Psychological Determinants of Aggressive Behaviour among Adolescents in Secondary Schools in Anambra State

Abstract

The study was aimed at investigating the psychological determinants of aggressive behaviour among adolescents in secondary schools in Awka South L.G.A. of Anambra State. Three research questions and three null hypotheses guided the study. Expost facto design was adopted for the study. The population of the study comprised all the public secondary school students totalling 13296 while the sample size was 450 students drawn through simple random sampling technique. The instruments for data collection were aggressive behaviour scale (ABAS) and Psychological Assessment Scale (PAQ). The instruments were validated by experts in Educational Psychology, Measurement and Evaluation. The reliability coefficient of 0.84 was obtained for ABAS while reliability coefficients of 0.74, 0.85 and 0.88 were obtained for sections B, C and D of the PAQ respectively. The data obtained were analyzed using mean scores to answer the research questions and t-test to test the null hypotheses. The result obtained showed that stress significantly influenced aggressivebehaviour among secondary school adolescents while self-concept and locus of control did not significantly influence aggressive behaviour among them. Based on the findings of the study, recommendations were made which include that counselling psychologists should counsel the students to reduce or eliminate aggressive behaviour among them.Key: Psychological, Aggression, Adolescents, Behaviour