Influence of Attitudes toward Violence and Motor Impulsiveness on the Violent Behavior of Adolescents at School

Abstract

Background: School violence during adolescence has become a major issue worldwide. Both impulsiveness and adolescents’ attitudes toward violence will influence violent behavior against peers at school. Our objective is to study the influence of motor impulsiveness and attitudes on adolescents’ violent behavior at school, as well as to assess sex and age differences. Methods: Cluster sampling was performed, obtaining a sample of 513 adolescents between 13 and 19 years from four centers of secondary education. Results: A strong relationship is found between violent school behavior, defined as relational and overt aggression, and attitudes towards violence perceived as legitimate defense and violence used to cope with problems and social relations. The results showed significant sex differences favoring the boys in all the variables studied, except for motor impulsiveness and relational aggression. In terms of age, we found significant differences only for motor impulsiveness, favoring the older age group (≥15 years). The current findings may provide an important core of evidence to support forensic decision making in pre-trial and court settings, and further contribute to recidivism prevention.