Aggression

Aggression is a word that we use every day to characterize the behavior of others and perhaps even of ourselves. We say that people are aggressive if they yell at or hit each other, if they cut off other cars in traffic, or even when they smash their fists on the table in frustration. But other harmful acts, such as the injuries that sports players receive during a rough game or the killing of enemy soldiers in a war might not be viewed by everyone as aggression. Social psychologists define aggression as behavior that is intended to harm another individual who does not wish to be harmed (Baron & Richardson, 1994). Because it involves the perception of intent, what looks like aggression from one point of view may not look that way from another, and the same harmful behavior may or may not be considered aggressive depending on its intent. Intentional harm is, however, perceived as worse than unintentional harm, even when the harms are identical (Ames & Fiske, 2013).

Prevalence

According to World report on violence and health ,each year, over 1.6 million people worldwide lose their lives to violence. Violence is among the leading causes of death for people aged 15–44 years worldwide, accounting for 14% of deaths among males and 7% of deaths among females

About 17.7% of the youth has high mean aggression score on Buss-Perry Aggression Scale. Males have high mean score on aggression than females. Males experienced more verbal aggression, physical aggression and anger than females. Younger age group (16-19 years) experienced more aggression than older age group (20-26 years).1

Adolescence age group between 10 and 19 years is a transitional phase of growth and development between childhood and adulthood. There are about 1.2 billion adolescents in the world, around 243 million of them live in India – contributing to one-fourth of the total population in India (UNICEF – India). In this study, the total prevalence of aggression was found to be 51.9% with higher scores in urban population, males having more of physical aggression and females having hostility – associated significantly with the age distribution, residency type, etc.2 The majority of Pakistani students indicated a moderate to high level of aggression (86% of the total sample) and 20% of the students showed a high level of aggression.3 About one in three Pakistanis (34%) who are employed full time for an employer said they were angry a lot the day before the survey, compared.4

References

  1. Sharma MK, Marimuthu P. Prevalence and psychosocial factors of aggression among youth. Indian journal of psychological medicine. 2014 Jan;36(1):48-53.
  2. Sidhu TK, Kaur P, Sangha NK, Bansal AS. Aggression among adolescents–A cross-sectional study. Adesh University Journal of Medical Sciences & Research. 2019 Dec 27;1(1):21-6.
  3. Khurshid S, Parveen Q, Yousuf MI. Association between Aggressive Behaviour and the Performance of University Students in Pakistan and Australia.
  4. Wilson C, Akhtar S. Repression, co-optation and insurgency: Pakistan’s FATA, Southern Thailand and Papua, Indonesia. Third World Quarterly. 2019 Apr 3;40(4):710-26.