EFFECTS OF YOGIC INTERVENTION ON AGGRESSION OF SCHOOL GOING STUDENTS

Background: An alarming number of school going students suffer from several emotional and behavioral problems. Aggression is one among them. Aggression in adolescence is a key point of focus for psychologists, educationists, parents, and teachers. On the other hand, interdisciplinary researches with special reference to yoga and psychology are growing rapidly in this era of applied science. Aims: The current study aimed at exploring the effect of Yogic Intervention on the aggression level of school going students. Methods: A sample consisting of 40 VIII grade students from Gayatri Vidyapeeth, Shantikunj, Haridwar, Uttarakhand was taken. The entire sample belonged to the age group of 14-16 years. Yogic intervention was given to each and every subject of the group for a period of 90 days regularly. In this research, pre-post single-group design has been applied. Participants were given a questionnaire named as "Aggression Scale" (A-scale) which was developed by Roma Pal and Tasneem Naqvi (1986) for measurement of aggression score. Statistical Analysis Used: Wilcoxon sign rank test, and reduction percentage have been used for comparing pre and post scores and computing the magnitude of the effect of intervention. Results: A Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test revealed a statistically significant reduction in the level of aggression of the participants in the yogic interventional program, z = -5.515, p<0.001(sig.2-tailed ). The median score on aggression decreased from 94 pre-intervention to 60 post-intervention. The pre test percentage was 64.15% and post test percentage was41.5%, reduction percentage of aggression level was 22.65%, which indicates large effect of the intervention on aggression. Conclusions: The findings revealed that the Yogic Intervention is highly effective in reducing the aggression level in school going student participants, which was significant at 0.01 level of significance. Keyword: Yogic Intervention, Aggression and School Students. Introduction:Among the deviant human behaviors, aggression appears to be the most prevalent and disturbing one, affecting one and all. Uncontrolled aggression/violent behavior could cause a significant toll, equally affecting both involved and the non-involved. This delinquent human behavior has been well addressed in Indian yogic scriptures. It provides a theoretical framework to understand the causes, ill-effects, need for peace, harmony, and ways to correct the aggression behavior. It is also claimed that yoga is a way for inner bliss and external coherence; and with this time-tested technique, it is possible to bring about a sense of inner peace and emotional stability, thus having potential to correct aggressive behaviors. An alarming number of school going students suffer from several emotional and behavioral problems. Aggression is one among them. Aggression in adolescence is a key point of focus for psychologists, educationists, parents, and teachers. While the adolescents are trying to adapt to changing life styles and emerging challenges, they are also becoming increasingly aggressive/violent. This is largely attributable to increased competition, stress, and anxiety, besides poor parenting methods. Expression or demonstration of one’s angry behavior through verbal dialogue or physical assault or both may be termed as aggression. Aggression is one of the common psychological imbalances seen in children at the budding age. In psychology, it is assumed that aggression is generally associated with frustration, fear, and a sense of inferiority. They are the main causes of an extreme form of aggression in the human behavior. In adolescents, frustration is found due to many reasons like academic anxiety, maladjustment in schools or peer groups, sexual conflicts, academic stress etc. and ultimately frustration leads www.ijcrt. org © 2018 IJCRT | Volume 6, Issue 2 April 2018 | ISSN: 2320-2882 IJCRT1812116 International Journal of Creative Research Thoughts (IJCRT) www.ijcrt. org 831 to aggressive behavior. On the other hand, interdisciplinary researches with special reference to yoga and psychology are growing rapidly in this era of applied science. Despite rapidly growing scientific literature on yoga and its application, there has been no study conducted to determine whether Yogic Intervention affects the aggression level in school going students. Several studies seek to understand the causes for this delinquency and search for preventive interventions. Indian traditional texts claim that yoga is one of the important preventive interventions. Ancient Indian texts identify non-violence, tranquility, compassion, gentleness, modesty, tolerance as divine traits; aggression, arrogance, wrath, rudeness, insensitiveness to others pain as demoniac traits. Patanjali-Yogasutra (2.35) proclaims there is no enmity where a yogi resolutely commits to non-violence and yoga can bring about mental/emotional equipoise. In our