Adolescents’ Aggression as Perceived by Teacher -An Interventional Approach

The rate of maladaptive behaviours in adolescence is increasing day by day. Identifying,
controlling, and managing highly aggressive behaviour and its ill effect of school-going
adolescents have not yet been a major focus of education system of India. The consequences of
aggression and related activities presently pose a major problem for society and uncontrolled
aggression causes social, occupational, educational, physical, and mental health problems among
adolescents. The aim of this study is to examine teachers’ perceptions of the types and levels of
aggression among adolescents. The study was conducted in the Sonitpur district of Assam. The
sample (32 nos) for the study was selected purposively from a population of 185 students
belonging to IX th (Ninth) standard of selected schools. A standardized questionnaire namely
Direct & Indirect Aggression Scales was used to gather data from the teachers to find out the
prevalence of aggression among adolescents. A Mindfulness-Based Intervention programme
(Emotion Focused Coping Skills-A mindfulness approach) was conducted to manage and
regulate unpleasant emotions. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. The findings
of the study revealed that three types of aggression viz. physical, verbal, and social were present
among the respondents which were categorized as high, average, and low. According to teachers’
report verbal aggression was more frequently shown by the respondents. Highly significant value
of paired t-test (P<0.01) and a significant increase in the percentage of respondents in low
category in all three types of aggression revealed that a large section of respondents abate the
level of aggression considerably after intervention. Therefore, it is of utmost interest for the
policy-makers to introduce some activities in the education system which can help to manage
aggression, and other distressing feelings and situations.