Aggressive Behaviour of Adolescents in Teachers’ Mental Representations: Risk Factors Assessment

Abstract

Background. The article regards the assessment of teachers' ideas about various risk factors for aggressive behaviour in adolescents. Teachers' perceptions of the factors influencing adolescents' aggressive behaviour allow us to understand how it is conceptualized, what contributes to the study of the phenomenology of adolescents' aggressive behaviour and, thus, is important for modern prevention programmes. Objective. The purpose of this article is to make a theoretical and empirical review and to identify risk factors for aggressive behaviour in adolescents assessed by teachers. Methods. The article analyzes the answers to the questions “What external and internal factors do you think to be the causes of aggressive behaviour in adolescents?” The questions were asked separately about older (15–19 years old) and younger (11–14 years old) adolescents. Spearman correlation analysis and nonparametric Wilcoxon criterion were used to assess the relationship between the indicators concerning the assessments of external and internal risk factors. Sample. The study was implemented in the form of an anonymous online survey for teachers from five federal gegions of Russian Federation. The overwhelming majority of respondents are female (94%). The average age of respondents is 44.5 (SD = 11.7). A sample of 5728 teachers was used for the analysis. Results. The analysis reveals that educators rate the significance of both external and internal factors higher in relation to the older adolescents compared to the younger ones. An inverse correlation between the teacher's age and the assessment of the significance of risk factors was revealed. Conclusion. In the course of the study we obtained results indicating the specificity in assessing the significance of risk factors for aggressive behaviour of adolescents in the teachers' perception. External and internal factors are perceived by teachers of different ages heterogeneously, which may be due to both individual characteristics of teachers and the social situation of the development of modern adolescents. This contributes to the study of the phenomenology of aggression in adolescence. The obtained results can help develop professional development programmes aimed at correct identification of risk factors on the part of teachers in order to form strategies of educational work with younger and older adolescents.

Keywords

• teachers
• aggression
• risk factors
• early adolescence
• older adolescence
• social perception
• risks of socialization