Psycho-Social Factors in Aggressive Behaviour in Males and Females in Bangladesh

Abstract

The present study was conducted to explore the psycho-social factors of aggression in males and females in the social context of Bangladesh. The study has conceptualized aggression in its different forms. The theoretical constructed of aggression differs in its emphasis in terms of biological, motivational and social factors. Its underlying theme assumes that human aggression is caused by the combined results of biological factors and experience. Biological factors include genetic inheritance and evolutionary process. Experience indicates learning through exposure to environmental factors. The broad objective of the study was to conduct an investigation on psycho-social factors in aggressive behavior in males and females in Bangladesh. Several predictions were made. These were as follows. (i) Female respondents would express more aggression as compared to male respondents. (ii) Respondents with high socio-economic status would express more aggression followed by the respondents with middle socio-economic status and least by the respondents with low socio-economic status. (iii) Respondents with rural residential background would express more aggression as compared to the respondents with urban residential background. A total of 240 respondents constituted the sample of the study. They were equally divided into males and females. Each group was again equally divided into high, middle and low socio-economic status. Each subgroup was again equally subdivided into urban and rural residential background. Thus the study used a 2 X 3 X 2 factorial design consisting of two levels of gender (Male/ Female), three levels of socio-economic status (High I Middle/ Low) and two levels of residential background (Urban/ Rural). The study used the Measure of Aggressive Behavior (MAB) for the collection of data. The Measure of Aggressive Behavior (MAB) was composed to five dimensions such as Physical Aggression (PA), Verbal Aggression (VA), Hostile Aggression (HA), Anger Aggression (AA) and Indirect Aggression. The measure contained 25 items. Physical Aggression had 5 items, Verbal Aggression had 9 items, Hostile Aggression had 5 items, Anger Aggression had 3 items and Indirect Aggression had 3 items. The results of the study were analyzed into two parts. In part-I, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was computed on the total scores of the Measure of Aggressive Behavior. It was found that regardless of socio-economic status and residential background, female respondents expressed more aggression than the male respondents. Similarly, regardless of gender and residential background, respondents with high socio­economic status expressed more aggression than the respondents with middle soc10- econom1c status and low socio-economic status. Also respondents with middle soc10- econom1c status expressed more aggression than the respondents with low soc10- economic status. In part-II, within-group comparisons were computed on the scores Physical Aggression (PA), Verbal Aggression (VA), Hostile Aggression (HA), Anger Aggression (AA) and Indirect Aggression (IA). In case of males with high socio-economic status, it was found that respondents with rural residential background expressed more physical aggression than the respondents with urban residential background. Again male respondents of low socio-economic status with rural residential background expressed more physical aggression than the male respondents of high socio-economic status with urban residential background. Results also showed that in case of males with high socio-economic status, it was found that respondents with rural residential background expressed more verbal aggression than the respondents with urban residential background. In case of females, it was found that, respondents of low socio-economic status with urban residential background expressed more verbal aggression than the male respondents of high socio­economic status with rural residential background. It was also found that male respondents of low socio-economic status with urban residential background expressed least hostile aggression than other comparison groups. In case of males, it was found that respondents of low socio-economic status with urban residential background expressed least anger aggression as compared to other comparison groups. In case of females, it was found that respondents of high socio­economic status with urban residential background expressed more anger aggression than other comparison groups In case of high socio-economic status with rural residential background; it was found that male respondents expressed more indirect aggression than the female respondents. However, in case of low socio-economic status with urban residential background, female respondents expressed more indirect aggression than the male respondents. The findings of the study provided full support to the first hypothesis that female respondents would express more aggression as compared to male respondents. The second hypothesis that the respondents with high socio-economic status would express more aggression followed by the respondents with middle socio-economic status and least by the respondents with low socio-economic status was also supported by the findings of the study. However, the third hypothesis that the respondents with rural residential background would express more aggression as compared to the respondents with urban residential background was not supported by the findings. In conclusion, it can be said that the results of the present study demonstrate that the relationships among different dimensions of aggression such as Physical Aggression (PA), Verbal Aggression (VA), Hostile Aggression (HA), Anger Aggression (AA) and Indirect Aggression (IA) are complex. Thus relationships among these dimensions may be regarded as positively correlate and may be used as predictive of aggression. In the light of these arguments, it can be said that the dynamic, functional and domain-specific nature of aggression will be highlighted through future research in the social context of Bangladesh.