The Relationship Between Exposure to Violence and Anger in Thai Adolescents

Youth violence is a serious public health problem in Thailand, and yet is poorly understood and is thought to vary considerably between metropolitan and rural areas. This article reports the findings of a cross-sectional study involving 1,170 technical college students who completed self-report questionnaires assessing the frequency of violent acts, antisocial behavior, and angry emotion. There were no differences in self-reported violent activities between metropolitan and rural participants, but those attending colleges in the metropolitan areas reported more acts involving weapons. Scores on the measure of anger expression predicted physical and verbal assault, specifically punching and name calling, suggesting that the implementation of interventions which help students to improve control over anger may be a useful violence prevention approach.