Effects of Aggressive Behavior on Academic Performance

Timothy J. Kelly

Abstract

The connection between cognitive function and aggressive behavior appears to be an object of much discussion in the psychological community. Aggressive tendencies were studied in relation to students' grade point averages at a small midwestern university. The hypothesis stated that students with higher levels of “externalized” aggression (i.e., physical and verbal aggression) would have higher grade point averages than students who have higher levels of “internalized” aggression (i.e., anger and hostility). One hundred students from a midwestern university participated in the study. A modified version of The Aggression Questionnaire (Buss and Perry, 1992) was used to measure aggression. Analysis of the data found a moderate negative correlation between externalized aggression and grade point averages. In the future, this work may serve as a starting point for research about the effects of competition in an academic setting.

            Keywords: aggression, anger, hostility, grade point average, performance

             In the highly competitive world of education, the importance of establishing and maintaining a strong grade point average takes precedence above many other things. Some might argue that today’s competitive society imposes these pressures now more so than in the past (e.g., Taylor, Davis-Kean, & Malanchuk, 2007; Al-Ali, Singh, & Smekal, 2011; Garandeau, Ahn, & Rodkin, 2011;Yan Jie, Xiao Hui, Wang, Zheng Xue, Xiu Xian, & Sun, 2012). Ironically, it may be that same competitive disposition that influences how an individual performs in a school setting.

            The Aggression Questionnaire (Buss & Perry, 1992) was developed to replace the popular Hostility inventory (Buss & Durkee, 1957, as quoted in Buss & Perry, 1992) that yielded inconsistent results when used in other studies and appeared to be difficult for participants to complete accurately. The researchers constructed this survey by breaking down the broad spectrum of aggression into four factors; Physical Aggression, Verbal Aggression, Anger, and Hostility. Physical Aggression and Verbal aggression involve the direct harming of others thought different outlets (e.g., instrumental or motor behavior) (Buss & Perry, 1992). Anger represents emotional component of behavior that emphasizes how quickly an individual is to resort to aggressive behavior. Hostility encompasses cognitive behavior and a person’s unsettling feelings of ill will in society and a sense of distrust. The questionnaire offers insight into how aggression shapes personality and in what ways it affects cognitive functioning.  

Aggression and Cognition

            In view of what is known about behavior, aggression appears to have a substantial effect on a person's cognitions even at a young age (e.g., Tacher & Readdick, 2006; Helibron & Prinstein, 2008;  Kikas, Peets, Tropp, & Hinn, 2009; Csibi & Csibi, 2011; Hanish, Sallquist, DiDonato, Fabes, & Martin, 2012). Tacher and Readdick (2006) studied a group of children in the second grade for a relationship between aggressive tendencies and creative thought patterns. Their research yielded interesting results: as aggressive behaviors increased, levels of creativity increased; the data goes against the negative connotation of aggression that is commonly accepted in society. Helibron and Prinstein (2008) suggested that this aggressive behavior emanates out of necessity in childhood, and that individuals receive emotional and social rewards as well as intellectual superiority over their peers from this behavior. Another study examined the connections between aggression and verbal reasoning among young adults (Kikas, Peets, Tropp, & Hinn, 2009). Interestingly, their research showed a negative correlation between cognitive functioning and aggressive tendencies. Their findings indicated that when cognitive function in relation to verbal reasoning increased, aggressive behavior decreased; these discrepancies in differing results underline the importance of continued research in aggression.

            Other research has observed the passive effects of aggression due to stress on an individual's emotional state (e.g., Luutonen, 2007; Al-Ali, Singh, & Smekal, 2011; Yan Jie, Xiao Hui, Wang, Zheng Xue, Xiu Xian, & Sun, 2012). It seems that there may be goals to aggressive behavior (i.e., a student works hard in school to compete against his peers) and that emotional anger may seek to resolve these goals (Luutonen, 2007). Interconnectivity among human emotions expresses why stress could bring about this type of behavior; the goal could be to seek out a stressor and then suppress it. Current research indicates that while stress levels increase, so do levels of aggression, especially in young adults who attempt to balance social status and academic prowess (Al-Ali, Singh, & Smekal, 2011). Warren, Richardson, and McQuillin (2011) offered insight on the social scenarios in which a student may be more inclined to use aggressive behavior. The teacher-student relationship was defined as a possible causal factor; a young adult's academic performance may be swayed ether positively or negatively depending on the situation. They indicated that the supposed destructive impact of aggression may not be as pronounced if an individual directs his or her aggression into a constructive outlet.

