The Influence of Aggression on Students’ Achievement: Evidence from Higher Education

Abstract

The current study examined the effects of uni-dimensional aggression scale (composed of verbal aggression, anger with resentment, physical aggression, and suspicion) on students’ current academic achievement score (GPA) and cumulative academic achievement score (CGPA). Undergraduate students (n=1481) partook in the current study at a university in Northern Cyprus. The study tested the negative effects of aggression on students’ GPA and CGPA. Demographic variables such as age, gender, and class-size have also been incorporated into the analyses and were treated as control variables. Multiple regression analyses have been deployed to test the hypothesized relationship. Results revealed that aggression had significant negative effects on students’current academic achievement (GPA) and cumulative academic achievement score (CGPA). Inclusion of control variables into the regression equation did not confound the effect of aggression on both achievement scores. Additionally, variance inflation factor (VIF) was controlled to monitor the issue of multi-collinearity. The results depicted that all VIF values were below the benchmark value. The study further notes implications, limitations, and avenues for future research.