Citation

Duque LF, Klevens J, Ramirez C. Aggressive Behav. 2003; 29(3): 191-201.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2003, International Society for Research on Aggression, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Our objective is to establish the prevalence and overlap among different forms of violence and the importance of known correlates of aggression in Bogota, Colombia. Our method is a cross-sectional household survey of violence amongst a random sample (n = 3007) of the general population between the ages of 15 and 60. In this population the more severe forms of aggression tend to appear concurrently with the less severe forms. Multivariate analyses of the data show that a family history of crime, physical aggression among family members, lack of clarity of parental norms, beliefs justifying the use of violence, and alcohol consumption are the main correlates of verbal and physical aggression independent of age, gender and social class. Although the findings are limited by the cross-sectional design, exclusion of the institutionalized population, and reliance on retrospective self-reports, they provide population-based estimates of different forms of aggression and support for known correlates of aggression in a Latin American context.