Aggression is a dominant behavior among adolescents in al-Sadr City, Baghdad-Iraq

Abstract EN

Background : Aggression is any behavior intending to harm another living being that desires to avoid such harm.

Aggression isconsidered as apublic health problem worldwide.

Exposure to violence is a determinant of aggression.

Al-Sadr city, which is an overcrowded residential area in Baghdad, was exposed to violence through wars, civil war, and widespread inter-personal violence).

This situation was an impetus to study aggression in this city.

Objectives : To estimate the prevalence of aggression among secondary school students in Al-Sadr city, Baghdad.

Methodology : A cross-sectional study was carried out in Al-Sadr city in Baghdad.

A total of 720 adolescent secondary schools'students from both genders wereincluded in the study.

They were selected by multistage random sampling.

Their age was ranged from 13-21 years.

Data was collected from 1stof February 2019 to 30 of April 2019 through a self-reported questionnaire (Aggression-Problem Behavior Frequency Scale).

Results : The mean age of participants was 16.

2 ± 2.

04 years.

Of all participants, 84.

3% were assessed to be aggressive ; including 329 (91.

4 %) males and 278 (77.

2 %) females.

Males showed significantly higher aggression than females (p = 0.

001).

ence from school and low academic achievement were dominating among aggressive students (88.

2 % and 86.

9 %, respectively).

Non-physical Aggression was the most common type of aggression (76.

4%).

Conclusion : A high prevalence of aggression (mainly non-physical) was found, which was significantly associated with gender, being higheramong males.

Aggression was negatively affecting school achievement