Juvenile delinquency has become a societal phenomenon. Indeed, many youngsters and teenagers take the path of delinquency by forming gangs and perpetrating acts of violence. These acts of violence can be explained by several biopsychosocial factors, which interact to account for their aggressive state. The phenomenon of young people in conflict with the law, commonly referred to as « microbes », whose acts of violence are causing a stir among the population, is a case in point. Faced with this unprecedented violence, we felt the need to undertake a research project with the general aim of studying aggressiveness in these individuals, describing the different tendencies. The study is a cross-sectional, descriptive and analytical study, based on direct observation and interviews. The results show that they are aged between 16 and 25, with precarious jobs and conflictual relationships within their families. All our interviewees came from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds, with a track record of using and selling psychoactive substances. The Buss and Perry scale identified four patterns of aggression: physical aggression, verbal aggression, hostility and anger. In terms of scale scores, physical aggression predominated, with an average of 34.8. Thus, although physical aggression is the most prominent, multivariate analysis using the chi-square test indicated that there is a significant link between the different components of aggression. Other aggressive tendencies are therefore often associated with the expression of violence displayed by our respondents. The results of this study therefore argue in favor of a management strategy incorporating cognitive-behavioral therapy focused on reducing aggressive tendencies in these young people.
Keywords: aggressive tendencies, Buss-Perry scale, youth in conflict with the law
