An Assessment of Aggressive Behaviour between Prison Inmates and Non-prison Inmates in Makurdi Metropolis, Nigeria

The study assessed aggressive behaviour between prison inmates and non-prison inmates in Makurdi metropolis, Nigeria. An ex post facto research design was adopted and 122(50.2%) prison inmates and 121(49.8%) non-prison inmates participated in the study. The study comprised of 161 (66.3%) male and 88 (36.2%) female. Their age ranged between 18 and 35 and mean age of 21.3 Aggression questionnaire developed by Garcia-Leon,; Villa, & Ramos (2002) which measures physical, verbal, suspicion and anger with resentment was used to collect data. Four hypotheses were generated and tested using independent t-test. The result showed a significant difference in physical aggression between prison inmates and non-prison inmates and a significant difference in verbal aggression between prison inmates and non-prison inmates. The result also indicated no significant difference between prison inmates and non-prison inmates on suspicion while there was a significant difference between males and females on overall aggressive behaviour. Based on the findings, it was recommended that factors that mediate and moderate aggressive behaviours should be further explored by researchers and anger management should as well be introduced in prison organizations and at community levels.