Aggression among Filipino adolescents: Development and evaluation of a gender-sensitive intervention program

• Main Author: Montes, Lucille A.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2005
• Subjects: Gender identity in education; Aggressiveness in children; Conduct disorders in children; Counseling Psychology
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_doctoral/88; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/context/etd_doctoral/article/1087/viewcontent/CDTG003926_P.pdf
• Institution: De La Salle University

This research aims to compare aggression among Filipino male and female young adolescents so that a school-based preventive program could be developed and administered. It is composed of four small studies, the first and third utilizing qualitative techniques, the second and fourth, quantitative. The General Aggression Model by Anderson and Bushman (2002) was used as the overall guide to formulate the questionnaires as well as to analyze the data. Study 1 involved having second year high school students (N=100, Males = 50, Females = 50) from an exclusive government school answer a questionnaire on memories of aggressive behaviors they did the past year, with the accompanying thoughts and feelings. For Study 2, a new questionnaire was made based on the samples of aggressive behaviors from Study 1 and fielded to another group of second year high school students (N=181, Males = 86, Females = 95). The respondents were asked to check from a list of behaviors, using a Likert scale, those that they remembered having done the past year. Study 3 involved a semi-structured interview of a group of second year high school students from the same private school (N = 24, Males = 12, Females = 12.) on their experiences of being aggressor and their perceptions on male-female aggresion. And study 4 was the administration of an intervention program to two sections of the second year high school students of the same private school.(N = 84, Males = 36, Females = 48), using pre and post-tests to measure the effect of the intervention. T-tests were used to study the data from study 2 and 4. Results show a difference between males and females in some of their expressions of aggression, in the way that some females experienced and regarded their accompanying vi feelings , and in some of their thoughts during aggression. Verbal aggression, as a category of behaviors, was seen to be predominant in females in studies 1 and 2, but physical aggression, as a category, was only seen to be associated with males in study 1. There were specific behaviors associated with males or females in study 1 and 2 but these specific gender-related expressions turned out to be different for each study. Most of the incidents reported by males and females showed anger as the accompanying feeling to their aggression. More female incidents reported negative appraisal of the other persons traits and motives, while more male reports appraised the other persons behavior as inflicting injury. More male reports showed wanting revenge as the intended outcome of their aggression, while more female reports wanted the other person to realize something as the intended outcome. Interviews showed a severe lack of knowledge on aggression, signs of maladaptive aggression in some, and beliefs that males are more aggressive and that they can cause more physical harm. The findings of studies 1 to 3 were used to craft the intervention program. Comparison of the pretest and 2 posttests administered with the intervention program showed an immediate significant effect of the intervention on both genders. A model is proposed for a gender-sensitive intervention program.