psychology

A Study Investigating the Impact of Aggressive and Violent Behavior on Academic Performance among Children Aged Between 6 – 10 Years

Proposed Topic

The proposed topic is “A Study Investigating the Impact of Aggressive and Violent Behavior on Academic Performance among Children Aged Between 6 – 10 Years”.

Aggressive and violent behavior is usually aimed at inflicting pain or some harm to other individuals either through physical or social means such as having fights or spreading rumors with malicious intentions (Espelage et al., 2013). Generally, aggressive and violent behavior can be evidenced through such things such as lack of interest in education, social withdrawal, uncontrolled anger, affiliation with gangs, poor academic performance, patterns of chronic and impulsive hitting, violence expressions through drawings and writings, bullying and intimidating, drug and substance use, as well as threats of suicide among related behaviors. Among young adolescents, signs of aggressive and violent behavior include name-calling, offensive comments, swearing, challenging instructions, answering back to older people, kicking and beating others, as well as grabbing objects (Espelage et al., 2013). Children who exhibit aggressive and violent behavior have usually experienced poor school performance and have negative perceptions of others.

Research evidence has revealed that aggressive and violent behavior greatly influences the process of learning and development among children. In this case, these children are fond of interrupting the learning activities and do not portray focus on critical class activities (Espelage et al., 2013). As a result, the children compromise their relationship with others and the teachers as well. The deteriorated relationships in school environment significantly compromise the academic achievement of the children.

The bottom line is that without adequate and appropriate support for the students exhibiting aggressive and violent behaviors, their academic performance is at a greater stake and therfore is increased risk of compromised educational progress (Margolin et al., 2010). As a result, the present research investigates such areas as school attendance, task completion, and academic performance of the children with aggressive and violent behaviors.

Hypothesis

Null Hypothesis (H0): Aggressive and violent behavior among children aged 6 – 10 years hurts their academic performance.

Alternative Hypothesis (H1): Aggressive and violent behavior among children aged 6 – 10 years does not hurt their academic performance.

Participants

The target population of the study was the aggressive and violent behavior of children between 6 – 10 years. The identification of the children with aggressive and violent behavior was based on the judgment of their teachers who were issued with an observation checklist. The study was conducted in Alaska State, United States. The Alaska State is among the most violent the US states with a consistently high rate of violent crimes. Research has indicated that for every 100,000 individuals in the state, 804 engage in violent crimes (Parrish et al., 2011). There has been attributed to inadequate access to important services and significant poverty levels. The research sought to select a sample of schools from a general population of 180 schools (20 public schools and 16 private schools) across the state. A total of 324 pupils were involved in the study (134 girls and 190 boys).

Sampling Method

The research participants were obtained from sample primary schools based on a stratified method of sampling. This was done as a way of ensuring an increase in the chances of integrating both private and public schools in the study. The division of the public and private school was done on a random basis, whereby the selection of schools was done from every stratum (Corlay & Pagès, 2015). The school names in every stratum were written on pieces of papers. The papers were then folded and mixed, whereby five papers were randomly picked from individual strata. The class teachers of the children who were within the age bracket of the research were given the responsibility of selecting the children who were perceived to exhibit aggressive and violent behaviors. However, the children selected for the research remained with the rest, and the researcher ensured that minimal interaction with the selected participants was guaranteed.

Among the selected classes, the class teachers became part of the study. The research sample selected was done based on time and budgetary constraints of the researcher. A total of 108 teachers were involved in the study, with each of the 36 sampled schools having 3 class teachers selected. The selection is done from classes 1 to class 3. These teachers were asked to respond to questionnaires issued to them by the researcher. Each teacher was supposed to pick 3 most aggressive pupils from their class for purposes of observations for the research. In this regard, a total of 9 children were selected from each school, which amounted to 324 students for the research. It is important to note that the questionnaires filled by the teachers provided information about the aggressive and violent behavior of the children and included both closed and open-ended questions.

References

Corlay, S., & Pagès, G. (2015). Functional quantization-based stratified sampling methods. Monte Carlo Methods and Applications, 21(1), 1-32.

Espelage, D. L., Low, S., Polanin, J. R., & Brown, E. C. (2013). The impact of a middle school program to reduce aggression, victimization, and sexual violence. Journal of Adolescent Health, 53(2), 180-186.

Margolin, G., Vickerman, K. A., Oliver, P. H., & Gordis, E. B. (2010). Violence exposure in multiple interpersonal domains: Cumulative and differential effects. Journal of Adolescent Health, 47(2), 198-205.

Parrish, J. W., Young, M. B., Perham-Hester, K. A., & Gessner, B. D. (2011). Identifying risk factors for child maltreatment in Alaska: A population-based approach. American journal of preventive medicine, 40(6), 666-673.