Aggression in Adolescents: The Role of Mother-Child Attachment and Self-Esteem

Abstract

Every year, adolescents’ aggressive behavior in the world continues to increase, including in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Teenagers’ aggressive behavior in Yogyakarta leads to criminal acts resulting in physical sacrifices and death. The aggressive behavior of teenagers is known as Klithih. It develops and continues to increase every year, causing public anxiety and concern. This study aimed to examine the role of mother–child attachment and self-esteem against aggression. Aggression, mother’s attachment, and self-esteem scales were deployed to collect data and were filled out by 730 high school students between 15 and 19 years old from twenty-three schools in five municipalities in Yogyakarta Province (M = 16.52, SD = 0.793, 310 male students and 420 female students). Descriptive statistics described research data by IBM SPSS 23 and structural equation modeling by AMOS v20 to test research hypotheses. The results of the study showed a good fit, indicating that self-esteem might enhance the effect of each mother’s attachment style on aggression. Our study showed that insecure attachment positively and significantly affected aggression and negatively and significantly affected self-esteem. Furthermore, it also revealed that anxious attachment positively and significantly influenced aggression and negatively and significantly influenced self-esteem. Lastly, our finding revealed that self-esteem negatively and significantly affected aggression. These findings suggested that better mother’s attachment and higher self-esteem in adolescents may lower the possibility of aggression, whereas insecure attachment, anxious attachment, and low self-esteem may increase the risk of aggression.

Pengaruh Kelekatan Orang Tua dan Kecerdasan Emosi terhadap Agresivitas Remaja

“…Agresivitas verbal mencakup tindakan menyakiti orang lain melalui penggunaan katakata kasar seperti mencaci, menghina, membentak, dan sejenisnya, sedangkan agresivitas fisik melibatkan tindakan kekerasan fisik, seperti memukul, menendang, menikam, dan menembak (Mufidah et al 2021;Warburton, 2015). Agresivitas verbal paling sering dilakukan dan dialami oleh remaja, perilaku ini berkontribusi terhadap agresi fisik terutama terhadap remaja dengan gangguan emosi (Muarifah et al 2022;Worth et al 2021). Perilaku remaja dikategorikan agresif apabila bertujuan untuk menyakiti orang lain, meskipun upaya yang dilakukan tersebut tidak berhasil (Afdal et al 2020;Tentama 2013;Myers 2012).…”

Literature Review of Deep-Learning-Based Detection of Violence in Video

“…It also affects the economy (shopping, travel, tourism, etc.) [ 1 ] and the mental health of citizens because of the permanent state of insecurity [ 2 ]. Some studies point to alarming data, for example, physical assault is the major cause of mortality among 15–44-year olds around the world [ 3 ].…”

“…Some studies have studied an increase in violence due to exposure to an environment of violence and aggressiveness, which leads to a tendency to use violence as a tool [ 6 ]. It has also been shown that there is a direct correlation between aggression and a poor maternal relationship or low self-esteem [ 2 ]. Moreover, technologies, such as smartphones, contribute to an increase in violence, as does the consumption of aggressive video games [ 7 ].…”

Differences in Aggressive Behavior of Individuals with Different Self-Construal Types after Social Exclusion in the Same Cultural Background

“…In China and around the world, aggressive behavior has always been a hot issue of social concern and a focus issue of psychological research [ 1 , 2 ]. Numerous studies have found that aggressive behavior is extremely destructive and can bring high costs to individuals and society [ 3 ].…”