Hope is defined as the perceived capability to derive pathways to desired goals, and motivate oneself via agency thinking to use those pathways (Snyder, 2002). The concept of resilience was used for the first time in the 1950s while defining individuals who can cope with stressful events and who can survive. The literal meaning of resilience is the flexibility of the material; in other words, it means not to accept being under pressure, re-gaining strength (Garmezy, 1993). Aggression is characterized by the intention to cause physical or emotional harm to another (Ballard et al. 2004). According to different models of aggression, the definition of aggression changes according to etiology. Based on the instinctive theories of aggression intention determines whether a behavior is aggressive or not; only behaviors performed in order to cause harm can be considered aggressive. According to behavioral theories, behavioral intention is not important; every behavior that causes physical or psychological harm to other person is an aggressive behavior (Erkuş 1994).

The aim of this research is to investigate the relationship between aggressiveness, psychological resilience and hope in a sample of Turkish middle school sudents. The participants were 234 students, between age range of 11–15, who were attending three different vocational high school in Burdur, Turkey. The age mean was 12.70 (sd= 1.11). The participants were 55.6 % female and 44.4% male. In this research used the relational screening method. To obtain the data for the Children’s Hope Scale (Snyder, Hoza et al., 1997) adopted by Atik and Kemer (2009), Aggressiveness Scale  (Şahin, 2004) and Resilience Scale for Early Adolescents” (RSEA) (Şahin-Baltacı and Karataş, 2014)  were used. In the research, the stepwise multiple regression analysis was used to test the power of aggressiveness, psychological resilience in predicting hope among middle school students. According to the research findings, aggressiveness negatively predict the hope, psychological resilience positively predicts the resilience. Te signifcant predictors of hope are as follows: psychological resilience (β =.482, p<0.001) and aggressiveness (β=-.237, p<0.001). Finally, it can be seen that psychological resilience and aggressiveness explain 37% (R=.611 R²=.373, F (2-231)=68.817, p<.01) of total variance of hope.

References

Atik, G. and Kemer, G. (2009). Psychometric properties of children’s hope scale:  validity and reliability study, Elementary Education Online, 8(2), 379-390.

Ballard, M.E.; Rattley, K.T. and Fleming, W.C. (2004). School aggression and dispositional aggression among middle school boys. Research in middle level Education Online, 27(1). Published by the National Middle School Association (ISSN: 1084-8959). 30. 01.2012, http://www.amle.org/Publications/RMLEOnline/Articles/Vol27No1Article3/tabid/531/Default.Aspx.

Erkuş, A. (1994). Psikoloji terimleri sözlüğü. Doruk Yayınları, Ankara.

Garmezy, N. (1993). Children in poverty: Resilience despite the risk. Psychiatry, 56, 127-136.

Snyder, C. R. (2002). Hope theory: Rainbows in the mind. Psychological Inquiry, 13, 249-275.

Şahin, H. (2004). Saldırganlık ölçeği geçerlik ve güvenirlik çalışması, Süleyman Demirel Üniversitesi Burdur Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi. 5 (7), 180-195.

Şahin-Baltacı, H. and Karataş, Z. (2014). Validity and reliability of the resilience scale for early adolescents. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 131, 458-464.