The Effects Of Aggression On College Adjustment When Accounting For Impulsivity

Aggression and college adjustment has been examined in previous literature many times. Aggression and impulsivity have also been examined in literature numerous times due to being interrelated constructs. However, most research has not examined impulsivity on college adjustment, and no research has looked at aggression on college adjustment accounting for impulsivity. The aim of this study was to further develop the understanding of the relationship between aggression and impulsivity, as well as examine how these two constructs affect social, emotional, and academic adjustment to college. Specifically, this study sought to examine the relationship between aggression and college adjustment accounting for impulsivity. The Buss Perry Aggression Questionnaire (BPAQ), the Urgency Premeditation Perseverance and Sensation Seeking Scale (UPPS), the UCLA Loneliness Scale, and the College Adjustment Test were administered online to 193 undergraduate students. These students were also asked to report their current GPA. Results showed that hostility and anger negatively correlated with social and emotional adjustment and that physical aggression was the only variable with a relationship to GPA. Urgency and lack of perseverance negatively correlated with both emotional and social adjustment variables. Even when accounting for impulsivity, physical aggression negatively correlates with GPA and hostility still negatively correlates with emotional and social adjustment variables. These findings are important because it helps to further separate aggression and impulsivity as constructs, and shows that aggression and impulsivity each have unique relationships with college adjustment.