Prevalence of Aggression Behavior and its Associated Factors in High School Students in Southeast of Iran View PDF

A brief look at the world around us makes it clear that we live in an era of aggression. The bulk of television news is a demonstration of the violence that is taking place in societies in different parts of the world [1]. According to the World Health Organization, aggression is the deliberate use of or physical power that threatens one's self or another and is committed against a group or community and results in psychological and physical damage and even deprivation. Aggression can have different reasons including failure and deprivation of individual’s desires, natural aggression, or learning it as a behavior from others [2]. The most important social factors causing aggression are failure, direct stimulation, media violence and sexual arousal [3]. Aggressive behavior during adolescence can be a predictor of delinquency, addiction, depression and academic failure [4]. According to studies, anger is one of the main emotions of mankind after fear. Evidence suggests a high prevalence of mental disorders, including aggression in childhood and adolescence. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), its percentage varies from 12 to 29 percent in countries under 16 years of age 

Research on aggression in the world has shown that aggression among Asian adolescents is lower than that of Hispanics and Americans, and their incidence is not significantly different in both sexes [6]. According to studies conducted in Iran, aggression among adolescents is 30-50% [7]. Aggression, like other human behaviors, is influenced by various influential factors, including physical structure, gender, abilities, family, social environment, ethnicity, religion, and culture [8] Also, Karimi et al. [1] concluded that 75% of aggressive boys have been deprived of fatherhood or had no individual patterns of learning [9]. Also, given that aggression is acquisitive and consequently preventable, it varies in different societies with different cultures, and research suggests that in tropical regions It is more than other regions [10] and the city of Jiro?is among the tropical regions of Iran. Therefore, the researcher is to find the relationship between aggression and the factors associated with it in the students in this area.

Study settings

This study was carried out in high schools of city of Jiro?ft, one of the largest cities in Kerman Province, which is located in the southeast of Iran, in 2015. It is noteworthy that Iranian educational system has been changed since 2012. In this system, middle and high schools are changed into the first and second secondary periods. There are three grades in the first secondary period and four grades in the second period [11].

Methods

This is a descriptive-correlative study that was conducted on high school students (first grade) in one of the eastern cities of Iran (Jiroft city) studying in the 2014-2015 academic year. The total population of high school students is 3450 people. The sample size was calculated using the obtained data from previous studies [11] and the sample size was 348 people. Due to cluster sampling, the number obtainedin the calculations was 1.5 times and the sample size was 522. Finally, considering the probability of lossin the data collection stage, a sample size of 600 people was considered. In this research, a cluster sampling was performed. Based on the information obtained from the Education Office and considering the economical class of the schools, they were divided to three districts actually clusters, and each cluster includes boys and girls. After receiving oral satisfaction and explaining how to respond, the questionnaires were distributed among the students. The instrument for collecting information about the aggression was Buss & perry questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of 29 phrases and four subscales: physical aggression (PA), verbal aggression (VA), anger (A), and hostility (H), Subjects are to give a score to each of the expressions in a 5-degree spectrum from quite similar to me (5) to completely different with me. The total number was obtained through the total score of subscales. The minimum score for the aggression questionnaire is 29, and the maximum is 145. The results of the retest coefficient for four subsamples (with a 9-week interval) were 0.80 to 0.72 and the correlation between the four sub-scales was 0.68 to 0.66. In order to measure the internal validity of the scale, the Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used. Results indicated that the internal consistency of the subscale of physical aggression was 0.74, verbal aggression 0.71, anger 0.68, and hostility 0.61 [12] The entrance criteria include: being 12 to 16 years old, living for at least 5 years in this city, being a high school student (first grade). The criteria for coming out of the study were having mental illness. After obtaining the necessary permissions from the Ethics Committee and the Letter of introduction from the Faculty of Nursing, the researcher referred to the centers to collect data. Data were analyzed using descriptive and analytical statistics using spss21 software, Parametric tests such as Pearson correlation coefficient, independent t-test, one-way ANOVA were used because of the normal distribution of variables scores. The response rate in this study was 594 out of 600 (99%).

Findings

In this study, most of the students were boys who were 14 years old. Also most of the students were in families with three children (26.6%), most of them were the first child (41.2%) and native (90.4%), and in the 7th grade (2.54%). The majority of parents (88.4%) were still alive and (94.1%) of parent’s lived together and. (34.9%), the father had diploma and in (32.9%), mothers had diploma. In (52.3%), the father was self-employed and in (81.3%) the mother was a housekeeper. The results showed that the mean of aggression was 86.87 ± 25.26 and among the aspects of aggression, the highest mean of physical aggression was 30.41 ± 8.9 and the lowest mean for verbal aggression was 15.7 ± 10.5. Relationship between the aspects of all four domains measured, was meaningful in all sub-domains.

