Aggression In College Students
Kennedy Posey, Harley Bell, Natalia Romo, Sultan Mohommed, Miguel Mariscal
Department of Criminology & Criminal Justice, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona USA
Background
In the past, the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire (Bryant &
Smith 2010) has been used to measure aggression in individuals
and better understand what causes aggression (BPAQ-SF; Bryant
& Smith, 2010). From previous studies, we know that men tend
to be more aggressive than women (Bryant & Smith 2010). To
our knowledge, this scale has not been used to measure college
students and their causes of aggression. We hypothesized that
students who experience more school-related stress are more
likely to have aggressive tendencies. We found our hypothesis to
be supported with self-reported stress being associated with more
aggressive behavior. Administrators can create programs focused
on reducing stress in order to reduce aggression on college
campuses. We hope our results will help to contribute to the
creation of healthy outlets for students to release their stress in
ways that will not be harmful to themselves or those around
them.
Research Questions & Hypothesis
RQ: What causes physical or psychological aggression in both
male and female college students?
H: Students who experience more school-related stress are more
likely to have aggressive tendencies.
Data & Analysis
• Data Plan: Using convenience sampling, we surveyed 128
university students.
• Analysis Plan:. We utilized the OLS regression to test the
relationship between aggression and stress among college
students. The OLS regression is appropriate for our analysis
because our DV is measured at a ratio scale.
Dependent Variables
To measure aggression, we will be using The Buss–Perry
●
Aggression Questionnaire-Short Form (BPAQ-SF; Bryant & Smith,
2010) which is a 29-item, self-report measure of aggression.
Independent Variables/ Controls
• Our scale was custom-made centralized around ideas of strain
theory.
• Stress • Credits taken (1=15+)
• Media • Major (1=CCJ)
• Gender (1=Male)
Perception of Bias in the Classroom Discussion and Conclusion
● We hypothesized that students who experience more
school-related stress are more likely to have aggressive
tendencies. Our research found support for this
hypothesis by indicating that college students who take
more than 15 credits were more likely to show aggression.
● We found that there is an effect between self-reported
stress in aggressive behavior. Students who claimed he or
she was stressed were more likely to show aggression. We
believe this is a result of college students not being able to
take the time to cope with stress in a healthy manner and
as a result, aggression tendencies are more likely to occur.
● Consistent with past research (Archer 2002), we found
college males are more likely to show aggression. We
believe this is because of the belief in toxic western
masculinity.
● Media consumption was a positive predictor of
aggression. College students who consumed media that
was violent were more likely to be more aggressive. We
believe this finding is a result of subconscious messaging
that media has had on college students.
● We found no effect between a college students’ major
Noteworthy Results and aggression.
• Overall our model was statistically significant (F=6.202, p=.000) and can explain roughly 21.8% of the variance in
aggression among college students (R2=.218).
• We found a significant positive relationship between aggression and stress (b=1.379, p=.003). Each additional point on
Limitations and Future Research
the stress scale is associated with a 1.379 increase in aggression.
• We found a significant positive relationship between students’ gender and aggression among college students (b=12.051,
p=.001). College males are 12x more likely to show aggression compared to females. •One limitation of our study is that we were not able to collect
• We found a positive relationship between credits taken and aggression (b=1.943, p=0.25). Each additional credit taken is a random probability sample of different majors and therefore
associated with a 1.943 increase in aggression. the results cannot be generalized. Additionally, our sample may
• We found a positive relationship between media and aggression (b=1.615, p=.029). Each additional violent media source not have been representative of the larger student population.
is associated with a 1.615 increase in aggression. Future research should employ a stratified random probability
• We did not find a relationship between major and how aggressive a college student is. sample in order to generalize the results and obtain a more
representative sample.
•We were limited on not being able to explore the dietary
References factors that could affect a college student’s mental health. We
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Buss, A.H., & Perry, M. (1992). The aggression questionnaire. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63, 452-459. healthy diet and aggression.
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