Throughout the United States educators are struggling to find ways to contain all types of school-based violence, although research has shown that of the various types of aggressive behavior, verbal aggression is the most frequently reported across all grade levels. Verbal aggression in and of itself is damaging to students – perpetrators, victims, and witnesses alike – to staff, and to the school environment, but in some cases, it can also pave the way for physical aggression if it remains unchecked. For these reasons it is important for districts to consider both prevention and intervention strategies to reduce the frequency of verbal aggression that students and staff are exposed to.
Aggression involves any behavior that is intended to harm another individual and there are three types typically defined in the literature: physical, verbal, and social/relational. Physical aggression includes punching, kicking, slapping, shoving, or throwing objects at someone. Verbal aggression has been defined as an attack on the self-concept of another person with the intent to cause psychological pain, and includes yelling, cursing, threatening, insulting, blaming, and name-calling. The intent of social/relational aggression is to harm someone’s social status or friendships and includes ignoring/excluding someone, spreading rumors, and cyber-bullying in the form of mean, derogatory, or embarrassing social media posts and/or text messages that demean, threaten, or urge someone to harm or kill himself.
The Impact of Verbal Aggression on Students and the School Community
As reported in an article posted by the National Library of Medicine, “Aggression is prevalent among children and adolescents … In 2018, UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) estimated that approximately 30% of all students annually experienced some type of aggression at school.”
Several studies have found that verbal aggression can be a significant pre-cursor to physical aggression by both victims and perpetrators, and that it is correlated with a host of other negative consequences. These include:
- decreased academic performance
- increased anxiety, depression, self-harm, and suicidal thinking
- feelings of hopelessness
- increased substance use
- low self-esteem and decreased feelings of competency and self-efficacy
- decreased feelings of safety and belonging in the school environment
- decreased social competence and rejection by peers
- school avoidance
- increased delinquent behavior
Perpetrating students are also subject to these effects, and verbally aggressive elementary and middle school students run a high risk of suspension and expulsion – a vicious cycle of behavior and consequences that is well known to take on a life of its own, damaging or ending a child’s academic career.
As for the impact on the school community, high rates of verbal aggression contribute to school avoidance and all the academic and social consequences associated with it for both avoiding students and for educators and other students who are continually re-adjusting lessons, etc. to accommodate those who are frequently absent. Verbal aggression undermines everyone’s sense of safety and can seriously disrupt school connection and engagement, weakening student-teacher and peer-peer relationships and damaging trust.
The Causes and Triggers of Verbal Aggression
One need only turn on the news to be reminded how prevalent verbal anger is and how it invades so many aspects of daily life. When people feel frustrated, powerless, or hopeless, even minor annoyances can trigger an outburst of verbally aggressive language. Complicating matters is how pervasively we use technology to communicate: it is well-documented that individuals filter themselves less and are more likely to dehumanize others when communicating electronically.
Anger is a common precipitant of verbal aggression and there are numerous factors that contribute to how one experiences and responds to angry feelings and to emotional dysregulation in general. There are biological/genetic factors that make one more vulnerable to emotional dysregulation, including neurological conditions like ADHD and ASD that interfere with impulse control. Poor stress management and/or poor communication skills, low self-esteem, and feelings of being ignored or disrespected can make individuals resort to verbal aggression to resolve interpersonal problems or feel better about themselves. Students exposed to bullying or other traumas, overwhelmed by academic stress, or whose family lives are unsupportive or unsafe are also at risk for verbal aggression. Substance use can lower the threshold for all types of aggression as it interferes with the ability to cognitively appraise a situation and respond accordingly.
It is also important to note that there is a strong social learning component: children learn to be aggressive by observing the behavior of those around them and through reinforcement of their own behaviors. Any situation or environment that normalizes aggression or rewards it in any way (e.g., by getting what you want, by peer feedback that suggests you’re cool, as a survival technique in a dangerous neighborhood, etc.) will make it more likely that an individual will respond to life’s stressors in an aggressive way.
How School Professionals and Parents Can Help
The factors that contribute to verbally aggressive behavior in any given student will vary, so for those who show persistent patterns of aggression and/or who have trouble regulating anger, a mental health evaluation and individualized treatment plan are a must. This too is necessary for students who have been the targets of verbal aggression or other forms of bullying.
That said, there is much that parents and teachers can do to impact the rate of verbal aggression:
- Enhance SEL curricula to promote emotion regulation, communication skills, empathy, stress management, assertion skills, and conflict resolution strategies.
- Institute or strengthen restorative justice practices within the school community.
- Review, strengthen, and vigorously enforce anti-bullying protocols.
- Sponsor school-wide awareness activities that promote self-esteem, self-efficacy, and pride, especially in those who are perceived as different from peers and are more frequently the victims of bullying (e.g., students with ASD, with mental or behavioral disorders, with disabilities, who are overweight, who are members of minority racial, ethnic, or gender/sexual identity groups, etc.).
- Research shows that higher rates of self-efficacy in teachers are related to lower bullying rates. Districts: provide requested in-service opportunities and help teachers bolster their own sense of self-worth and effectiveness through recognition programs and greater autonomy.
Parents: make sure to thank and acknowledge your children’s teachers!
- Review and reinforce all aspects of your school’s plan for school connectedness and a positive school culture. This will increase feelings of safety, and in turn, lower rates of verbal aggression.
- Parents and Teachers: AT ALL TIMES, you are being watched! Actively monitor your own speech patterns and the ways that you may subtly and inadvertently model angry and aggressive language.
- Adult responses play a pivotal role in creating a “moral climate” that discourages aggression of all kinds and decreases its frequency. Research shows that teachers often don’t react to verbal aggression thinking it’s “just kidding around” or that the targeted student isn’t bothered by it. Teachers need to understand that verbal aggression is not just a normal part of growing up, and that verbal attacks on self-concept are psychologically harmful.
- A critical part of anti-bullying and anti-aggression initiatives is to increase pro-social behavior in by-standers. Researchers have demonstrated that witnesses rarely intervene or comfort a victim and instead often respond by laughing, encouraging a fight, or filming a video. Students need empathy training and simple safety protocols that include tips on how to not escalate a situation and on the need to immediately engage a responsible adult.
Resources:
Aggression and its predictors among elementary students – PMC (nih.gov)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6646832/
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/10634266221076463
https://masteringanger.com/blog/verbal-anger/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6378122/
Taming aggression in children: 5 strategies for effective parenting (parentingscience.com)
