Abstract
Background/Objective: Youth violence, including school bullying and fighting, has become a global public health problem. Stress has been identified as a factor related to aggression (i.e., bullying behaviors, fighting, and anger), of which inner-city youth are particularly vulnerable given their often disproportionately high stress living environments. Stress and aggression are of particular concern in urban physical education (PE) given the proliferation of competitive, sport-based curricula, “culture of basketball”, and the often-limited supervision that takes place. Using the Social Ecological Model, the purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between stress and aggression in inner-city elementary PE students. Methods: After parental consent, participants completed a questionnaire with validated scales measuring stress, aggression, and demographics. Participants included 138, 3rd-5th grade students (Mage = 9.77) from six inner-city schools in the Midwestern United States. Analysis/Results: After correlations were conducted to determine relationships, a series of multiple regression analyses were used to determine the predictors of aggression; controlling for gender, race, and age. Regression results revealed that fighting was significantly predicted by the independent variables with stress, anger, and bullying uniquely contributing (F (6,115) = 21.54, p < 0.01, adj. R2 = 0.51). Additionally, bullying was uniquely predicted by fighting and anger (F (6,115) = 35.01, p < 0.01, adj. R2 = 0.63). Conclusions: This study established a significant relationship between stress, anger, fighting and bullying behaviors in urban PE, possibly indicating a need for renewed focus on anti-aggressive approaches and positive stress response techniques. Specifically, mindfulness-based physical activities, such as Yoga, could enable educators to create more peaceful and less stressful climates, which might then lead to less bullying, fighting, and aggression, hence a more productive learning environment
Highlights
IntroductionThe impact of poverty on the lives of children has been well documented, on their social and emotional development [2]
Last year, nearly six in ten children in Detroit lived below the poverty line [1]
Regression results revealed that fighting was significantly predicted by the independent variables with stress, anger, and bullying uniquely contributing (F (6,115) = 21.54, p < 0.01, adj
Summary
The impact of poverty on the lives of children has been well documented, on their social and emotional development [2]. Children who grow up in low socio-economic status (SES) neighborhoods and attend inner-city public schools are more likely to be affected by stress that negatively impacts behaviors and social skills [3], more likely to be exposed to violence [4], and have an increased risk of being a victim of bullying [5]. The research on bullying in schools is complicated given the myriad of factors that have been used to define bullying behavior; most studies support the concept that bullying behavior can be either physical or psychological. The majority of the studies done in the United States have examined bullying as a subset of aggressive behavior that has potential to cause physical or psychological harm [7]
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