Anxiety and Aggressive Behavior in Adolescents: A Correlational Study

Abstract

Background: Aggressive behavior has become a severe behavioral problem in adolescents recently. Some cases have even been deemed an emergency for mental health behavior in adolescents. Many factors are suspected to be associated with aggressive behavior, one of which is anxiety. Anxiety and aggressive behavior remain widely studied in children, but the number of studies is limited to middle and late adolescents. In addition, there is no clear description of the psychosocial aspects between anxiety and aggressive behavior in adolescents based on the psychosocial development tasks. Objective: The study aims to identify the association between adolescents’ anxiety and aggressive behavior.Methods: The research used an analytical correlation design with a cross-sectional approach. The research was conducted in senior high schools in Surakarta in July 2021. Subjects were taken using convenience sampling, in which 626 students filled out the online questionnaire, while 32 students did not complete some items resulting in a total sample of 594 respondents. Then, the research instruments employed DASS 21 for anxiety and Buss Perry Questionnaire for aggressive behavior. The statistical analysis then utilized the Pearson product-moment test.Results: The research revealed that most respondents were female (67,8%). The respondents had a bullying victim history (44.8%), a violence victim history (13.3%), and parental divorce history (10.3%). The statistical test also uncovered a significant correlation between anxiety and aggressive behavior (p-value 0.0001, r: 0.649, OR:7.86, CI 95%).Conclusion: The finding demonstrates the association between adolescents’ anxiety and aggressive behavior. Consequently, the community mental health nurses should organize a partnership mental health program with the senior high schools to manage adolescent anxiety and aggressive behavior

Can Empathy Moderate the Interaction Between Anxiety and Indirect Aggression? Evidence-Based Study of Adolescent Girls

“…All three types of anxiety linked to indirect aggressiveness were mitigated by empathy. These findings are consistent with several previous researches where anxiety showed high correlations with indirect aggression among adolescent girls (Chung et al, 2019;Farrell and Vaillancourt, 2021;Sari et al, 2022;Tarlow & Greca, 2021;Wehde, 2020).…”

“…Another study by Sari et al, (2022), confirmed the idea that girls do engage in indirect violence, finding that higher levels of anxiety can increase this behaviour in girls and they show it more towards other girls than they do towards boys. Social anxiety came out to be the most significant predictor in this study.…”

Experiences of Indonesian Adolescents Losing Parents Due to COVID-19: a Phenomenological Study

“…The impact of the increased role of adolescents on adolescent mental health after the loss of parents needs to address. It is crucial to detect post-behind adolescent mental health early and provide mental counseling at the school health Unit in dealing with symptoms of stress and anxiety (Arfianto et al, 2023).…”