            Huesmann, Dubow, and Boxer (2009) offered a very interesting longitudinal study. Their research observed previously collected data from a 40-year-long research project following a group of third-grade children from ages 8 to 48. The consequences of their aggressive behaviors were monitored, as well as the motivations behind them. The data concluded that a person's aggressive disposition tends to remain as a constant throughout an individual's lifetime. From the research, it appears that an aggressive person may have the need to adapt their behavior and direct their goals toward a positive outcome to lower stress levels and/or receive certain social rewards (Al-Ali, Singh, & Smekal, 2011).

Behavior and Academic Performance

            As behavior affects an individual's cognitions, it seems as though there would be a substantial effect on a person's academic performance. Noftle and Robins (2007) examined the "Big Five" personality traits -- Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism, and Openness-- and how they affected academic performance. Their research concluded that personality traits may independently effect academic performance. Taylor, Davis-Kean, and Malanchuk (2007) observed how a student's self-concept, self-esteem, and levels of aggression affected their performance in school. From their data, there appears to be a relationship between aggression and academic self-concept; children without internalized academic goals do not do as well in school as those who create internal motivation.  Loveland, Lounsbury, Welsh, and Buboltz (2007) refute the concept that using aggression has a positive outcome. Their data concluded that higher levels of aggression may negatively impact academic performance as it leads to absenteeism when students cannot cope with the stressors of school life.

            In addition to internal factors, external factors appear to have an effect on how a child performs in an academic setting. One study in particular posited that aggressive behavior allows students to "increase their social standing among peers" by being perceived as "popular" (Garandeau, Ahn, & Rodkin, 2011, pp. 1699).They proposed that this type of reward based aggressive behavior tends to be more self-destructive than constructive. Parents and teachers may also have an effect on a student's academic performance as they use their authoritative positions to manipulate a child's behavior to fit their expectations (Stipek & Miles, 2008). This study offers that extrinsic motivation from peers and people in authority shape an individual's behavior, and that motivation may not be limited to intrinsic goals. 

Competition, Goals, and Performance

            With the idea that aggression may be goal-oriented, several studies have examined how competition affects performance and intrinsic motivation (e.g., Tauer and Harackiewicz, 2006; Urdan & Mestas, 2006; Goodman, Keresztesi, Mamdani, Mokgatle, Musariri, Pires, & Schlechter, 2011). Tauer and Harackiewicz (2004) observed the reciprocal relationship between competition and performance based goals with samples of children at a basketball camp. They concluded that aggressiveness in competition may drive and individual to work harder and output a stronger performance than if there were no competition. High-school students may also have internalized goals that emanate from confronting a competitive scenario (Urdan & Mestas, 2006). 40% of the students in their study adopted a competition-approach style of goal completion; these students approach their goals directly in a passively aggressive manner. Internalized goal-directed behavior appears to offer insight into the academic performance of college students (Goodman, Keresztesi, Mamdani, Mokgatle, Musariri, Pires, & Schlechter, 2011). Goodman and his colleagues observed the determining factors of academic performance in relation to external and internal motivation. They concluded that internal goals for personal achievement may be used as a predictor for academic success. Although the data in this subject are not conclusive, (Murayama & Elliot, 2012) there appears to be interesting arguments about how competition affects performance. Their analysis concluded that competition prompts certain self-defined goals for an individual to work toward.  

Research Hypothesis

            Past research indicated that there appears to be a correlation between a person's behavior and task performance (e.g., Urdan & Mestas, 2006; Goodman, Keresztesi, Mamdani, Mokgatle, Musariri, Pires, & Schlechter, 2011). In this regard, aggressiveness could impart a sense of competition among college students; however, as it appears that studies in aggression are still in their infancy and future research would be beneficial to the topic at hand. This study attempted to discover the extent to which aggression affected an individual's academic performance in a college setting. The survey used a modified version of Buss and Perry's Aggression Questionnaire (Buss and Perry, 1992) to ascertain the aggressive disposition of a student's personality in terms of Physical Aggression, Verbal Aggression, Anger, and Hostility. Several items on the survey as well as self-reported grade point average are used to display the participant's level of academic performance. The first hypothesis states that students with higher levels of “internalized” aggression (i.e., anger and hostility) will have higher grade point averages than students who have higher levels of “externalized” aggression (i.e., physical and verbal aggression). The second hypothesis states that students with higher levels of “externalized” aggression (i.e., physical and verbal aggression) will have lower grade point averages than students who have higher levels of “internalized” aggression (i.e., anger and hostility).

