The relationship between aggression and self-esteem in adolescence: the gender aspect

Relevance. Many researchers emphasize the significant impact of self-esteem on human behavior and activity, as well as on their socio-psychological adaptation. The formation of self-esteem in the process of personality development takes a long time and plays a key role. Adolescence is a particularly important stage for this. During this period, self-awareness is actively developing, which is manifested in the desire to properly evaluate oneself, use one's abilities and reach a level of maturity. However, adolescence is also vulnerable to the development of various forms of deviant behavior. This is due to increased sensitivity to the opinions and assessments of others, which makes social factors especially significant.

Purpose. To study the peculiarities of the influence of the level of self-esteem of a personality on the severity and types of aggression in adolescents, taking into account gender.

Materials and methods. Theoretical analysis of scientific publications on the research topic; organizational methods: cross-sectional method, in which subjects of the same age group were examined; empirical methods: S.A. Budassi's self-assessment methodology and the Bass-Darkey questionnaire for analyzing aggressive reactions (adapted by S.E. Enikolopov); methods of statistical processing of the collected data.

Results. Boys and girls have high levels of aggression when they have high self-esteem. With low self-esteem, both sexes have a high level of hostility, manifested in the form of reactions of resentment and suspicion. The relationship between adolescents' self-esteem and their aggressive reactions is characterized by a predominance of a positive vector and a high density of connections among girls. This means that girls' overestimated self-esteem manifests itself in aggressive reactions, mainly in the form of indirect and verbal aggression. In boys, on the contrary, the negative vector of interrelations prevails, which indicates their reverse nature. With low self-esteem, boys exhibit the most intense reactions of hostility in interpersonal relationships, expressed in resentment and suspicion.

Conclusions. The results of the work can be used to develop effective preventive programs aimed at optimizing the level of self-esteem and reducing the risk of aggression, improving the psychological health of adolescents.

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