DEMOGRAPHICS AND SOCIAL ISOLATION AS PREDICTORS OF YOUNG ADULTS AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR

ABSTRACT

The study examined demographic variables and social isolation as predictors of young adults’ aggressive behavior. Three hundred and twenty-four (324) participants made up of one hundred and forty-seven (147) males and one hundred and seventy-seven (177) females were drawn from six (6) faculties; forty-five (45) participants were selected from the faculty of Social Sciences, forty-six (46) participants were selected from the faculty of Arts, sixty-three (63) participants were selected from the faculty of Engineering, forty-five (45) participants were selected from the faculty of Education, forty (40) participants were selected from the faculty of Agriculture, eighty-five (85) participants were selected from the faculty of Business Administration in University of Uyo using multi-stage sampling technique. The participants were young adults with age range between 17-35 years and their mean age was 24.20 years. Ex-post facto design was the design used in this study. Two instruments were used for data collection; these include: the UCLA Loneliness Scale developed by Russell, Peplau and Ferguson (1978) and the Aggression Questionnaire developed by Buss and Perry (1992). Multiple regression analysis and an independent t-test were used to analyze the data collected. Result revealed that only age independently predicted young adults’ aggressive behavior (t = 2.409; p