Handling Passive-Aggressive Behavior
Passive-aggressive behavior isn’t only a challenge for those experiencing it; it’s also difficult for those around them, including those on the receiving end.
If you’re interacting with a passive-aggressive person, following these steps may help ease the tension and make you feel more comfortable:
It can be important to set boundaries for yourself. Don’t ignore the passive aggression and don’t respond in a passive-aggressive way yourself. Hold people accountable for their behaviors.
Recognizing Your Own Passive-Aggressive Behavior
Passive-aggressive behavior is a challenge, but there are ways to cope. Psychotherapy, ortalk therapy, helps people overcome and cope with passive-aggressive behavior and the contributing factors. Interpersonal reconstructive therapy, which involves recognizing patterns and why they continue, is a type of talk therapy that is used.
Being Self-Aware
With passive-aggressive behavior, the negative thoughts, feelings, or emotions are unconscious.This means the person behaving passive-aggressively is not aware of it. Instead, it is an immature defense mechanism or unconscious process that protects the ego from fear, active aggression, and other responses to conflict.
This is why one of the goals of therapy for passive-aggressive behavior is to bring awareness to the patterns of negative thoughts, feelings, or attitudes contributing to unintentional behaviors. After developing awareness, the person exhibiting this behavior can work on consciously changing it.
Summary
Passive-aggressive behavior is made up of unconscious actions and communication methods that are harmful. This type of behavior usually comes from negativity but may seem accidental or neutral. These patterns can be behavioral, such as routinely being late, or they can be part of communication, such as sarcasm.
Contributing factors of passive-aggressive behavior include a history of childhood neglect or trauma, low self-esteem, and stress. It’s possible to cope with passive-aggressive behavior with talk therapy to bring awareness to the patterns of behavior. If you are concerned about passive aggression in yourself or a loved one, talk to your healthcare provider.
Signs of Repressed Childhood Trauma in Adulthood
10 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.American Psychological Association.Passive-aggressive.Lim YO, Suh KH.Development and Validation of a Measure of Passive Aggression Traits: The Passive Aggression Scale (PAS).Behav Sci (Basel). 2022 Aug 8;12(8):273. doi:10.3390/bs12080273.American Psychological Association.Passive-aggressive personality disorder.Princeton University.Understanding Your Communication Style.Schanz CG, Equit M, Schäfer SK, Käfer M, Mattheus HK, Michael T.Development and psychometric properties of the test of passive aggression.Front Psychol. 2021;12:579183. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.579183Di Giuseppe M, Perry JC.The Hierarchy of Defense Mechanisms: Assessing Defensive Functioning With the Defense Mechanisms Rating Scales Q-Sort.Front Psychol. 2021 Oct 15;12:718440. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.718440.Schanz CG, Equit M, Schäfer SK, Michael T.Self-directed passive-aggressive behavior as an essential component of depression: findings from two cross-sectional observational studies.BMC Psychiatry. 2022;22:200. doi:10.1186/s12888-022-03850-1Brandt A.How to stop passive aggression from ruining your relationship. The Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley.Doheny K.Anger, masked with a smile: How to handle passive-aggressive workers. Society for Human Resource Management.American Psychological Association.Interpersonal reconstructive therapy for passive-aggressive personality disorder.
10 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.American Psychological Association.Passive-aggressive.Lim YO, Suh KH.Development and Validation of a Measure of Passive Aggression Traits: The Passive Aggression Scale (PAS).Behav Sci (Basel). 2022 Aug 8;12(8):273. doi:10.3390/bs12080273.American Psychological Association.Passive-aggressive personality disorder.Princeton University.Understanding Your Communication Style.Schanz CG, Equit M, Schäfer SK, Käfer M, Mattheus HK, Michael T.Development and psychometric properties of the test of passive aggression.Front Psychol. 2021;12:579183. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.579183Di Giuseppe M, Perry JC.The Hierarchy of Defense Mechanisms: Assessing Defensive Functioning With the Defense Mechanisms Rating Scales Q-Sort.Front Psychol. 2021 Oct 15;12:718440. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.718440.Schanz CG, Equit M, Schäfer SK, Michael T.Self-directed passive-aggressive behavior as an essential component of depression: findings from two cross-sectional observational studies.BMC Psychiatry. 2022;22:200. doi:10.1186/s12888-022-03850-1Brandt A.How to stop passive aggression from ruining your relationship. The Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley.Doheny K.Anger, masked with a smile: How to handle passive-aggressive workers. Society for Human Resource Management.American Psychological Association.Interpersonal reconstructive therapy for passive-aggressive personality disorder.
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
American Psychological Association.Passive-aggressive.Lim YO, Suh KH.Development and Validation of a Measure of Passive Aggression Traits: The Passive Aggression Scale (PAS).Behav Sci (Basel). 2022 Aug 8;12(8):273. doi:10.3390/bs12080273.American Psychological Association.Passive-aggressive personality disorder.Princeton University.Understanding Your Communication Style.Schanz CG, Equit M, Schäfer SK, Käfer M, Mattheus HK, Michael T.Development and psychometric properties of the test of passive aggression.Front Psychol. 2021;12:579183. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.579183Di Giuseppe M, Perry JC.The Hierarchy of Defense Mechanisms: Assessing Defensive Functioning With the Defense Mechanisms Rating Scales Q-Sort.Front Psychol. 2021 Oct 15;12:718440. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.718440.Schanz CG, Equit M, Schäfer SK, Michael T.Self-directed passive-aggressive behavior as an essential component of depression: findings from two cross-sectional observational studies.BMC Psychiatry. 2022;22:200. doi:10.1186/s12888-022-03850-1Brandt A.How to stop passive aggression from ruining your relationship. The Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley.Doheny K.Anger, masked with a smile: How to handle passive-aggressive workers. Society for Human Resource Management.American Psychological Association.Interpersonal reconstructive therapy for passive-aggressive personality disorder.
American Psychological Association.Passive-aggressive.
Lim YO, Suh KH.Development and Validation of a Measure of Passive Aggression Traits: The Passive Aggression Scale (PAS).Behav Sci (Basel). 2022 Aug 8;12(8):273. doi:10.3390/bs12080273.
American Psychological Association.Passive-aggressive personality disorder.
Princeton University.Understanding Your Communication Style.
Schanz CG, Equit M, Schäfer SK, Käfer M, Mattheus HK, Michael T.Development and psychometric properties of the test of passive aggression.Front Psychol. 2021;12:579183. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.579183
Di Giuseppe M, Perry JC.The Hierarchy of Defense Mechanisms: Assessing Defensive Functioning With the Defense Mechanisms Rating Scales Q-Sort.Front Psychol. 2021 Oct 15;12:718440. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.718440.
Schanz CG, Equit M, Schäfer SK, Michael T.Self-directed passive-aggressive behavior as an essential component of depression: findings from two cross-sectional observational studies.BMC Psychiatry. 2022;22:200. doi:10.1186/s12888-022-03850-1
Brandt A.How to stop passive aggression from ruining your relationship. The Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley.
Doheny K.Anger, masked with a smile: How to handle passive-aggressive workers. Society for Human Resource Management.
American Psychological Association.Interpersonal reconstructive therapy for passive-aggressive personality disorder.
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