Aggressive behaviour among in-school adolescents in a developing country: patterns and associated factors

This study aimed to determine the pattern of aggression among senior secondary school students in Calabar and the psychosocial factors that are associated with it.

A descriptive cross-sectional study of 453 randomly selected senior secondary school students utilizing a self-administered Socio-demographic questionnaire obtain data regarding age, gender etc. and a brief interview using the Modified Overt Aggression Scale (MOAS) to determine aggression.

The mean weighted MOAS score was 26.94 ± 0.02. Males had significantly higher weighted MOAS total score than females (t=6.466, p<0.001). There was no gender difference in their aggression against objects but the older adolescents scored higher than the younger ones (t=2.029, p=0.043). Males scored higher in verbal aggression (t=3.064, p=0.002) and physical aggression (t=7.002, p<0.001). In the aggression against self-domain, females scored higher than males (t=1.961, p=0.050). All the domains of aggression correlated positively with the total weighted MOAS score, the strongest being with physical aggression (r=0.908, p=0.000).

Gender appears to play a significant role in aggression among the participants. That females scored higher in aggression to self may have implications for prevention of suicide among youths.