title: Magnitude, types and sex differentials of aggressive behaviour among school children in a rural area of West Bengal.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Aggression affects academic learning and emotional development, can damage school climate and if not controlled early and may precipitate extreme violence in the future.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  (1) To determine the magnitude and types of aggressive behavior in school children. (2) To identify the influence of age and sex on aggressive behavior.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study was conducted in Anandanagar High School, Singur village, West Bengal. Participants were 161 boys and 177 girls of classes VII to IX. The students were asked to complete a self-administered questionnaire indicating the types of aggressive behavior by them in the previous month and to assess themselves with reference to statements indicating verbal/physical aggression.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall, 66.5% of the children were physically aggressive in the previous month: Boys 75.8%, girls 58.2% (P = 0.001); 56.8% were verbally aggressive: Boys 55.2%, girls 61% (P = 0.97). Verbal indirect passive aggression was more common among girls (55.3%) than among boys (22.3%) (P = 0.000 [1.17E(-09)]). Boys were more liable to physical aggression, viz. 60.2% of the boys would hit on provocation compared with only 9% of the girls (P = 0.000 [6.6E(-23)]). Regarding attributes indicating verbal aggression, girls were more argumentative (63.8%) than boys (55.2%) (P = 0.134) and disagreeing (41.8%) compared with boys (33.5%) (P = 0.145). With increasing age/class, physical direct active aggression decreased while physical indirect passive and verbal indirect passive aggression increased. No classes had been taken on anger control/management by school the authorities.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Aggressive behavior was common both among boys and girls. Life skills education/counseling/classroom management strategies are recommended.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, All India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health, Bidhan Nagar Campus, Block-JC, Sector-III, Salt Lake City, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
authors.forename: Debashis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dutt
authors.forename: Girish Kumar
authors.initials: GK
authors.lastname: Pandey
authors.forename: Dipak
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pal
authors.forename: Suprakas
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hazra
authors.forename: Tushar Kanti
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Dey
keywords: Aggression; active; children; passive; physical; verbal