Emotion, aggression, and stress are factors that are most evident in young people. There have been multiple cases where adolescents and even children have displayed aggression in one way or another. According to biological psychology, this form of behavior may be directly linked to hormones that are produced during this particular phase of growth (Archer, 2013) . Hormones play quite a significant role in creating aggression.
The male sex hormone testosterone is associated with increased aggression in both animals and human beings. There have been several pieces of research carried out which have established a strong correlation between the level of testosterone and aggression. Even though the relationship is slightly weaker in humans than in animals, it remains significant. This hormone influences the development of some regions of the brain that are in charge of controlling aggressive behaviors. Testosterone also affects the development of physical components such as body mass, muscle strength, and height which are directly related to an individual's ability to aggress. Though much emphasis has been placed on the effect of testosterone in males in relation to aggressive behavior, there is also an impact it has on women. Research has established that there is a positive correlation between testosterone and aggression in women. This aggression in women can take many different forms, such as competitiveness and other aggression-related behavior. In essence, women have pretty lower levels of testosterone. However, they are more influenced by smaller changes in these hormone levels than men.
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Human aggression is not only linked with this one particular factor. There is another important hormone known as serotonin that comes into play. This is because this hormone tends to inhibit aggression. As such, the hormone levels in the body also play a role in determining a person's aggressive behavior. Lower levels of serotonin have been known to predict future aggressive behavior. People who exude impulsive violent behavior have been known to have lower levels of serotonin compared to those who premeditate violent behavior.
Aggression can take different forms, including; physical, emotional, verbal, and mental. Over the years, people have primarily associated aggression with purely physical forms such as pushing or hitting. However, these other forms of aggression can also be very damaging. Psychological aggression is often aimed at attacking a victim's sense of emotional well-being, which often results in a long-term psychological effect. Verbal aggression is also common among young adults and college-going students. Regardless of gender, psychological aggression leads to several negative physical and mental consequences for the victims. Though it’s difficult to separate the effects of physical aggression from psychological aggression, the latter is usually associated with increased drug use, alcohol use, anxiety symptoms, and depressive symptoms. Aggression need not only be viewed physically but also from an emotional perspective.
According to psychology, there are two types of aggression. The first one is impulsive aggression which is also known as effective aggression. This kind of aggression is usually characterized by strong emotions, in most times anger. Most of the time, it is not planned and does occur in the heat of the moment. For instance, when someone does something bad to us, and we immediately respond by yelling and berating them, that is impulsive aggression. According to research, impulsive aggression that is caused by anger triggers the acute threat response system in the brain. The other type is known as instrumental aggression, which is also referred to as predatory aggression. Here, aggressive behaviors are intended to achieve a predetermined goal (Miglani, 2011) . Instrumental aggression usually involves careful planning and happens as a means to achieve a certain desired outcome. For instance, premeditated bullying is a form of instrumental aggression. A student can harm the other as a means of achieving a certain goal, maybe get them to quit the football team.
Apart from biological factors, there are also environmental factors that can fuel aggression. How people were brought up plays a role in the kind of behavior that they portray. Those individuals who grew up witnessing different forms of aggression are more likely to believe that it is socially acceptable to act in such ways. Observation usually plays a role in learning aggression, especially for young children growing up. This is why children who grew up in families where the father was violent and rough tend to behave in the same way when they become adults.
Incidences of violent behavior amongst kids and adolescents have become a major concern for parents who cannot tell the cause of this kind of behavior. Many of them have resorted to therapy in an attempt to try to deal with the issue. In the real sense, this is a troubling and complex issue that needs to be keenly understood by teachers, parents, and other adults. Children at a very young age can elicit violent behavior. Parents who watch their kids' aggressive behavior usually hope that their child will grow out of it with time. Most of them believe that it is childish behavior that fades off as the child grows. As such, they do not take violent behavior seriously at this initial stage. In the end, they realize it only gets worse and wishes that they could have intervened to try and deal with the issue. It is essential not to view this as just a phase that the children are going through and try to deal with it when it manifests.
There is also a myriad of other factors which cause and increase the risk of aggressive behavior among adolescents and children. Being a victim of physical or sexual abuse may lead to the adoption of this kind of behavior as a way of suppressing those thoughts. This form of behavior, according to them, protects them from people who might want to meet out these forms of abuse in the future. Previous aggressive or violent behavior can also prompt adolescents to develop this kind of behavior. This is more like growing up in a family set up where the father constantly meets out violent acts to his children and their mother. The children might develop this kind of aggression in the long term by observing how their father carries himself about. Also, being a victim of bullying leads to aggressive behavior among some adolescents (Pflum et al., 2014) . This behavior is meant to act as a shield from other bullies or wan off criticism from other students. Most of them are angry at almost everything because they feel they were not strong enough to deal with the bullies.
In this era of digitalization, many adolescents spend a lot of their free time behind televisions, laptops, and iPad watching movies and other material online. Some of these material exposes them to violence and other forms of aggression. From there, they pick up or learn violent behavior, which they put into practice. Violence in media is a concern that needs to be checked or, better still, needs to be controlled. The most type of aggressive behavior is expressed as a result of drug use or alcohol use. Many teenager experiments with drugs and alcohol and they eventually become addicted to them. This usually leads to aggressive behavior and violent acts. In other instances, medical issues do bring about aggressive behavior in adolescents. Brain damage, epilepsy, mental retardation, and Tourette's syndrome are among medical conditions that cause disruptive and aggressive behavior among teenagers. However, these conditions can be treated with proper medical examination and diagnosis; thus, aggression can be brought under control.
Many stressful family socioeconomic factors might play a role in the development of aggressive behavior among teenagers. These include; severe deprivation, poverty, single parenting, marital breakup, unemployment, and loss of support from an extended family. All these factors might play a role in causing teenage violent behavior. Peer pressure might also be a leading cause of aggressive behavior among teenagers. Teenagers want to be accepted and fit into a particular group. If this does not happen, it usually leads to pain and anger, resulting in aggressive behavior. Adolescents who exude low self-esteem most of the time tend to cover it up through aggression, especially when they are among their peers.
The fact is that there are many factors, both biological and non-biological, that can be attributed to the development of aggressive behavior among adolescents. It is critical to understand the nature of the aggressive behavior earlier on and try to deal with it either medically or through therapy. If not checked, aggressive behavior only ends up getting worse as the children and adolescents grow.
References
Archer, J. (2013). Aggressive behavior: A transition. Aggressive Behavior , 39 (1), 1-2. https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.21460
Miglani, M. (2011). Aggression causes consequences and subconscious coping techniques. PsycEXTRA Dataset . https://doi.org/10.1037/e682942012-029
Pflum, S., Goldblum, P., Chu, J., & Bongar, B. (2014). Bullying and peer aggression in children and adolescents. Oxford Handbooks Online . https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199352722.013.8
