Contributing Factors to Aggressive Behaviors in High School Students in Turkey

Violence among young people is an important public health topic as a universal problem. One of the recent issues concerning both the media and parents is the aggressive behavior among the high school students in Istanbul and the worldwide. The aim of this study was to investigate the types and rates of aggressive behavior and the contributing factors to this behavior among high school students. Sample was composed of 805 students of 14-18 ages attending five high schools in Istanbul. The most common aggressive behavior among the students was found to be "beating others," 34.5% (n = 278). Past experiences of violence of high school students (direct exposure to violence/witnessing violence/exposure to/witnessing attack with knife/gun) were determined as the most contributing factor to aggressive behavior. The present study investigated the nature of violent behaviors and associations between violent behaviors and contributing factors among high school students from Turkey.