EFFECT OF ACADEMIC STRESS, LONELINESS AND LIFE SATISFACTION ON AGGRESSION LEVELS OF STUDENTS: A COVID-19 CONTEXT

The Covid-19 pandemic has forced students to stay in prolonged social isolation and attend online classes, giving rise to newer academic challenges, enhanced feelings of loneliness, and hence, decreased life-satisfaction. These can further heighten aggression in students. Empirical evidence suggests that academic stress has a positively-significant correlation with aggression although, studies inspecting the correlation of these factors with loneliness and life-satisfaction, in light of the Covid-19 pandemic are scarce. Present study therefore aims to investigate the effect of Academic Stress, Loneliness and Life-Satisfaction on Aggression Levels of Students, from a Covid-19 context. Data were collected in the year 2021, from 215 students (Mean age=20.69, SD=3.60 59.5% females), attending both online and offline classes by administering (a) Aggression Questionnaire by Bus and Perry (1992), (b) Educational Stress Scale by Sun et al. (2011), (c) UCLA Loneliness Scale by Russell et al. (1978), and (d) Satisfaction with Life Scale by Diener et al. (1985). Data were collected using Google Forms after obtaining consent from participants. Statistical Analysis included Descriptive Statistics, Correlation Analysis, Regression Analysis, and One-Way ANOVA. Findings indicate that aggressionof the students is positively associated with educational stress, and loneliness and negatively associated with life satisfaction level. Educational stress and loneliness significantly predict aggression in students, but life satisfaction does not predict aggression. Present findings provide empirical evidence of the contribution of educational stress and loneliness in enhancing aggression in students. Findings have implications in developing intervention modulesfor behavioural problems among students attending online classes.