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Cultural generality versus specificity of media violence effects on aggression was examined in seven countries (Australia, China, Croatia, Germany, Japan, Romania, the United States). Participants reported aggressive behaviors, media use habits, and several other known risk and protective factors for aggression. Across nations, exposure to violent screen media was positively associated with aggression. This effect was partially mediated by aggressive cognitions and empathy. The media violence effect on aggression remained significant even after statistically controlling a number of relevant risk and protective factors (e.g., abusive parenting, peer delinquency), and was similar in magnitude to effects of other risk factors. In support of the cumulative risk model, joint effects of different risk factors on aggressive behavior in each culture were larger than effects of any individual risk factor.
Measures of gender identity have almost exclusively relied on positive aspects of masculinity and femininity, although conceptually the self-concept is not limited to positive attributes. A theoretical argument is made for considering negative attributes of gender identity, followed by five studies developing the Positive-Negative Sex-Role Inventory (PN-SRI) as a new measure of gender identity. Study 1 demonstrated that many of the attributes of a German version of the Bem Sex-Role Inventory are no longer considered to differ in desirability for men and women. For the PN-SRI, Study 2 elicited attributes characterizing men and women in today's society, for which ratings of typicality and desirability as well as self-ratings by men and women were obtained in Study 3. Study 4 examined the reliability and factorial structure of the four subscales of positive and negative masculinity and femininity and demonstrated the construct and discriminant validity of the PN-SRI by showing that the negative masculinity and femininity scales were unique predictors of select validation constructs. Study 5 showed that the new instrument explained variance in the validation constructs beyond earlier measures of gender identity. Key message: Even in the construction of negative aspects of gender identity, individuals prefer gender-congruent attributes. Negative masculinity and femininity make a unique contribution to understanding gender-related differences in psychological outcome variables.
Research in legal decision making has demonstrated the tendency to blame the victim and exonerate the perpetrator of sexual assault. This study examined the hypothesis of a special leniency bias in rape cases by comparing them to cases of robbery. N = 288 participants received descriptions of rape and robbery of a female victim by a male perpetrator and made ratings of victim and perpetrator blame. Case scenarios varied with respect to the prior relationship (strangers, acquaintances, ex-partners) and coercive strategy (force vs. exploiting victim intoxication). More blame was attributed to the victim and less blame was attributed to the perpetrator for rape than for robbery. Information about a prior relationship between victim and perpetrator increased ratings of victim blame and decreased perceptions of perpetrator blame in the rape cases, but not in the robbery cases. The findings support the notion of a special leniency bias in sexual assault cases.
Research in legal decision making has demonstrated the tendency to blame the victim and exonerate the perpetrator of sexual assault. This study examined the hypothesis of a special leniency bias in rape cases by comparing them to cases of robbery. N = 288 participants received descriptions of rape and robbery of a female victim by a male perpetrator and made ratings of victim and perpetrator blame. Case scenarios varied with respect to the prior relationship (strangers, acquaintances, ex-partners) and coercive strategy (force vs. exploiting victim intoxication). More blame was attributed to the victim and less blame was attributed to the perpetrator for rape than for robbery. Information about a prior relationship between victim and perpetrator increased ratings of victim blame and decreased perceptions of perpetrator blame in the rape cases, but not in the robbery cases. The findings support the notion of a special leniency bias in sexual assault cases.
Individual differences in justice sensitivity and rejection sensitivity have been linked to differences in aggressive behavior in adults. However, there is little research studying this association in children and adolescents and considering the two constructs in combination. We assessed justice sensitivity from the victim, observer, and perpetrator perspective as well as anxious and angry rejection sensitivity and linked both constructs to different forms (physical, relational), and functions (proactive, reactive) of self-reported aggression and to teacher- and parent-rated aggression in N=1,489 9- to 19-year olds in Germany. Victim sensitivity and both angry and anxious rejection sensitivity showed positive correlations with all forms and functions of aggression. Angry rejection sensitivity also correlated positively with teacher-rated aggression. Perpetrator sensitivity was negatively correlated with all aggression measures, and observer sensitivity also correlated negatively with all aggression measures except for a positive correlation with reactive aggression. Path models considering the sensitivity facets in combination and controlling for age and gender showed that higher victim justice sensitivity predicted higher aggression on all measures. Higher perpetrator sensitivity predicted lower physical, relational, proactive, and reactive aggression. Higher observer sensitivity predicted lower teacher-rated aggression. Angry rejection sensitivity predicted higher proactive and reactive aggression, whereas anxious rejection sensitivity did not make an additional contribution to the prediction of aggression. The findings are discussed in terms of social information processing models of aggression in childhood and adolescence. Aggr. Behav. 41:353-368, 2015. (c) 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
When playing violent video games, aggressive actions are performed against the background of an originally neutral environment, and associations are formed between cues related to violence and contextual features. This experiment examined the hypothesis that neutral contextual features of a virtual environment become associated with aggressive meaning and acquire the function of primes for aggressive cognitions. Seventy-six participants were assigned to one of two violent video game conditions that varied in context (ship vs. city environment) or a control condition. Afterwards, they completed a Lexical Decision Task to measure the accessibility of aggressive cognitions in which they were primed either with ship-related or city-related words. As predicted, participants who had played the violent game in the ship environment had shorter reaction times for aggressive words following the ship primes than the city primes, whereas participants in the city condition responded faster to the aggressive words following the city primes compared to the ship primes. No parallel effect was observed for the non-aggressive targets. The findings indicate that the associations between violent and neutral cognitions learned during violent game play facilitate the accessibility of aggressive cognitions.
This article investigated how the development of deviant behavior in adolescence is influenced by the variability of deviant behavior in the peer group. Based on the social information-processing (SIP) model, we predicted that peer groups with a low variability of deviant behavior (providing normative information that is easy to process) should have a main effect on the development of adolescents’ deviant behavior over time, whereas peer groups in which deviant behavior is more variable (i.e., more difficult to process) should primarily impact the deviant behavior of initially nondeviant classroom members. These hypotheses were largely supported in a multilevel analysis using self-reports of deviant behavior in a sample of 16,891 adolescents in 1,308 classes assessed at two data waves about 1-year apart. The results demonstrate the advantages of studying cross-level interactions to clarify the impact of the peer environment on the development of deviant behavior in adolescence.
