IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v13y2016i5p480-d69771.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Physical Aggression and Mindfulness among College Students: Evidence from China and the United States

Author

Listed:
  • Yu Gao

    (Division of Physical Education, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Shanghai 200433, China)

  • Lu Shi

    (Department of Public Health Sciences, Clemson Univistry, Clemson, SC 29634, USA)

  • Kelly C. Smith

    (Department of Philosophy and Religion, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634, USA)

  • Jeffery B. Kingree

    (Department of Public Health Sciences, Clemson Univistry, Clemson, SC 29634, USA)

  • Martie Thompson

    (Department of Public Health Sciences, Clemson Univistry, Clemson, SC 29634, USA)

Abstract

Background : The link between trait mindfulness and several dimensions of aggression (verbal, anger and hostility) has been documented, while the link between physical aggression and trait mindfulness remains less clear. Method : We used two datasets: one United States sample from 300 freshmen males from Clemson University, South Carolina and a Chinese sample of 1516 freshmen students from Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. Multiple regressions were conducted to examine the association between mindfulness (measured by Mindful Attention and Awareness Scale (MAAS)) and each of the four subscales of aggression. Results : Among the Clemson sample ( N = 286), the mindfulness scale had a significant negative association with each of the four subscales of aggression: Hostility: β = −0.62, p < 0.001; Verbal: β = −0.37, p < 0.001; Physical: β = −0.29, p < 0.001; Anger: β = −0.44, p < 0.001. Among the Shanghai male subsample, the mindfulness scale had a significant negative association with each of the four subscales of aggression: Hostility: β = −0.57, p < 0.001; Verbal: β = −0.37, p < 0.001; Physical: β = −0.35, p < 0.001; Anger: β = −0.58, p < 0.001. Among the Shanghai female subsample ( N = 512), the mindfulness scale had a significant negative association with each of the four subscales of aggression: Hostility: β = −0.62, p < 0.001; Verbal: β = −0.41, p < 0.001; Physical: β = −0.52, p < 0.001; and Anger: β = −0.64, p < 0.001. Discussion : Our study documents the negative association between mindfulness and physical aggression in two non-clinical samples. Future studies could explore whether mindfulness training lowers physical aggression among younger adults.

Suggested Citation

  • Yu Gao & Lu Shi & Kelly C. Smith & Jeffery B. Kingree & Martie Thompson, 2016. "Physical Aggression and Mindfulness among College Students: Evidence from China and the United States," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-7, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:13:y:2016:i:5:p:480-:d:69771
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/13/5/480/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/13/5/480/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ian Janssen & William Boyce & William Pickett, 2012. "Screen time and physical violence in 10 to 16-year-old Canadian youth," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 57(2), pages 325-331, April.
    2. Yu Gao & Lu Shi, 2015. "Mindfulness, Physical Activity and Avoidance of Secondhand Smoke: A Study of College Students in Shanghai," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-11, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Liuna Geng & Jian Wang & Liping Cheng & Binbin Zhang & Hui Shen, 2019. "Mindful Learning Improves Positive Feelings of Cancer Patients’ Family Caregivers," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-9, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Thomas Mößle & Sören Kliem & Florian Rehbein, 2014. "Longitudinal Effects of Violent Media Usage on Aggressive Behavior—The Significance of Empathy," Societies, MDPI, vol. 4(1), pages 1-20, February.
    2. Daniela Brindova & Zuzana Veselska & Daniel Klein & Zdenek Hamrik & Dagmar Sigmundova & Jitse Dijk & Sijmen Reijneveld & Andrea Geckova, 2015. "Is the association between screen-based behaviour and health complaints among adolescents moderated by physical activity?," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 60(2), pages 139-145, February.
    3. Michele Ybarra & danah boyd, 2015. "Can clans protect adolescent players of massively multiplayer online games from violent behaviors?," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 60(2), pages 267-276, February.
    4. Mariano Hernán-García & Blanca Botello-Díaz & Jorge Marcos-Marcos & Silvia Toro-Cárdenas & Eugenia Gil-García, 2015. "Understanding children: a qualitative study on health assets of the Internet in Spain," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 60(2), pages 239-247, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:13:y:2016:i:5:p:480-:d:69771. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.