Association of aggression and social support among adolescents / 中国学校卫生

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To explore the association between aggression and social support and their gender differences among Chinese adolescence, and to provide a scientific reference for preventing and reducing aggressive behaviors of adolescents.@*Methods@#Conducted a cross sectional survey of 15 623 adolescents in 5 provinces in China, namely, HeiLongjiang, Hubei, Anhui, Guangdong and Yunnan Province. And the Chinese version of the Adolescent Social Support Scale was employed to assess the aggression and social support, life events, psychological characteristics, family condition and demographic characteristics among adolescents.@*Results@#The prevalence of self reported high level of aggression was 23.5%(3 670/15 623). Males reported higher rate of high level aggression than females (24.4% vs 22.5%, χ 2=19.30, P <0.01). Significant association between aggression and social support was identified in univariate analysis ( χ 2=620.68, P <0.01). After controlling for potential confounders, aggression was also significantly negatively associated with social support ( OR =1.27-1.84), and there was dose response relationship between them( P < 0.05 ). Furthermore, the association between aggression and social support was similar among male participants and female participants ( ROR =1.02-1.10, P >0.05).@*Conclusion@#The findings indicate that aggression is associated with social support both in male and female adolescents. Improving the social support for adolescents can reduce their aggressive behaviors.