The Girls Set the Tone: Gendered Classroom Norms and the Development of Aggression in Adolescence
(2015)
In a four-wave longitudinal study with N = 1,321 adolescents in Germany, we examined the impact of class-level normative beliefs about aggression on aggressive norms and behavior at the individual level over the course of 3 years. At each data wave, participants indicated their normative acceptance of aggressive behavior and provided self-reports of physical and relational aggression. Multilevel analyses revealed significant cross-level interactions between class-level and individual-level normative beliefs at T1 on individual differences in physical aggression at T2, and the indirect interactive effects were significant up to T4. Normative approval of aggression at the class level, especially girls' normative beliefs, defined the boundary conditions for the expression of individual differences in aggressive norms and their impact on physically and relationally aggressive behavior for both girls and boys. The findings demonstrate the moderating effect of social norms on the pathways from individual normative beliefs to aggressive behavior in adolescence.
When playing violent video games, aggressive actions are performed against the background of an originally neutral environment, and associations are formed between cues related to violence and contextual features. This experiment examined the hypothesis that neutral contextual features of a virtual environment become associated with aggressive meaning and acquire the function of primes for aggressive cognitions. Seventy-six participants were assigned to one of two violent video game conditions that varied in context (ship vs. city environment) or a control condition. Afterwards, they completed a Lexical Decision Task to measure the accessibility of aggressive cognitions in which they were primed either with ship-related or city-related words. As predicted, participants who had played the violent game in the ship environment had shorter reaction times for aggressive words following the ship primes than the city primes, whereas participants in the city condition responded faster to the aggressive words following the city primes compared to the ship primes. No parallel effect was observed for the non-aggressive targets. The findings indicate that the associations between violent and neutral cognitions learned during violent game play facilitate the accessibility of aggressive cognitions.
A quasi-experimental study with N = 293 participants studying toward a teaching degree examined the efficacy of the intervention program "Strengthened for the teaching profession". In a pre-, intermediate- and post-test control group design, three treatment conditions that focused (1) on their individual professional strengths, (2) professional weaknesses, or (3) a combination of strengths and weaknesses were compared to a no-treatment control condition. Both at intermediate test and at posttest, students in the three intervention conditions scored higher than students in the control group on measures of self-efficacy and professional self-regulation. The combined intervention condition was more successful at promoting professional self-efficacy and self-regulation than the intervention focusing either on strengths or relative weaknesses only. The implications of the findings for teacher training are discussed.
Despite the increased attention devoted to sexual aggression among college students in the international research literature, Brazil has no systematic studies on the prevalence of sexual aggression in college populations. The present research measured the prevalence of sexual aggression and victimization since age 14 among 742 first-year college students in Brazil (411 women). A Portuguese version of the Short Form of the Sexual Experiences Survey (Koss et al., 2007) was administered to collect information from men and women as both victims and perpetrators of sexual aggression. The overall prevalence rate of victimization was 27% among men and 29% among women. Except for sexual coercion and attempted sexual coercion, there were no significant gender differences in victimization rates concerning nonconsensual sexual acts and aggressive strategies. In contrast, perpetration rates were significantly higher among men (33.7%) than among women (3%). The findings challenge societal beliefs that men are unlikely to be sexually coerced. Explanations are proposed for the disparity between male victimization and female perpetration rates based on traditional gender roles in Brazil.
(1) Background: Sexual violence (SV) is a major public health problem, with negative socio-economic, physical, mental, sexual, and reproductive health consequences. Migrants, applicants for international protection, and refugees (MARs) are vulnerable to SV. Since many European countries are seeing high migratory pressure, the development of prevention strategies and care paths focusing on victimised MARs is highly needed. To this end, this study reviews evidence on the prevalence of SV among MAR groups in Europe and the challenges encountered in research on this topic. (2) Methods: A critical interpretive synthesis of 25 peer-reviewed academic studies and 22 relevant grey literature documents was conducted based on a socio-ecological model. (3) Results: Evidence shows that SV is highly frequent in MARs in Europe, yet comparison with other groups is still difficult. Methodologically and ethically sound representative studies comparing between populations are still lacking. Challenges in researching SV in MARs are located at the intrapersonal, interpersonal, community, societal, and policy levels. (4) Conclusions: Future research should start with a clear definition of the concerned population and acts of SV to generate comparable data. Participatory qualitative research approaches could be applied to better grasp the complexity of interplaying determinants of SV in MARs.
Objective:
We present a review of peer-reviewed English-language studies conducted outside the United States and Canada on the prevalence of sexual assault victimization in adolescence and adulthood published since 2010.
Method:
A systematic literature search yielded 32 articles reporting on 45 studies from 29 countries. Studies that only provided prevalence estimates for sexual assault in intimate relationships or did not present separate rates for men and women were excluded. All studies were coded by two coders, and a risk of bias score was calculated for each study. Both past-year and prevalence rates covering longer periods were extracted.
Results:
The largest number of studies came from Europe (n = 21), followed by Africa (n = 11), Asia, and Latin America (n = 6 each). One study came from the Middle East and no studies were found from Oceania. Across the 22 studies that reported past-year prevalence rates, figures ranged from 0% to 59.2% for women, 0.3% to 55.5% for men, and 1.5% to 18.2% for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) samples. The average risk of bias score was 5.7 out of 10. Studies varied widely in methodology.
Conclusion:
Despite regional variation, most studies indicate that sexual assault is widespread. More sustained, systematic, and coordinated research efforts are needed to gauge the scale of sexual assault in different parts of the world and to develop prevention measures.
Aggression Replacement Training (ART) is a multimodal intervention for chronically aggressive youth. The program has been frequently administered in a variety of samples in the original form or in modified versions. This review examines evaluations of the efficacy of ART on aggressive behavior and secondary outcomes in children and youth, including modifications of ART and evaluations of the original version not covered by earlier reviews. Method: Scholarly databases were searched to identify 10 articles reporting 11 independent studies evaluating the efficacy ART in reducing aggressive behavior and improving anger control, social skills, and moral reasoning in children and youth. Results: The majority of studies found positive effects of ART on aggression and other outcomes related to anger control, social skills, and moral reasoning. However, most studies were based on small samples, and few included a control group to evaluate intervention success. Conclusions: The studies reviewed in this paper tentatively suggest that ART is an efficacious intervention to reduce aggressive behavior and improve anger control, social skills, and moral reasoning in at-risk children and youth. However, this conclusion is qualified by a number of methodological limitations that highlight the need for further, more rigorous evaluation studies.