This research was approved by Ethics Committee of Kerman University of Medical Sciences (Code:IR.KMU.RIC.1393.470). The researcher referred to the determined schools after obtaining permission from Department of Education. The researcher first introduced himself, expressed the purpose of the work and ensured the students about the confidentiality of their information Discussion. In this study, the prevalence of aggression and the factors affecting it in high school students (first grade) in 2014-2015 was studied. 594 high school students participated in the study. 57.3% of the students are boys and 42.7% are girls. According to the results, students' aggression is above average (86.87 out of 145). Among the aspects of aggression, the highest mean was 30.41 ± 8.9 for physical aggression and the lowest mean was 15.7 ± 5.10 for verbal aggression.

The average of aggression questionnaire shows that aggression among students is higher than the average (86.88 out of 145 standard deviations of 25.26), the results of this study are consistent with the findings of Zivari et al. [13], Glory N et al. [14], Farahani [15]. Therefore, it can be concluded that students generally have aggressive behaviors at a level higher than the average level. One of the reasons is the characteristics of the students in this period, since students aged 13 to 15 years are considered as teenagers, and one of the characteristics of the adolescence period is antisocial and maladaptive behaviors such as aggression. However it can have other causes, such as lack of social protection, incorrect self-expression and weather conditions and temperature of the region. Due to the fact that this city is the tropical region of Iran, it can be said that it is one of the reasons of aggression higher than the average.

The results show that physical aggression among boys is more than girls, which can be justified by the physical and psychological characteristics of boys compared to girls. The results of the research are consistent with the findings Pirsoon et al. [16], Noshper [17] Taylor et al. [18], Undoubtedly, the physical aspect of aggression in the boys is facilitated by their physical strength and authority, which is one of the effects of psychological and physical education. In our culture, boy shave more freedom to express their hostile feelings and are tied up with the role of male gender, verbal aggression behaviors among students whose parents do not live together are more than those whose parents live together, but the other aspects of aggression did not differ significantly between the two groups. Therefore, it can be said that the lack of parents’ presence in the family and their separation from each other, for any reason, exacerbate the verbal aggression of students, [19]. Also, it can be concluded that parental separation was a major contributor to maladaptive behaviors among children.

The results are also consistent with findings Moradi et al. [19]. According to the results, aggression in students vary according to their age and it mostly can be seen among students who are 14 and 15 years old and the lowest is among students who are 12 and 13, so it can be inferred that by increasing the age of students, aggression in students increases, and this may be due to the characteristics of this period and sudden changes in the students. However, in the study Farahani [15] it is argued that student aggression at diff?erent ages does not differ significantly, Andin the research [15], it was shown that there is no significant difference in the level of aggression among students of different educational backgrounds or different ages. The results showed that aggression in students varies according to the number of children in the family, and families with 4 or more children have the highest levels of aggression, which could be due to the crowded nature of these families.

The study Taylor D et al. [18] also states that with the birth of children, aggression among children is intensified, One of the reasons can be jealousy among the children. The results are consistent with the findings of Moradi et al. [19]. Based on the results, there is a significant difference between the amount of aggression with attention to whether, or not their parents are alive and the students whose none of their parents are alive have the highest levels of aggression, which indicates that the absence of parents can be influential in them aladaptive and non-social behaviors of children. This result is consistent with studies [20]. According to those studies divorce and separation of parents are an important factor in the demonstration of maladaptive behaviors among children.

The study also found that students whose parents are college students have the lowest levels of aggression and students whose parents are illiterate or have a degree lower than diploma have the highest levels of aggression. This indicates the effect of the parents’ educational degree on the children’s behavior. ?e study Farahani [15] is in line with this research.

Schools did not collaborate with the study. The individuals' self-report was another limitation of the present study Conclusion Adolescents and young people are an active and dynamic force for society and we cannot ignore this active population; therefore, their attitudes, characteristics, problems, issues and desires should be recognized and a way should be found to communicate with them. The lack of attention in addressing aggression in adolescents causes an unhealthy relationship among people in society; it affects people's quality of life and also leads to complications such as school failure and academic failure. The results of this study showed that the level of aggression differs with regard to gender of students, parental status, and students’ age, number of children in family, students' educational background and the educational level of parents. Therefore, the organizations and authorities should pay more attention to this vulnerable group of society.

University of Medical Sciences, Department of Education and all the students who have collaborated in this study are warmly appreciated.

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