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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.
Crowdsourcing platforms provide an affordable approach for recruiting large and diverse samples in a short time. Past research has shown that researchers can obtain reliable data from these sources, at least in domains of research that are not affectively involving. The goal of the present study was to test if crowdsourcing platforms can also be used to conduct experiments that incorporate the induction of aversive affective states. First, a laboratory experiment with German university students was conducted in which a frustrating task induced anger and aggressive behavior. This experiment was then replicated online using five crowdsourcing samples. The results suggest that participants in the online samples reacted very similarly to the anger manipulation as participants in the laboratory experiments. However, effect sizes were smaller in crowdsourcing samples with non-German participants while a crowdsourcing sample with exclusively German participants yielded virtually the same effect size as in the laboratory.
The consumption of media violence and aggressive behavior were assessed three times in a sample of N=1,052 German adolescents with and without migration background over a period of two years with 12-month intervals. The adolescents in the two groups, who were in grades 7 and 8 at T1, were matched by gender, age, type of school, and academic achievement. Students in the migrant group reported higher consumption of violent media. At T3, they showed more physical but less relational aggression than their peers of German background. Cross-lagged panel analyses showed parallel associations between media violence use and aggression in both groups: Media violence consumption at T1 and T2 predicted physical aggression at T2 and T3 independent of ethnic background. The reverse path from physical aggression to media violence consumption was nonsignificant. No link was found between media violence use and relational aggression over time.
An observational measure of anger regulation in middle childhood was developed that facilitated the in situ assessment of five maladaptive regulation strategies in response to an anger-eliciting task. 599 children aged 6-10 years (M = 8.12, SD = 0.92) participated in the study. Construct validity of the measure was examined through correlations with parent- and self-reports of anger regulation and anger reactivity. Criterion validity was established through links with teacher-rated aggression and social rejection measured by parent-, teacher-, and self-reports. The observational measure correlated significantly with parent- and self-reports of anger reactivity, whereas it was unrelated to parent- and self-reports of anger regulation. It also made a unique contribution to predicting aggression and social rejection.
Although school climate and self-efficacy have received some attention in the literature, as correlates of students’ willingness to intervene in bullying, to date, very little is known about the potential mediating role of self-efficacy in the relationship between classroom climate and students’ willingness to intervene in bullying. To this end, the present study analyzes whether the relationship between classroom cohesion (as one facet of classroom climate) and students’ willingness to intervene in bullying situations is mediated by self-efficacy in social conflicts. This study is based on a representative stratified random sample of two thousand and seventy-one students (51.3% male), between the ages of twelve and seventeen, from twenty-four schools in Germany. Results showed that between 43% and 48% of students reported that they would not intervene in bullying. A mediation test using the structural equation modeling framework revealed that classroom cohesion and self-efficacy in social conflicts were directly associated with students’ willingness to intervene in bullying situations. Furthermore, classroom cohesion was indirectly associated with higher levels of students’ willingness to intervene in bullying situations, due to self-efficacy in social conflicts. We thus conclude that: (1) It is crucial to increase students’ willingness to intervene in bullying; (2) efforts to increase students’ willingness to intervene in bullying should promote students’ confidence in dealing with social conflicts and interpersonal relationships; and (3) self-efficacy plays an important role in understanding the relationship between classroom cohesion and students’ willingness to intervene in bullying. Recommendations are provided to help increase adolescents’ willingness to intervene in bullying and for future research.
The current study was designed to assess early adolescents’ response evaluation and decision for hypothetical peer victimization vignettes. Participants were 336 (59% girls; X¯¯¯ age = 12.55) seventh and eighth graders from one school in the Midwestern United States. Adolescents read a hypothetical online or offline social situation and answered questions designed to access internal congruence, response evaluation, response efficacy, emotional outcome expectancy, and social outcome expectancy. Girls were more likely to believe that aggressive responses online and offline would lead to positive social and emotional outcome expectancies when compared with boys. Adolescents were more likely to believe that offline and online aggressive responses were legitimate responses to face-to-face victimization, feel that aggressive responses online or offline were easier to execute in response to face-to-face victimization, and that aggressive responses online or offline would lead to positive emotions and better social outcomes.
The purpose of this study was to examine the longitudinal relationship between problematic online gaming and subjective health complaints and depressive symptoms, and the moderation of console-gaming aggression (i.e. verbal aggression, camping, trolling) in this relationship. Participants were 202 adolescents (86% boys; M age = 12.99 years) in the 7(th) or 8(th) grade who played first-person shooter games. They completed questionnaires on problematic online gaming, console-gaming aggression, subjective health complaints, and depressive symptoms. Six months later (Time 2), they completed questionnaires on subjective health complaints and depressive symptoms again. Findings revealed that problematic online gaming and console-gaming aggression were positive predictors of Time 2 subjective health complaints and depressive symptoms, while controlling for Time 1 levels and gender. Moderating effects were found as well, indicating that high levels of console-gaming aggression increased the positive relationship between problematic online gaming and depressive symptoms. These effects were also replicated for verbal aggression, problematic online gaming, and subjective health complaints. These findings suggest the importance of considering the implications of console-gaming aggression and problematic online gaming for the physical and mental health of adolescents.
IMPACT SUMMARY
Prior State of Knowledge. Problematic online gaming and aggressive behaviors are linked to negative outcomes, including depression and subjective health complaints. Longitudinal research further supports this connection for depression, but not for subjective health complaints or various types of aggression via console games.
Novel Contributions. Few studies have focused on various types of aggression and the longitudinal associations among problematic online gaming, depression, and subjective health complaints, while controlling for previous levels of depression and subjective health complaints. The present research addresses these gaps.
Practical Implications. Findings of the present research has implications for clinicians and researchers concerned with identifying adolescents who might be at risk for negative outcomes.
As competition over peer status becomes intense during adolescence, some adolescents develop insecure feelings regarding their social standing among their peers (i.e., social status insecurity). These adolescents sometimes use aggression to defend or promote their status. The aim of this study was to examine the relationships among social status insecurity, callous-unemotional (CU) traits, and popularity-motivated aggression and prosocial behaviors among adolescents, while controlling for gender. Another purpose was to examine the potential moderating role of CU traits in these relationships. Participants were 1,047 (49.2% girls; Mage = 12.44 years; age range from 11 to 14 years) in the 7th or 8th grades from a large Midwestern city. They completed questionnaires on social status insecurity, CU traits, and popularity-motivated relational aggression, physical aggression, cyberaggression, and prosocial behaviors. A structural regression model was conducted, with gender as a covariate. The model had adequate fit. Social status insecurity was associated positively with callousness, unemotional, and popularity-motivated aggression and related negatively to popularity-motivated prosocial behaviors. High social status insecurity was related to greater popularity-motivated aggression when adolescents had high callousness traits. The findings have implications for understanding the individual characteristics associated with social status insecurity.