Strategies for resolving interpersonal conflicts in adolescence : a german-Indonesia comparsion
(1999)
This longitudinal study from Germany examined the dynamic progression of antisocial behavior in childhood and adolescence based on the social interactional model by Patterson, DeBaryshe, and Ramsey. It examined the link between antisocial behavior, social rejection, academic failure, and affiliation with deviant peers in a sample of 1,657 children and youths aged between 6 and 15 years who were studied at three measurement waves (T1 to T3) over a time period of about 5 years. Teachers rated the children on all variables, parents additionally provided ratings of antisocial behavior and social rejection. Latent structural equation modeling yielded the predicted positive paths from antisocial behavior at T1 to social rejection and academic failure at T2. As predicted, affiliation with deviant peers at T2 was positively associated with social rejection and academic failure at the same measurement point. Finally, affiliation with deviant peers at T2 significantly predicted antisocial behavior at T3.
Being surrounded by peers who are accepting of aggression is a significant predictor of the development and persistence of aggression in childhood and adolescence. Whereas past research has focused on social reinforcement mechanisms as the underlying processes, the present longitudinal study analysed the role of external control beliefs as an additional mediator explaining the link between peers’ acceptance of aggression and the development of aggressive behaviour. Drawing on a large community sample of N = 1,466 male and female children and adolescents from Germany aged between 10 and 18 years, results of latent structural equation modeling were consistent with the hypotheses that peer acceptance of aggression would predict external control beliefs in the social domain, which in turn, should predict aggressive behaviour over time. Additional multigroup analyses showed that the predicted pathways were consistent across gender and age groups.
Using behavioral observation for the longitudinal study of anger regulation in middle childhood
(2019)
Assessing anger regulation via self-reports is fraught with problems, especially among children. Behavioral observation provides an ecologically valid alternative for measuring anger regulation. The present study uses data from two waves of a longitudinal study to present a behavioral observation approach for measuring anger regulation in middle childhood. At T1, 599 children from Germany (6-10 years old) were observed during an anger eliciting task, and the use of anger regulation strategies was coded. At T2, 3 years later, the observation was repeated with an age-appropriate version of the same task. Partial metric measurement invariance over time demonstrated the structural equivalence of the two versions. Maladaptive anger regulation between the two time points showed moderate stability. Validity was established by showing correlations with aggressive behavior, peer problems, and conduct problems (concurrent and predictive criterion validity). The study presents an ecologically valid and economic approach to assessing anger regulation strategies in situ.
Learning to regulate anger is an important task in childhood development, as maladaptive anger regulation has been linked to a variety of problems, including aggression and social rejection. To assess anger regulation in situ, in a previous study we developed a behavioural observation measure and demonstrated its cross-sectional construct and criterion validity in a sample of 599 children with a mean age of 8.1years. The present study further validated the measure by demonstrating its predictive validity. About 10months after the behavioural observation, participants were asked to imagine two anger-eliciting situations and report what they would do to get rid of their anger. Observed anger regulation strategies at T1 correlated significantly with self-reported regulatory behaviour at T2, suggesting that the behavioural observation measure is an ecologically valid approach for assessing anger regulation in middle childhood.
Violence against women
(2017)
Violence against women causes suffering and misery to victims and their families and places a heavy burden on societies worldwide. It mostly happens within intimate relationships or between people known to each other. Violence against women is a social construction based on a societal consensus about the roles and rights of men and women. Two prevalent forms of violence against women are physical and sexual victimization by an intimate partner, and sexual victimization outside intimate relationships. Explanations of why men engage in aggressive behavior toward women address different levels, including the macro level of society, the micro level of dyadic interactions, and the individual level of perpetrator characteristics. Prevention efforts are needed that address each of these levels.
Thoroughly revised and updated, this third edition offers a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the social psychology of aggression, covering all the relevant major theories, individual differences, situational factors, and applied contexts. Understanding the causes, forms, and consequences of aggression and violence is critical for dealing with these harmful forms of social behavior. Addressing a range of sub-topics, the firstpart deals with the definition and measurement of aggression, presents major theories, examines the development of aggression and discusses individual and gender differences in aggressive behaviour. It covers the role of situational factors in eliciting aggression and the impact of exposure to violence in the media. The second part examines specific forms and manifestations of aggression, including chapters on aggression in everyday contexts and in the family, sexual aggression, intergroup aggression, and terrorism. The new edition also includes additional coverage of gender differences, gun violence, and terrorism, to reflect the latest research developments in the field. Alsodiscussing strategies for reducing and preventing aggression, this bookis essential reading for students and researchers in psychology and related disciplines, as well as practitioners andpolicy makers.
In this article, I examine the development of aggressive behavior from middle childhood to adolescence as a result of the interaction between the person and the environment and discuss implications for intervention measures. Three main questions are addressed and illustrated by examples from recent research: What are intrapersonal risk factors for the development and persistence of aggressive behavior from middle childhood to adolescence? What factors in the social environment contribute to the development of aggressive behavior? How do individual dispositions and environmental risk factors interact to explain developmental trajectories of aggressive behavior?
