The Relationship between the Frequency of Use of the Media, the Role of Peers and Adolescents' Agression in Elementary School

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to examine the effect of media violence exposure and adolescent's agression and the mediating role of peers in the above-mentioned relationship. This research was conducted among 318 students of Rijeka's elementary schools with an  average age of 12.67 years, out of which 166 were female adolescents and 145 were male adolescents. Participants were first asked to answer questions related to demographic data. Subsequently they were asked to fill in questionnaires regarding agressive behaviour, the frequency of use of the media, the role of peers and finally their preference of media content.  The results show that the frequency of the use of the media is a significant positive predictor of physical agression among adolescents and that the susceptibility to peer pressure has a mediating role in the relationship between media and physical agression. Results are  discussed in the context of previous research findings and theories related to testing media and agression.

Keywords: adolescents; physical agression; media; role of peers; school