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Factorial components of aggression among samples of secondary and university students
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the factorial structure of aggressive behavior among a sample of secondary schools and university students by using Buss and Perry Inventory (Buss & Perry, 1992). The inventory was administered to a sample consisting of 310 students in the secondary schools (140 males & 170 females) and 209 students in the university (100 males and 109 females). The factor analysis identified six factors among university students these were: general aggression, verbal aggression, anger, hostility, verbal/physical aggression and impulsiveness. Seven factors were identified in secondary school students; these were: general aggression, hostility/verbal aggression. verbal aggression/anger, aggression/anger, hostility/anger, impulsiveness and physical aggression. The result of this study showed that there is a significant difference, concerning this issue, between male and female students in secondary school samples. The males had high scores in general aggression, hostility/verbal aggression, impulsiveness and physical aggression. Difference between males and females in university students revealed that the males had high scores in hostility, while the females had high scores in verbal aggression. Results were discussed in the light of findings from previous studies.
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In contrast to the usual pattern of higher male aggression, girls have been shown to exceed boys on frequency measures of indirect aggression. Women also tend to view aggression in terms of an expressive social representation whereby it is seen to result from loss of self-control, in contrast to men who tend to describe it as an instrumental act aimed at exerting control over others. Sixteen items measuring different forms of aggressive behaviour were given to 105 undergraduates together with Expagg, a psychometric measure of social representation of aggression. Factor analysis of the aggression items revealed three scales: direct (verbal and physical), indirect instrumental and indirect expressive aggression. The only aggression scale showing a significant sex difference was indirect expressive aggression on which women scored higher than men. There was also a significant sex difference on Expagg with women showing a more expressive representation of aggression. However the point biserial correlation between sex and indirect expressive aggression was not diminished when expressive representation of aggression was partialled out. It is argued that indirect expressive aggression (involving bitching and avoiding) fails to show a relationship with social representation because it lacks the formal requirements of intentional harm and consequently is not an act of 'aggression'.
Previous studies show that men endorse instrumental beliefs about aggression to a greater extent than women, whereas women endorse expressive beliefs to a greater extent than men. However, men and women indicate that they have different opponents in mind when thinking about aggression, and existing measures may emphasize physical forms of aggression. Therefore, beliefs about aggression were examined when the type of aggression (physical or verbal) and the sex of the opponent (same sex or opposite-sex partner) were specified, among a sample of 200 students. Expressive beliefs were higher and instrumental beliefs lower for an opposite-sex partner and for physical aggression. The characteristic sex difference applied across all manipulations for expressive beliefs, but not for instrumental ones: men showed higher scores than women only for same-sex physical aggression. Higher instrumental (but not lower expressive) scores were also found among those who based their responses on real rather than hypothetical events. The sex difference in instrumental beliefs for same-sex physical aggression was largely confined to respondents using a hypothetical event. As in previous studies, instrumental and expressive beliefs were relatively independent of one another. The position that the beliefs represent rhetorical devices is assessed in the light of these findings.