Individual differences in women's avoidant and vigilant style in coping with the threat of rape were explored in four studies. In the first study, 97 women read a rape scenario and completed measures of cognitive vigilance and avoidance. They also provided ratings of fear of rape and anticipated coping problems in case of sexual assault. Vigilance was associated with significantly higher levels of fear of rape and anticipation of more severe coping problems. No effects were found for cognitive avoidance. Study 2 replicated these findings with a sample of 275 women. In addition, it showed that high vigilance was associated with significantly more rape-preventive behaviors. Study 3, including 172 women, was an online study on the effect of cognitive coping style on fear of rape, anticipated coping problems, and two behavioral measures of rape avoidance. High vigilance was related to higher levels of fear of rape, anticipation of more severe coping problems, and more rape-preventive behaviors. Finally, Study 4 (N = 2 10) showed that individual differences in cognitive coping style affected rape-related affect and behavior in the absence of a rape scenario, underlining the chronic salience of the threat of rape for women. Vigilance was positively related to fear of rape, rape-avoidance behavior, and anticipated coping problems. In contrast, a negative relationship was found between cognitive avoidance and fear of rape, rape-avoidance strategies, and anticipated coping problems. Across the four studies, no evidence was found for an interactive effect of cognitive avoidance and vigilance, as suggested by the construct of repression versus sensitization. The findings are discussed in the light of previous research on repression- sensitization in coping with threatening information
Content Social stereotypes and responsibility attributions to victims of rape Atributing responsibillty to rape victims: a German study Rape myth acceptance and responsibility judgments: a British study Police officers' definitions of rape A study on cognitive prototypes of rape Conclusion References
The link between pornography use, normative acceptance of sexual aggression, and the presence of risk factors of sexual aggression in sexual scripts for consensual sexual interactions was studied in a sample of 197 adolescents in Germany. Risk factors included sex after only a short acquaintanceship, alcohol and drug use in sexual interactions, and ambiguous communication of sexual intentions. In addition to a measure of overall pornography use, exposure to portrayals of consensual sex, coerced sex and degrading sex was measured. Almost all participants had seen pornografic material at least once, just under half had seen depictions of coerced sex. Significant correlations were found between all measures of pornography use and the presence of risk factors of sexual aggression in consensual sexual scripts. Violent pornography usage showed a positive correlation with the normative acceptance of sexual aggression that was partly accounted for by sexual scripts. The findings are discussed with regard to the significance of pornografic media contents in the process of adolescents' sexual socialization.
The study is the first to provide data on risk factors for sexual aggression in male college students in Brazil. A total of N = 286 participants took part in the study, of whom a subsample of n = 120 participated in two measurements separated by a 6-month interval. Cognitive (i.e., risky sexual scripts, normative beliefs), behavioral (i.e., pornography use, sexual behavior patterns), and biographical (i.e., childhood abuse) risk factors were linked to sexual aggression both cross-sectionally and longitudinally, with the path models for the cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses demonstrating good fit with the data consistent with the hypotheses. The extent to which risk factors for sexual aggression (alcohol consumption, casual sex, and ambiguous communication) were included and normatively accepted in participants' cognitive scripts for consensual sex was linked to sexual aggression through risky sexual behavior. Risky sexual behavior was further predicted by childhood abuse, and pornography use was linked to sexual aggression via risky sexual scripts. The findings contribute evidence from Brazil to the international database on risk factors for sexual aggression in male college students.
This commentary argues that, rather than providing an "exhaustive review," Elson and Ferguson (2013) discuss a selective sample of empirical studies on violent video game use which corroborate their claim that there is no systematic evidence for a link between violent video game play and aggression. In evaluating the evidence, the authors portray a biased picture of the current state of knowledge about media violence effects. They fail to distinguish between aggression and violence and between everyday and clinical forms of aggression. Furthermore, they misrepresent key constructs, such as mediation, moderation, and external validity, to discredit methodologies used to assess aggression and media violence use. The paper moves the debate backward rather than forward, falling behind existing meta-analytic studies that consider a much wider and more balanced range of studies.
Predictors of women's aggressive driving behavior were explored in a study involving 256 female motorists. Sex role orientation, dispositional aggressiveness, age, and annual mileage were measured as independent variables, and aggressive driving behavior was included as the dependent variable. Stepwise hierarchical regression analysis showed that age was negatively related to driving aggression, whereas annual mileage had a positive relationship with driving aggression. Dispositional aggressiveness was a significant predictor of driving aggression. Of the two components of sex role orientation, only femininity was associated with driving aggression, with higher femininity scores predicting lower aggressive driving scores. Masculinity failed to predict aggressive driving, as did the interaction of masculinity and femininity. In combination, the predictors explained 29% of the variance in women's aggressive driving. The results are discussed with respect to the role of dispositional variables as predictors of driving aggression in women. Aggr. Behav. 31:537-546, 2005. (c) 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc
Sexuelle Gewalt
(2000)
Sexuelle Gewalt
(1998)
Rape
(1995)
There is growing evidence from the international literature that nonconsensual sexual interactions are widespread among adolescents and young adults. Following a brief review of this literature, two studies are reported that examined the prevalence and predictors of sexual aggression and sexual victimization among young people in Germany. In addition to the traditional focus on male perpetrators and female victims, evidence is presented on women's sexual aggression towards men and men's sexual victimization by women. Variables increasing the risk of sexual aggression and vulnerability for victimization include both biographical factors (e. g., childhood abuse) and situational variables (e. g., ambiguous communication of sexual intentions). Special consideration is given to the representation of risk factors in the "sexual scripts" for consensual sexual interactions that serve as guidelines for sexual behavior. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of the implications of the findings for prevention efforts.
Teen dating violence
(2021)
Intimate partner violence as a global problem - international and interdisciplinary perspectives
(2013)
This editorial introduces the Focus Section on Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) as a worldwide problem, which brings together six papers that are truly international and interdisciplinary. They provide insights into IPV from nine different cultures - China, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Northern Ireland, Sweden, Turkey, and the United States - from scholars in the fields of psychology, gender studies, political science, and economics. The first three papers look at how widespread the experience of IPV is among different groups of women, examine selected risk factors associated with heightened vulnerability to victimization, and discuss consequences of intimate partner victimization. Another two papers place the problem of IPV in the wider context of societal perceptions and attitudes about victims and perpetrators of IPV in different countries, whereas the last paper examines the role of individual differences in the management of emotions in the escalation or de-escalation of relationship conflict. In combination, the papers highlight the interplay between the macro level of social and cultural norms condoning the use of violence, the micro level of family relations and construction of couple relationships, and the individual level of attitudes and behaviors that precipitate IPV.
