Aggressive Behaviour and Its Relationship with Negative Events of Life Among Portuguese University Students, the Buss–Perry Aggression Questionnaire (AQ)—Reduced and Adapted Portuguese Version (AQ-RAPV)

Aggressive behaviour encompasses a spectrum of emotional responses, ranging from mild irritation to intense anger and fury. The goals of the present research were to develop a reduced and adapted version of the Buss–Perry Aggression Questionnaire (VRA-AQ) for Portuguese college students, to explore its relationship with negative life events as well as to ascertain the importance of self-regulation and resilience in preventing aggressive behaviour among young people from higher education, and to explore the differences between genders, academic year, and socioeconomic status to examine the risk factors of aggressive behaviour. The validation of the reduced and adapted Portuguese version of the VRA-AQ was carried out on a Portuguese university sample (N = 2991). There were three main focuses of data analysis: descriptive statistics, correlations, and factor analyses. Differences between genders and academic year were found in men, and undergraduate students displayed higher averages of physical aggression, negative life events, and the impact of these events, while women and post-graduate students exhibited higher averages of self-regulation and resilience. Regarding SES, youth from low to medium-low socioeconomic backgrounds demonstrated higher averages in overall aggression, physical aggression, anger, hostility, negative life events, and the impact of these life events. Conversely, those from higher socioeconomic backgrounds displayed higher averages in resilience. Therefore, it is essential to prevent aggressive behaviour in students, and several strategies can be implemented based on the findings, namely, gender-specific interventions; academic year targeted support; socioeconomic support programmes; promotion of positive coping mechanisms; creating supportive environments; and education on conflict resolution.