This morning, I woke up angry, joining the other furious thousands in Malta. Why? I realised that I needed to drive to Valletta and would probably get stuck in the usual traffic jams. I don't know about the others; many of them will probably suffer the same fate as I. If not, they will have plenty of other things to be angry about ̶ the fireworks at a wedding reception which will keep them awake, the heat wave that will leave them listless, exasperation at the dust from a construction site, disgust at the dog poop left on pavements by inconsiderate people. The list is endless.
The Maltese are the angriest people in the EU whilst a large part of the population is also worried or stressed, according to a global study by US analytics company Gallup in more than 120 countries. It found that a quarter of the Maltese surveyed for the study had experienced anger a day before being questioned. This rate, which Malta shares with Poland, was the third highest in Europe after Turkey and North Macedonia, and among the top 20 in the world.
The figure contrasts dramatically with that of the five fellow EU countries that ranked at the bottom of the global list ̶ Finland, Estonia, Portugal, and the Netherlands. In all four countries, the rate was lower than 10 per cent. Now consider that, though Finland has 40% more cars per 1,000 people than Malta, it is 1,071 times larger than Malta; Malta experiences particulate matter in the air that is three times denser than that in Estonia; Malta's third country nationals as a percentage of the population are triple those in Portugal; and Malta's population density is triple that of the Netherlands.
It is no wonder that we are upset. We are fuming, frankly, because of the experiences in our daily life. Pile on the anxiety caused by the world around us ̶ the possibility of a Third World War, the likelihood that we may be murdered on the street because of a minor traffic accident, the aggravation at being fined by a LESA official under the influence of cocaine; inadvertently swimming in contaminated sea-water while the polluters rake in the euros ̶ and no wonder that our anger may boil over at any moment.
Naturally, frustration and anger are nothing new. People of my age may recall occasions when mothers yelled at us when we accidentally spilled the milk, or when we ourselves, in our childhood, pushed a friend or two down on the playground because they were playing with our favourite toys, or when wives snapped at us because we enjoyed dinner but did not bother complimenting them. Sometimes, that anger can turn into aggression, even though the incidents in themselves might be trivial. According to Sigmund Freud, some individuals manage to suppress this aggression and use other survival instincts instead, while others simply react and release it.
Males often blame the menstrual cycle for mood swings in females. It seems they are unaware that hormonal imbalances in testosterone contribute to making males more aggressive than females. Biology does it in other ways. Aggressive behaviour can be passed down genetically from father to son. If it isn't passed down, it can be learned. The Canadian American psychologist Albert Bandura proved this in an experiment where, when children observed their fathers hitting a Bobo doll, they learned to replicate the aggressive behaviour. No wonder domestic violence often seems to run in certain families.
Professor David Chester of Virginia Community University adds that violence can be addictive. He suggests it is no surprise that people seek to harm others. "As a kid," he says, "I'd see these news articles and local TV news showing murders and assaults and things like that." Repeated exposure to aggressive behaviour, even if it is not first-hand, reinforces innate feelings of power and dominance. Eventually, it makes the viewer think that it might feel good sometimes to exact revenge on someone who has wronged him or whom the viewer perceives as having wronged him.
Considering the enormous amount of violence we see around us every day, it wouldn't be surprising if we were to think that people have an innate tendency, or even an instinct, to be aggressive. The philosopher Thomas Hobbes certainly shared this view, arguing that humans are naturally evil and that only society could constrain their aggressive tendencies. On the other hand, the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau was more positive, believing that humans are naturally gentle creatures who become aggressive only because they are taught to be so by society.
When it comes to certain national traits or customs, it is easy to find reasons for higher levels of aggression. Drinking alcohol is one of them. Unsurprisingly, research has found that the consumption of alcohol increases aggression and is involved in a majority of violent crimes, including rape and murder. This is because alcohol disrupts the cognitive abilities that help us control emotions and inhibit behavioural tendencies. It is not a coincidence that many crimes happen in bars or in areas, such as Paceville, where people congregate to drink. Canada advises its citizens to be particularly vigilant if they go there while vacationing in Malta.
Another cause of aggression is extremely high temperatures, as numerous studies have shown. Violent crime occurs more often on hot days than on cooler days, and during hotter years than during cooler years. A study in the USA found that each 10oC increase in daily temperature was associated with a 12% increase in the risk of violent crime. The Malta Independent reported on this way back in August 2013. With climate change making Malta and other Mediterranean states hotter, it is a foregone conclusion that aggression will increase.
Research has also shown a significant link between drug use and violence. Drugs such as anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS), cocaine, amphetamines, and hallucinogens are the main culprits. In Malta, 83% of individuals who sought treatment in 2023 used either heroin or cocaine. Four out of every five used them daily.
But antidepressant medications and prescription drugs are also to blame. Considering that mental health problems are becoming so common, it looks highly likely that the medications to treat them might become a problem in themselves, unless the people concerned are helped in other ways.
At this stage, I had better tack sail lest I make the Editor furious about all this negativity stuff. Blaming the Government, the Opposition, and every Tom, Dick and Harry will not help. My way of tackling it is to listen to classical music, but everybody can do something about it: relaxation, eating out with a group of friends, hitting the punching bag at the gym. There are private specialists, some of whom have written in this paper, as well as The Child and Young People's Services at St Luke's, MCAST's Wellbeing Hub, the Mental Health Department, the Richmond Foundation, and Supportline 179.
Frans Camilleri is an economist. He studied at Oxford and University of East Anglia, is a former corporate head at Air Malta, and has served on various public and private boards.