Inquiring of Aggression Based on Underlying Motivation and Personality Mechanisms in Aggressive Iranian Students: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

Abstract Background The term aggression, one of the persistent concerns of society, refers to any behavior seeking to harm another person, animal, or object. Violence and aggression remain pressing concerns in society, with forecasts indicating a significant rise by 2030. The purpose of the present study was to investigate aggression based on underlying motivations and personality mechanisms in aggressive Iranian students. Methods Eight adults (37.5% male) participated in the study. The Bass and Perry Aggression Questionnaire was completed by the participants as part of the screening process. A thematic content analysis was conducted in this study. In-depth interviews were carried out as well as open-coding inductive analysis. Results The underlying motivations of aggression were categorized into four major themes, including personal relationship improvement, self-stabilization, avoiding anger occurrence, and anger occurrence. Furthermore, the results revealed that five social, communicative, behavioral, cognitive, and emotional themes were recognized as personality factors playing a role in students' aggression. Conclusions Overall, the results obtained from the current research have led to a deeper understanding of students' aggression; Therefore, based on the identified themes, it is possible to recognize parts of underlying mechanisms of aggression and prepare appropriate interventions to reduce students' aggression. Future research should encompass a broader demographic and incorporate quantitative methods for causal exploration.