The extent to which international students and academics feel discriminated against in the host country was explored in three samples from two countries: students in Germany (N = 161), students in the UK (N = 139), and academics in Germany (N = 79). Respondents completed a measure of perceived discrimination of increasing severity, comprising antilocution (verbal derogation), avoidance, behavioural discrimination, and physical assault. Physical discernibility as foreigner, quality of private contacts with host nationals, and language proficiency were explored as predictors of perceived discrimination. Across the three samples, respondents who were identifiable as foreigners by their appearance reported more discrimination. Positive contacts with host nationals were associated with lower levels of perceived discrimination. Language proficiency predicted perceived antilocution in the two German samples. All samples perceived their personal level of discrimination to be lower than that of their respective in-groups (international students/ academics), but the tendency was moderated by visibility and contact quality
An experimental evaluation of a safer sex promotion leaflet was undertaken to assess its capacity to change antecedent cognitions of condom use. The leaflet was identified in a previous study as addressing research-based cognitive antecedents of condom use. A pre-post-test experimental study including three conditions was conducted: (a) presentation of the leaflet; (b) presentation of the leaflet plus incentive for systematic processing; (c) no-leaflet control. The leaflet was evaluated in terms of its capacity to change eight cognitive correlates of condom use identified in a recent meta-analysis. The sample consisted of 230 tenth-grade students. Following baseline assessments, leaflet-induced change was measured immediately following the intervention and at a follow up 4 weeks post-intervention. The target leaflet alone did not result in significant changes in the cognitive antecedents of condom use compared with the control condition. However, in combination with an incentive for systematic processing, the target leaflet had a greater impact on cognitive antecedents than the no-leaflet control condition. The findings are discussed with regard to the development and evaluation of research-based health-promotion materials
Changing negative attitudes towards persons with physical disabilities: an experimental intervention
(2006)
An experimental study was designed and tested to change negative attitudes towards the physically disabled. A pre-post-test intervention was conducted including three conditions: (a) cognitive intervention; (b) cognitive and behavioural intervention involving equal-status contact with the target group; (c) no-intervention control. The sample consisted of 70 ninth grade students. Following baseline assessments of attitudes, attitude change was measured immediately following the intervention and at a follow-up three months post-intervention. The cognitive intervention provided information about physical disability and challenged stereotypic conceptions about the physically disabled. The behavioural intervention consisted of engaging in three paralympic disciplines under the instruction of a group of disabled athletes. The cognitive intervention alone did not result in significant changes in attitudes towards the physically disabled. However, the combined cognitive-behavioural intervention resulted in greater attitude change than the no-intervention condition, both immediately post-intervention and at a three months follow-up. The findings are discussed with regard to models of attitude change through equal-status contact.
Objective: The study replicated and extended a study by Peterson, Beagley, McCallum, and Artime (2019), who studied differences in sexual attitudes and behaviors in men who were both victims and perpetrators of sexual assault, only victims, only perpetrators, or neither. They found a heightened rate of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and some evidence of greater traumatic sexualization in men who were both victims and perpetrators.
Method: Our sample consisted of 2,149 college students (39.6% male) in Germany. We measured sexual aggression perpetration and victimization, CSA, sexual self-esteem, depressive symptoms, risky sexual scripts, and risky sexual behavior.
Results: Perpetration rates were significantly higher among victims than among nonvictims, and the victim-perpetrator group scored highest on CSA. A significant effect of group membership was found on measures of depressive symptoms, risky sexual scripts, and risky sexual behavior in both sex groups, mainly due to differences of the victim-only, perpetrator-only, and victim-perpetrator groups from the nonvictim-nonperpetrator group. The effect on sexual self-esteem was found for women only. Few differences emerged between the victim-only, perpetrator-only, and victim-perpetrator groups. Most associations remained significant when controlling for CSA.
Conclusion: We found a substantial overlap between victimization and perpetration but no evidence for a special vulnerability of the victim-perpetrator group. Instead, experiences of victimization, perpetration, or both were linked to more negative correlates compared with individuals who were neither victims nor perpetrators. The findings need to be interpreted with caution due to the small number of individuals in the perpetrator-only and victim-perpetrator groups.
Longitudinal pathways of sexual victimization, sexual self-esteem, and depression in women and men
(2017)
Objective: This article presents a longitudinal analysis of the links between sexual assault victimization, depression, and sexual self-esteem by examining their cross-lagged paths among both men and women. Method: Male and female college students (N = 2,425) in Germany participated in the study that comprised 3 data waves in their first, second, and third year of university, separated by 12-month intervals. Sexual assault victimization was assessed at Time 1 (T1) since the age of 14 and at Time 2 (T2) and Time 3 (T3) for the last 12 months. Depression and sexual self-esteem were measured at each wave. Results: Random-intercept cross-lagged panel analyses, controlling for individual differences in depression and sexual self-esteem, showed that sexual assault at T1 predicted depression and lower sexual self-esteem at T2, and depression and lower self-esteem at T2 predicted sexual assault victimization at T3. In addition, significant paths were found from T1 depression to T2 sexual assault victimization and from T2 sexual assault victimization to depression at T3. Sexual victimization at T1 was indirectly linked to sexual victimization at T3 via depression at T2. Both depression and sexual self-esteem at T1 were indirectly linked to sexual victimization at T3. The paths did not differ significantly between men and women. Conclusion: Sexual assault victimization was shown to be a risk factor for both depression as a general mental health indicator and lowered sexual self-esteem as a specific outcome in the domain of sexuality. Moreover, depression and sexual self-esteem increased the vulnerability for sexual assault victimization, which has implications for prevention and intervention efforts. This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers. This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.
Sexual scripts serve as cognitive representations of typical elements of sexual interactions that guide sexual behavior. To the extent that cognitive scripts for consensual sex comprise elements associated with a risk of experiencing nonconsensual sex, they may be indirectly linked to sexual victimization via risky sexual behavior. A longitudinal study with 2,425 college students in Germany (58% female) examined pathways from sexual scripts for consensual sex, sexual behavior, and sexual victimization over three data waves separated by 12-month intervals. Sexual scripts and behavior were defined as risky to the extent that they include known vulnerability factors for sexual victimization (casual sex, alcohol consumption, ambiguous communication of sexual intentions). Path analyses confirmed that more risky sexual scripts prospectively predicted more risky sexual behavior, which predicted higher odds of sexual victimization. The findings held for men and women and participants with exclusively opposite-sex and both same- and opposite-sex contacts. Moreover, reciprocal influences between risky scripts and risky sexual behavior were found over time, confirming the proposed mutual reinforcement of scripts and behavior. The findings have implications for conceptualizing the role of scripts for consensual sex as vulnerability factors for sexual victimization among women and men and may inform intervention efforts.
