Impact of Aggression on Quality of Life in Healthy Adults during COVID-19 Pandemic- An Online Survey from Kashmir, India

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Aggression is a most common symptom shared by various mental disorders but is often neglected when not associated with overt signs and symptoms of psychiatric illnesses. When in excess aggression can prove destructive and results in social maladjustment. Aggression is considered to be a normal reaction of humans and can be provoked by any type of stressful situation like COVID-19. During COVID-19 Pandemic, and lockdown implemented to curtail the spread of infection, people were restricted to their houses. Prolonged stay at home, financial problems, closure of schools and recreational parks increased frustration in all. The present study was aimed to investigate the levels of aggression and its impact on the quality of life (QoL) of healthy adults during times of Pandemic. MATERIAL AND METHODS: To examine the hypothesis, an online survey was conducted during the lockdown period of the COVID-19 Pandemic April to August 2020. A Google form of 65 questions (9 questions asking about socio-demographic variables, 29 questions enquiring about aggression and 27 questions about quality of life) was created with a starting question asking for consent to participate in the survey. The hypothesis of the study was mentioned at the top of the survey page. The inclusion criteria for the participants were age between 18 to 55 years with minimum qualification of high school so that they can easily understand the questionnaire without any history of psychiatric illness or use of psychotropic medication for the same at the time of survey or in past. The Google form was shared on social media to reach the maximum number of participants. After fulfilling the inclusion criteria, the participants filled the questions about sociodemographic variables, the Buss-Perry aggression questionnaire and the WHO-BREF Quality of life questionnaire. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: The data were entered in SPSS.21 a software package of a comprehensive system for analysing data. The descriptive statistics, average mean score and standard deviation of different variables have been calculated followed by the t-test and ANOVA to check the significance. The multiple regression analysis was performed to find the correlation across subscales of aggression and quality of life. RESULTS: A total of 192 healthy adults voluntarily participated in the online survey. The average age of the participants was 32.03±6.09 years. Out of 192, 60.41% (n=116) were males and 39.58% (n=76) were females, 51.56% (n=99) were married and 48.43% (n=93) were unmarried. The majority 85.41% (n=164) of the participants were graduates and postgraduates. The total aggression score was found more in males than females with a mean of 77.78±20.35, 71.0±20.26. The males also scored higher in physical and verbal aggression. Physical aggression was found more in the married group with a Mean±SD of 20.68±8.4. The participants from urban backgrounds scored higher in Anger (20.68±8.4), verbal (15.55±4.7) and total aggression (77.98±20.35) than rural group (18.30±7.1, 13.55±3.8, 71.00±20.26, respectively) and the difference was statistically significant (S=.036, .003, .021, respectively). The psychological quality of life was found less in joint families with a Mean±SD of 19.10±2.9 than nuclear families (20.38±3.0) and the difference was statistically significant (S=.004). the social quality of life was found less in the unmarried group with a Mean±SD of 10.10±1.9. From this study, a positive and significant correlation between subscales of aggression and subscales of quality of life was found. The results also showed a negative and significant correlation between the aggression scale and the quality of life scale. CONCLUSION: According to this study, the physical and verbal aggression levels were found to be more prevalent than hostility and anger. It was revealed that as the level of aggression increases, all the subscales of quality of life were negatively affected. More impact was found on psychological and social quality of life which indicates COVID-19 had a direct impact on psychosocial wellbeing of people.