Risk of aggression and criminal behaviour among adolescents living in Alexandria governorate, Egypt

Abstract

Adolescent risk-taking and aggressive behaviours are among the most visible forms of violence in society. A study was carried out to identify the prevalence and risk factors for aggression, violence and criminal behaviour among adolescents in Alexandria, Egypt. Using multistage, cluster sampling of families from all health districts in Alexandria, the mothers of 783 adolescents aged 11-19 years answered an Arabic version of the Mentor Research Institute screening questionnaire. Overall 26.9% of adolescents were assessed to be at high risk and 20.2% at extremely high risk of aggression and criminal behaviour. Living in urban/slum areas, male sex, low level of parents' education/occupation, exposure to violence within the family and changes in behaviour of any family member were associated with risk of aggression/violence. In multivariate analysis, the significant independent variables were adolescents' sex, presence of behavioural changes in the family, violence against brothers and sisters and substance abuse by any family member.

Bullying and Victimization among Adolescents in Governmental Schools in Aswan City, Upper Egypt

“…34 Other family factors like single parenthood and low parenteral educational level or occupational level, have been suggested in some studies to be associated with the involvement in bullying and victimization. 35,36 By contrast, in the current study, they were not significantly associated with bullying behavior, which is in line with the longitudinal study of Sourander et al 37 , where parental education level, socioeconomic status, and family composition were not significantly associated with bullying, too. This conflict might be explained by variations in the sample design and the studies informants.…”

“…This conflict might be explained by variations in the sample design and the studies informants. 35,36 As regards bullying and victimization association with school climate, school climate has been supported by research as a contextual variable associated with peer aggression. 38 For example, Konstantina and Pilios-Dimitris 17 detected that school climate variable is negatively associated with bullying and victimization, and Cook et al 27 found that school climate had the largest effect sizes for victimization.…”

Regional Study on Behavioural Tendency in Adolescents: Assessment and Analysis of Personal and Socio-Economic Environment

“…Conforming the same Swaim et al, (2006) reported that most consistent set of predictors for aggression was gender, family actions against violence, peer violence, anger, academic performance, and alcohol use. Etim and Egodi, 2013;Kokko et al, 2014;Rahman et al, 2014;Wahdan et al, 2014 also reported similar findings. It can be concluded that aggression was more in females of rural area whereas in urban area reverse trend was found.…”

Adolescent Behavior: Understanding in Relation to Mental Health Issues with Implication in Nursing- Review Article

“…Study conducted by Wahdan I., et al (2014) 11 revealed that overall 26.9% of adolescents at high risk and 20.2% at extremely high risk of aggression and criminal behavior. The study concluded that necessary measures must be taken to reduce the negative impacts of exposure to violence through giving special attention to changing the perception of children and adolescents to these risks.…”