The study examined the prevalence of physical aggression in the relationships of young adults in Germany. A convenience sample of 248 women and 400 men aged between 17 and 29 years provided reports of physical aggression shown toward and experienced by a partner using the revised Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS2). Sex differences were found for several physically aggressive behaviors measured by the CTS2, mostly for minor forms of physical aggression. All sex differences were in the direction of women scoring higher than men on the perpetration of aggressive acts, and men scoring higher than women on being the targets of partner aggression. The findings are discussed in the context of the current debate on sex differences in relationship aggression
This study examined the prevalence of sexual aggression and victimization in a large convenience sample of N=2,149 first-year college students from different universities in Germany. Participants were asked about both victimization by, and perpetration of, sexual aggression since the age of 14. Both same-sex and heterosexual victim-perpetrator constellations were examined. Prevalence rates were established for different victim-perpetrator relationships (partners, acquaintances, strangers) and for incidents involving alcohol consumption by one or both partners. The overall perpetration rate was 13.2%, for men and 7.6% for women. The overall victimization rate was 35.9% for women and 19.4% for men. A disparity between victimization and perpetration reports was found for both men and women. Perpetration and victimization rates were highest among participants who had sexual contacts with both opposite-sex and same-sex partners. Sexual aggression and victimization rates were higher between current or former partners and acquaintances than between strangers. Alcohol consumption by one or both partners was involved in almost 75% of all victimization and almost 70% of all perpetration incidents. The findings portray a comprehensive picture of the scale of sexual aggression and victimization in college students with different sexual lifestyles.
Data are presented on young people's sexual victimisation and perpetration from 10 European countries (Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Greece, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia and Spain) using a shared measurement tool (N = 3480 participants, aged between 18 and 27 years). Between 19.7 and 52.2% of female and between 10.1 and 55.8% of male respondents reported having experienced at least one incident of sexual victimisation since the age of consent. In two countries, victimisation rates were significantly higher for men than for women. Between 5.5 and 48.7% of male and 2.6 and 14.8% of female participants reported having engaged in a least one act of sexual aggression perpetration, with higher rates for men than for women in all countries. Victimisation rates correlated negatively with sexual assertiveness and positively with alcohol use in sexual encounters. Perpetration rates correlated positively with attitudes condoning physical dating violence and with alcohol use in men, and negatively with sexual assertiveness in women. At the country level, lower gender equality in economic power and in the work domain was related to higher male perpetration rates. Lower gender equality in political power and higher sexual assertiveness in women relative to men were linked to higher male victimisation rates.
Two studies explored the role of pleasant music in buffering the adverse effects of provocation. In the first study, 111 participants listened to aversive, pleasant, or no music before receiving a provocation and completing a measure of aggressive behavior. Participants exposed to pleasant music reported more positive mood. Those in the aversive music condition reported more negative mood than did those in the no-music control condition. The more positive the music-induced mood, the less anger was experienced and aggressive behavior was shown after provocation. In Study 2 (N = 142), listening to pleasant music reduced anger following provocation, compared to aversive music and a no-music control condition. Pleasant music also increased response latencies in recognizing aggressive words after provocation.
This paper reviews the international literature on intimate partner violence with a focus on gender differences in perpetration and victimization rates. A total of 35 studies from 21 countries are discussed that report prevalence or incidence rates of men's and women's involvement in physical and/or sexual aggression against an intimate partner. In addition, evidence on risk factors as well as consequences of intimate partner violence for men and women is presented. Conceptual and methodological differences between the studies and the lack of comparable databases within countries are discussed as limitations of the evidence, and perspectives for future research are outlined in the framework of cross-cultural psychology
To explore the sexual scripts of adolescents, 131 10th and 11th graders generated descriptions of three scripts for sexual interactions: (1) the prototypical script for the first consensual sexual intercourse with a new partner attributed to adolescents in general; (2) the script for the first consensual sexual intercourse with a new partner endorsed by themselves individually; (3) the script for a nonconsensual sexual intercourse. Normative acceptance of risk elements of sexual interactions and acceptance of physical force to obtain sexual intercourse with a non-consenting partner were also measured. The results showed that the individual and general scripts for consensual sexual interactions reflected traditional gender roles. The script for the nonconsensual intercourse was based on the <<real rape>> stereotype. Compared to the general scripts for the age group as a whole, individual scripts were more conservative, containing fewer risk elements. Normative acceptance of risk elements predicted the extent to which risk elements were part of the general and individual scripts. In addition, acceptance of physical force predicted the risk elements of the individual scripts
Child Aggression as a Source and a Consequence of Parenting Stress: A Three-Wave Longitudinal Study
(2015)
This longitudinal study examined the links between child aggression and parenting stress over 4years. Child aggression was hypothesized to contribute to parenting stress, which should increase aggression. Parents and teachers of 239 German children aged between 6 and 15years completed measures of child aggression at Time 1 and Time 3, complemented by children's self-reports of aggression at Time 3. Parents rated their child-focused and parent-focused stress at an intermediate measurement Time 2. Child-focused stress mediated the path from Time 1 to Time 3 aggression in boys and girls, whereas parent-focused stress was unrelated to Time 3 aggression. The findings help to understand the continuity of aggressive behavior in childhood and adolescence and highlight the need to intervene early with families susceptible to parenting stress.
In a longitudinal study with N = 1,854 adolescents from Germany, we investigated patterns of change and gender differences in physical and relational aggression in relation to normative beliefs about these two forms of aggression. Participants, whose mean age was 13 years at T1, completed self-report measures of physically and relationally aggressive behavior and indicated their normative approval of both forms of aggression at four data waves separated by 12-month intervals. Boys scored higher than did girls on both forms of aggression, but the gender difference was more pronounced for physical aggression. Physical aggression decreased and relational aggression increased over the four data waves in both gender groups. The normative acceptance of both forms of aggression decreased over time, with a greater decrease for the approval of physical aggression. In both gender groups, normative approval of relational aggression prospectively predicted relational aggression across all data waves, and the normative approval of physical aggression predicted physically aggressive behavior at the second and third data waves. A reciprocal reinforcement of aggressive norms and behavior was found for both forms of aggression. The findings are discussed as supporting a social information processing perspective on developmental patterns of change in physical and relational aggression in adolescence.