contemporary world such equipoise is increasingly becoming hard to possess as the modern living is characterized by greed, speed, stiff-competition, restlessness, and struggle, causing stress on our personality, and manifesting as aggression/violence. Adolescent aggression is an important focus for educators and parents owing to its relative stability over time and consistent link to a variety of negative outcomes later in adolescence, including delinquency, substance abuse, conduct problems, poor adjustment, and academic difficulties (poor grades, suspension, expulsion, and dropping out of school). Tripathy and Sharma (2017) were aimed to determine the aggression of adolescents in relation to their academic achievement. The study revealed that (i) there is negative correlation between academic achievement and aggression of school students. (ii) Academic achievement of boys was found to have negative correlation with aggression. (iii) Academic achievement of girls was found to have negative correlation with aggression. (iv) the average and low aggressive secondary school students were found to be significant in their academic achievement. (v) the high and average aggressive secondary school students were found to be not significant in their academic achievement. (vi) the high and low aggressive secondary school students were found to be significant in their academic achievement. In addition, verbal and physical aggression often is the first signs, as well as later defining symptoms, of several childhood psychiatric disorders. These include Oppositional Defiant Disorder and Conduct Disorder, both of which have prevalence rates ranging from 6 to 10% in the general population and even higher among males, according to the American Psychiatric Association. Aggression is defined as “a sequence of behavior, the goal response of which is the injury to the person toward whom it is directed” (Dollard et al., 1939). Although the term aggression refers to a wide spectrum of behaviors, in the psychological literature, it is defined as any behavior intended to harm another individual who is motivated to avoid being harmed Baron & Richardson, 1994. Krishna Rao (1995) discusses the significance of yoga to the wellbeing of mankind. The core of yoga practice lies in concentration, yogic meditation and absorption. Reports showed that yogic practices are probably the most important and effective self-help tools available to humanity. Substantial reduction in depression, anxiety, psychosis, paranoid ideation, hostility, somatic, obsession and inter-sensitivity has been found on account of living a yogic lifestyle (Bhushan, 1998). We can see the odious behavior of aggression in all types of individuals; but today, it has become a significant clinical and social problem among adolescents. In psychology, the term aggression refers to a range of behaviors that can result in both physical and psychological harm to oneself, others, or objects in the environment. The expression of aggression can occur in a number of ways, including verbally, mentally, and physically (Berkowitz, 1993). Aggression could be physical, verbal, or covert. Physical aggression ends in physical injuries. Verbal aggression is use of abusive words, expressing animosity, intended at spoiling others self-concept, thus causing psychological injury. While physical/verbal aggressions are ‘overt’, instigating others without getting oneself personally engaged is ‘covert’. Males exhibit overt-aggression more frequently, and approve aggression; whereas, females frequently show covert aggression. Tripathy (2017) was monitoring aggression in adolescent: Chandra Namaskara as a panacea. For this research researcher used a sample consisting of 40 intermediate and undergraduate students. The entire sample belonged to the age group of 15-20 years. Chandra Namaskara practice was given to each and every subject of the www.ijcrt. org © 2018 IJCRT | Volume 6, Issue 2 April 2018 | ISSN: 2320-2882 IJCRT1812116 International Journal of Creative Research Thoughts (IJCRT) www.ijcrt. org 832 group for a period of 30 days regularly. There was a statistically significant decrease in the aggression score from pre-test (M = 63.85, SD = 21.75) to post-test (M = 49.95, SD = 14.53), t (39) = 8.42, P < 0.01 (two-tailed). The mean decrease in aggression score was 13.9 with a 99% confidence interval. The findings revealed that the practice of Chandra Namaskara is highly effective in reducing the aggression level in participants, which was significant at 0.01 level of significance. Chandra namaskara is an integral part of the yogic approach and it can be easily integrated into our daily life. The word Chandra means "moon". Just as the moon, having no light of its own reflects the light of sun, so the practice of Chandra namaskara reflects that of Surya namaskara. Sharma,A. (2012)investigated an Anova of the order of 2x2x(2) with repeated measure was employed in the present research to gauge the effect of yogic exercises if any between the control group and