Contemporary psychology, Vol. 6 No. 1, 2003.
Original scientific paper
War stress and aggression
Zvonimir Knezović
Tomislav Bunjevac
Abstract
The primary goal of this investigation was the empirical assessment of a part of Žužul's model of aggression. The secondary goal was to gain indirect insight into the viability of Berkowitz's cognitive, neoasocianistic theory of aggression and the newest Anderson-Bushman general model of aggression. The basic hypothesis derived from Žužul's model is that a rise in aggression is seen together with an increase in the intensity of situational-stress factors. The level of war stress was used as the operational measure of the intensity of situational-stress factors. In war conditions of 1992, Croatian soldiers were divided into two groups: the high war stress group made up of 180 men with at least two months of active experience in the defence of Vukovar and the low war stress group of 234 soldiers without such experience. Operational agression was measured using Žužul's A-87 Questionnaire. Analysis of variance shows that part of Žužul's model was empirically confirmed. This is also indirectly and partially true of the Berkowitz and Anderson-Bushman understanding of aggression. Žužul's model was primarily confirmed by the changes in latent aspects of impulsive aggression which is consistently higher for the high war stress group. The level of aggression does not exceed "normal" values and can be interpreted as expected and, in the military-psychological sence, as positive adaptation.
Keywords
aggression; situational stress; war stress
Hrčak ID:
3227
URI
Publication date:
30.6.2003.
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