Objective: This study examined the sustained efficacy of a media violence intervention in reducing media violence use, normative acceptance of aggression, and aggressive behavior in adolescents. It used an experimental design to evaluate the effects of the intervention over a period of 30 months. Method: N = 627 German 7th and 8th graders were assigned to a 5-week school-based intervention to reduce media violence use or to a no-intervention control group. Media violence use, normative acceptance of aggression, and aggressive behavior were measured 3 months before the intervention (T1), 7 months post intervention (T2), and at 2 follow-ups 18 (T3) and 30 (T4) months after the intervention. This article focuses on the findings from the 2 follow-ups. Results: Controlling for baseline levels and various demographic covariates, media violence use at T2, T3, and T4 and self-reported physical aggression at T3 were significantly lower in the intervention group, and the indirect path from the intervention to T3 aggression via T2 media violence use was significant. Lower T2 media violence use predicted lower T3 normative acceptance of aggression among participants with lower initial aggression. No effects on nonviolent media use and relational aggression were observed. Conclusion: The findings show that a short class-based intervention can produce lasting changes in media violence use that are linked to a decrease in aggression.
The study reports a group-randomized trial of a theatre-based intervention to prevent sexual abuse targeting first and second grade primary school children in Germany. A sample of 148 first and second graders saw a live performance of a play designed to promote skills in dealing with abuse-prone interactions with adults, watched a recording of the play on DVD or were assigned to a no intervention control group. Both the live performance and the DVD groups showed significant increases in the target variables (distinguishing good/bad touch and secrets, getting help, rejecting unwanted touch) from baseline to post-intervention and a follow-up after 2 weeks, while the control group did not show changes. The live performance and DVD groups participated in a further follow-up 30 weeks post-intervention, which showed sustained effects of the intervention. The findings indicate that with appropriately culture-sensitive measures, Sexual abuse prevention programmes can have Sustainable effects with young primary school children.
This study examined the links between desensitization to violent media stimuli and habitual media violence exposure as a predictor and aggressive cognitions and behavior as outcome variables. Two weeks after completing measures of habitual media violence exposure, trait aggression, trait arousability, and normative beliefs about aggression, undergraduates (N = 303) saw a violent film clip and a sad or a funny comparison clip. Skin conductance level (SCL) was measured continuously, and ratings of anxious and pleasant arousal were obtained after each clip. Following the clips, participants completed a lexical decision task to measure accessibility of aggressive cognitions and a competitive reaction time task to measure aggressive behavior. Habitual media violence exposure correlated negatively with SCL during violent clips and positively with pleasant arousal, response times for aggressive words, and trait aggression, but it was unrelated to anxious arousal and aggressive responding during the reaction time task. In path analyses controlling for trait aggression, normative beliefs, and trait arousability, habitual media violence exposure predicted faster accessibility of aggressive cognitions, partly mediated by higher pleasant arousal. Unprovoked aggression during the reaction time task was predicted by lower anxious arousal. Neither habitual media violence usage nor anxious or pleasant arousal predicted provoked aggression during the laboratory task, and SCL was unrelated to aggressive cognitions and behavior. No relations were found between habitual media violence viewing and arousal in response to the sad and funny film clips, and arousal in response to the sad and funny clips did not predict aggressive cognitions or aggressive behavior on the laboratory task. This suggests that the observed desensitization effects are specific to violent content.
The relationship was examined between exposure to and preference for violent electronic games and aggressive norms as well as hostile attributional style. Following a pilot study to sample widely used electronic games varying in violent content, 231 eighth-grade adolescents in Germany reported their use of and attraction to violent electronic games. They also completed measures of hostile attributional style and endorsement of aggressive norms. There were significant gender differences in usage and attraction to violent electronic games, with boys scoring higher than girls. Significant relationships were found between attraction to violent electronic games and the acceptance of norms condoning physical aggression. Violent electronic games were linked indirectly to hostile attributional style through aggressive norms. The findings are discussed with respect to North American research on the aggression-enhancing effect of violent electronic games. (C) 2003 The Association for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved
Repression and sensitization as situational modes of coping with anxiety were examined as predictors of trait measures of cognitive avoidance and vigilance. In this study, 303 undergraduates saw a violent film clip to elicit anxiety. Increases in skin conductance level (SCL) and state anxiety (STA) from baseline were measured to identify repressors (high SCL, low STA) and contrast them with sensitizers (low SCL, high STA) and genuinely low anxious individuals (low SCL, low STA). State anger was also recorded. Trait measures of vigilance and cognitive avoidance were collected 2 weeks earlier. Significant SCL x STA interactions indicated that repressors scored higher on cognitive avoidance and lower on vigilance compared to sensitizers and low anxious participants. Repressors were less likely than sensitizers to report gaze avoidance during the clip. The anger by SCL interaction was nonsignificant, suggesting that repressors and sensitizers differ specifically in the processing of anxiety rather than negative affect in general.
Measuring sexual aggression : the reliability of the Sexual Experiences Survey in a German sample
(1999)
Sexuelle Aggression : Verbreitungsgrad und Risikofaktoren bei Jugendlichen und jungen Erwachsenen
(2002)
Prevalence of sexual aggression victimization and perpetration in a German university student sample
(2021)
This study examined the prevalence of sexual aggression perpetration and victimization in a sample of 1,172 students (755 female, 417 male) from four universities in Germany. All participants were asked about both victimization by, and perpetration of, sexual aggression since the age of 14 years, using the Sexual Aggression and Victimization Scale (SAV-S). Prevalence rates were established for different coercive strategies, sexual acts, and victim-perpetrator relationships. Both same-sex and opposite-sex victim-perpetrator constellations were examined. The overall victimization rate was 62.1% for women and 37.5% for men. The overall perpetration rate was 17.7% for men and 9.4% for women. Prevalence rates of both victimization and perpetration were higher for participants who had sexual contacts with both opposite-sex and same-sex partners than for participants with exclusively opposite-sex partners. Significant overlap was found between victim and perpetrator status for men and women as well as for participants with only opposite-sex and both opposite-sex and same-sex partners. A disparity between (higher) victimization and (lower) perpetration reports was found for both men and women, suggesting a general underreporting of perpetration rather than a gendered explanation in terms of social desirability or the perception of consent cues. The findings are placed in the international research literature on the prevalence of sexual aggression before and after the #metoo campaign, and their implications for prevention efforts are discussed.
