School aggression in adolescence: Examining the role of individual, family and school variables

Background/Objective: The purpose of the present study was to analyse the role of family and classroom environments on the development of particular individual characteristics including level of empathy, attitude to institutional authority and perceived social reputation, and the mediational role these characteristics may play in school aggression. Relationships among variables were analysed by gender. Method: Participants in the study were 1,494 Mexican adolescents aged 12 to 18, 45% male, and drawn from six secondary schools. Structural equation models were calculated to test mediational effects among variables. Results: Findings obtained indicated that the level of empathy, the social reputation, and the attitude to authority mediated the relationship between the environment perceived by boys at home and school, and their aggressive behaviour at school. This mediation was partial for girls. Conclusions: Differences between genders and the importance of the adolescent-context interrelations in the explanation of their aggressive behaviour at school were discussed.