Aggression, Mental Well-Being and Inter-Personal Relationship among Young Adults

Young adults’ emotional functioning and behavior have been greatly impacted by the changes and pressures they have faced in the social, academic, and interpersonal spheres in recent years. Despite these developments, it is still difficult to assess and comprehend how aggression regulation impacts their interpersonal relationships and mental health. Aggression expression and suppression are significant emotional processes that influence how people control their inner emotions and interactions with others. While expression enables people to express their feelings publicly, suppression entails regulating or preventing emotional expression. These processes are essential in determining social functioning and psychological adjustment. The current study looks at how young adults’ mental health and interpersonal relationships are affected by the expression and repression of aggression (N = 200). Gender differences in these relationships are further investigated in the study. The measures included mental health (e.g., emotional stability and positive functioning), interpersonal relationships (e.g., communication, trust, and relational adjustment), and the suppression and expression of aggression (e.g., inhibition and outward communication of anger). While expressing aggression had a positive impact on male interpersonal relationships and female mental well-being, suppressing aggression was found to have a negative impact. The study’s implications are highlighted and its findings are discussed.