Abstract
This study aims to examine social abuse and its relationship with aggressive behavior among ninth-grade students in the Muscat Governorate, Sultanate of Oman. It explores the forms of social abuse that teenagers encounter and investigates how these experiences contribute to the development of aggressive behavior toward others. This study also assess prevalence of social abuse and its impact on the family, school, and society. The research focuses on key objectives, including identifying the relationship between social abuse and aggressive behavior and evaluating the extent to which social abuse influences the emergence of aggressive behavior among ninth-grade students in the region. A descriptive research method was employed, and two scales were developed for data collection. The first scale, designed to measure social abuse, consists of 67 statements categorized into four dimensions: psychological abuse, physical abuse, rejection and neglect, and abuse in school and the neighborhood. The second scale measures aggressive behavior, comprising 55 statements divided into four dimensions: physical aggression, verbal aggression, hostility, and anger. Both scales were tested for validity and reliability and subsequently administered to a sample of 375 ninth-grade students in the Muscat Governorate. Descriptive statistical analysis results revealed a statistically significant moderate effect of social abuse on predicting physical aggression, verbal aggression, hostility, and anger, with correlation coefficients of 0.560, 0.615, 0.480, and 0.445, respectively. The overall correlation between social abuse and aggressive behavior was 0.616. The findings indicate that social abuse substantially contributes to increased aggressive behavior among adolescents. The results of the linear regression model showed that social abuse has a statistically significant moderate evicted effect on predicting aggressive behavior, with a standardized regression coefficient of 0.616. Abuse at school and in the neighborhood showed a weak but statistically significant predictive effect on physical and verbal aggression. Additionally, psychological abuse by the father and abuse at school were found to weakly predict anger, while physical abuse by the father exhibited an inverse relationship with anger. The study offers several recommendations, including utilizing visual, audio, and print media to raise awareness and reduce adolescents' exposure to various forms of abuse. It also advocates for establishing government centers to support families and provide counseling for teenagers exhibiting aggressive behavior.