The levels of anger and aggression in street children with substance dependence.

Abstract

This is a descriptive study to determine the levels of anger and aggression in street children with substance dependence. The study was conducted between October 2013 and March 2014 with 103 street children who use substances. Personal Information Form, Aggression Scale (AS), and Trait Anger and Anger Expression Styles Scale (STAXI) were used as data collection tools. The rate of the children reported that they lived on the streets due to the conflicts with the family was 67% and 35% of participants reported that they were exposed to violence on the street. The total score of AS was 146.78 ± 25.91, the mean score of the anger subscale of the STAXI was 31.05 ± 9.00 while the scores of the anger-in subscale and the anger-out subscale scores were 19.02 ± 4.55 and 23.04 ± 6.19, respectively. The total scores of AS had a significant positive correlation with both the trait anger and "anger-in" subscale scores. The results show that substance use negatively affected anger control in street children. The data demonstrated that the presence of continuous anger and turning the anger against oneself correlated with increased levels of aggression. Increasing the duration of living on the street, working on the street and being exposed to stressful situations in the street increased the "anger-in" scores.