A study with 199 Polish adolescents explored the prominence of risk factors of sexual aggression as part of the sexual scripts for consensual sexual encounters and as predictors of the acceptance of sexual aggression. Distinguishing between general scripts, attributed to the age group as a whole, and individual scripts, reflecting personal standards, sexual scripts were linked to the normative endorsement of the risk factors and to the acceptance of sexual aggression. Individual scripts contained fewer risk factors of sexual aggression than general scripts. The more prominently the risk elements featured in the individual (but not in the general) scripts, the more they were seen as acceptable. For boys, risk scores in individual scripts were correlated with sexual behaviour and linked to the acceptance of sexual aggression via their normative endorsement. The distinction between individual and general scripts as guidelines for behaviour is discussed in terms of its significance for the understanding of sexual aggression.
Sexual aggression poses a serious threat to the sexual well-being of young people. This paper documents the available evidence on the prevalence of sexual aggression perpetration and victimization from 27 EU countries, established as part of the Youth Sexual Aggression and Victimization (Y-SAV) project. A total of N = 113 studies were identified through a systematic review of the literature and consultations with experts in each country. Despite differences in the number of available studies, methodology, and sample composition, the review shows substantial prevalence rates of sexual aggression perpetration and victimization across Europe. A wide variation was found, both within and between countries. The lifetime prevalence rates of female sexual victimization, excluding childhood sexual abuse, ranged from 9 to 83%, the rates of male sexual victimization ranged from 2 to 66%, the rates of male sexual aggression ranged from 0 to 80%, and the range of female sexual aggression ranged from 0.8 to 40%. One-year prevalence rates showed a similar variability. Conceptual and methodological problems in the database are discussed, and an outline is presented for a more harmonized approach to studying the scale of sexual aggression among young people in Europe. (c) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
The voice gives it away
(2021)
Two experiments examined the impact of voice pitch on gender stereotyping. Participants listened to a text read by a female (Study 1; N = 171) or male (Study 2, N = 151) speaker, whose voice pitch was manipulated to be high or low. They rated the speaker on positive and negative facets of masculinity and femininity, competence, and likability. They also indicated their own gendered self-concept. High pitch was associated with the ascription of more feminine traits and greater likability. The high-pitch female speaker was rated as less competent, and the high-pitch male speaker was perceived as less masculine. Text content and participants' gendered self-concept did not moderate the pitch effect. The findings underline the importance of voice pitch for impression formation.
Three studies examined the effect of information form on choice deferral in consumer choice and explored the moderating role of knowledge about the product domain. Two theoretical approaches were contrasted: (1) The process approach predicting that choice deferral varies as a function of information form, and (2) the communication approach predicting an interaction of information form and domain-specific knowledge. Participants were presented with different laptops described in an absolute (e.g. '300 GB hard disc'), evaluative-numerical (e.g. 'hard disc with 30 out of 100 points in an expert rating') or evaluative-verbal (e.g. 'bad hard disc') information form, and they could choose to buy one of the laptops or defer. Domain-specific knowledge was also assessed. In Study 1, evaluative-numerical and evaluative-verbal values led to more deferral in people with high domain-specific knowledge. The pattern for evaluative-numerical and evaluative-verbal values was replicated for a different information organization in Study 2. Study 3 showed that absolute values led to more deferral the less knowledgeable participants were and demonstrated that domain-specific knowledge and deferral were unrelated when absolute and evaluative-verbal values were presented in combination. In sum, the results support the communication approach and have methodological implications for decision research and theoretical implications for understanding choice deferral in real-life decisions. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
From the beginning of systematic research on sexual victimization, it has been recognized that a substantial proportion of women report nonconsensual sexual experiences meeting the defining criteria of rape in response to behaviorally specific items, but do not acknowledge their experience as rape in response to broad questions about whether they have ever been raped. Recent studies suggest that rates of unacknowledged rape may be as high or even higher among men than among women. This study examined rates of unacknowledged female and male victims of rape and sexual assault by comparing responses to behaviorally specific items of the Sexual Aggression and Victimization Scale (SAV-S) with responses to broad questions using the labels of sexual assault and rape (SARA) in 593 participants (303 women) in Germany. As predicted, more women and men were classified as rape victims based on behaviorally specific items than on the basis of the broad rape item. The rates of unacknowledged rape were about 60% for women and 75% for men. The gender difference was not significant. Against our prediction, no significant differences in acknowledgement of sexual assault were found in relation to coercive strategy and victim-perpetrator relationship. Few cases of rape and sexual assault identified by the SARA items were missed by the behaviorally specific questions. The implications for establishing prevalence rates of rape and sexual assault and for comparing victims and nonvictims in terms of vulnerability factors and outcomes of sexual victimization are discussed.
Several longitudinal studies and meta-analytic reviews have demonstrated that exposure to violent media is linked to aggression over time. However, evidence on effective interventions to reduce the use of violent media and promote critical viewing skills is limited. The current study examined the efficacy of an intervention designed to reduce the use of media violence and aggression in adolescence, covering a total period of about 12 months. A sample of 683 7th and 8th graders in Germany (50.1% girls) were assigned to two conditions: a 5-week intervention and a no-intervention control group. Measures of exposure to media violence and aggressive behavior were obtained about 3 months prior to the intervention (T1) and about 7 months post-intervention (T2). The intervention group showed a significantly larger decrease in the use of violent media from T1 to T2 than the control group. Participants in the intervention group also scored significantly lower on self-reported aggressive behavior (physical aggression and relational aggression) at T2 than those in the control group, but the effect was limited to those with high levels of initial aggression. This effect was mediated by an intervention-induced decrease in the normative acceptance of aggression. No gender differences in program efficacy were found. The results show that a 5-week school-based intervention can produce changes in the use of media violence, aggressive norms, and behaviors sustained over several months.