Aggression and Autonomy in Adolescence

Abstract

The paper is devoted to the question of whether there is a connection between aggression and autonomy in adolescence, and whether aggressive behavior can be considered as a tool for solving the age-related problem of developing autonomy. We present results of a study on the relationship between aggressive behavior and the level of autonomy in adolescents aged 13—16 years. At the first stage of the study, the sample consisted of 499 respondents. At the second stage, we compared aggression and autonomy in adolescents with and without school records of aggressive behavior, and the sample consisted of 192 respondents. The research tools included the physical aggression scale from the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire, the Legitimized Aggression Questionnaire by S.N. Enikolopov and N.P. Tsibulsky, the Violent Extremism Dispositions technique by D.G. Davydov and K.D. Khlomov, as well as the Autonomy Questionnaire by N.N. Poskrebysheva and O.A. Karabanova. The results showed significant low negative correlations of autonomy indicators with indicators of physical aggression, legitimized aggression and dispositions of violent extremism, which does not confirm the hypothesis of aggressive behavior as a manifestation of autonomy. A comparison of adolescents with and without school records of aggressive behavior showed significant differences in indicators of physical aggression, legitimized aggression and dispositions of violent extremism (they are higher among those who have no such records), but not in autonomy: thus, an attempt to operationalize aggressive behavior through intra-school records showed an unexpected result, problematizing questions about the normalization of aggressive behavior in the school environment and about the role of school records in the prevention of maladaptive behavior. The results obtained do not confirm positive relationship between adolescent autonomy and aggression. At the same time, the limitations of the study necessitate further studies of this problem, requiring a different operationalization of aggressive behavior and an expansion of the range of variables studied.