Method

Participants

            Young adults on the at a midwestern university (65 women, 35 men, M_age = 20.4 years, age range: 18-22+ years) were recruited in classes and other meeting places on campus to fill out a survey to report levels of aggression and grade point average. The participants were not chosen with any criteria and the study was only limited to those present and willing to participate in the classroom or area where the survey was handed out. Students were not compensated in any way for their participation in the study.  All of the participants were asked to answer as honestly as possible, as all data provided was self-reported. One hundred students responded to the survey; the breakdown of the student's ages was as follows: 5% age 18, 16% age 19, 28% age 20, 31% age 21, and 20% age 22 and above. Data were collected in accordance with the ethical standards of the American Psychological Association (American Psychological Association, 2010).

Materials

            The researcher compiled a 34-item survey to ascertain the participants’ grade point averages, study habits, and levels of aggressive behavior. A modified version of Buss and Perry’s Aggression Questionnaire (Buss and Perry, 1992) was implemented to gather the information from the participants. The students were asked demographic information (i.e., gender, age, year in school) and were also asked to self report their grade point average to the best of their knowledge. For the remainder of the survey, students were asked to rank each item on a Likert scale from 1 (extremely uncharacteristic of me) to 7 (extremely characteristic of me).  The Aggression Questionnaire includes 29 items about aggressive tendencies broken down into four constructs: Verbal Aggression, Physical Aggression, Anger, and Hostility. In addition, five questions were asked pertaining to the student's individual study goals.

Procedure

            Participants were asked to fill out all of the provided questions in the survey in during class time.  The students were not placed under any stress to complete the survey, as the questions were straightforward and clearly stated. Participants were encouraged to complete it at their own pace to ensure the credibility of the provided information. The students were informed both verbally and in writing that their responses would remain anonymous and that they could withdraw from the survey at any time. The entirety of the survey took no longer than 10 minutes for the students to complete. When all surveys were finished, the students were debriefed and the experimenter answered any questions asked. The data were collected and categorized in a way the corresponded with the students' answers.

Results

            In order to test the hypothesis that higher levels of externalized aggression would result in lower grade point averages, a Pearson bivariate correlation was performed. Results indicated a moderate negative correlation between externalized aggression (Mean = 48.880, SD = .15.449) and grade point average (Mean = 3.434, SD = .458), r (100) = -.392, p < .001.

            To test the second hypothesis that higher levels of internalized aggression would result in higher grade point averages, a Pearson bivariate correlation was performed. Results indicated a weak negative correlation between internalized aggression (Mean = 1.590 SD = .494) and grade point average (Mean = 3.434, SD = .458), r (100) = -.2.65, p < .01.  Specific results may be found in Table 1.1.

 Table 1.1

                                                                                           Correlations

**  Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

Discussion

            As previously outlined, the first hypothesis proposed by this research hoped to support much of the current research on aggression; students who externalize their aggression tend to have lower grade point averages. As expected, the collected data support this hypothesis in that higher levels of externalized aggression seem to lead to lower grade point averages. The second hypothesis examined the possibility that college students who tend to internalize their aggression would sublimate their behavior into their school work. The data collected failed to support the correlation proposed in the second hypothesis; however, the data for the second yielded a weaker negative correlation than the data from the first. While no new significant information appeared to surface, this study offers support for most of the current research on aggressive behavior and its effects on academic performance.

Limitations

            If this study is repeated in the future, certain changes would help to improve the quality of the results. First, the implementation of a stronger measure of academic performance in lieu of grade point average would prevent embellishment from student participants. Although self-reported grade point average was used for sake of ease and time, a more accurate measure would be ideal. Also, future research could use a specific measure of competitiveness instead of observing the broad spectrum of internalized aggressive tendencies. It seems as though focusing on the exact intended variable of study may yield support in favor of the second proposed hypothesis.

Implications

            In the future, this project can help further the search for the connection between aggression and competition and how they affect a student's academic performance. Further research may include searching for deeper connections to the defense mechanism of sublimation and its prevalence in a college student population. Concepts of competitiveness, especially in the realm of academics, may also be examined. In a broad analysis, this research does not answer, but instead merely proposes the question: Can aggression be a form of creation? This question focuses on the socially accepted concept that aggression is "bad" and only aims to destroy. With this question, future research may be devised to examine how aggression ties in to the competitive drive that causes an individual to desire success. Answering this question will broaden the general understanding of aggression and may help in learning how to channel one's aggressive behavior into a positive outlet.

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