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Institute
Studies show relations between executive function (EF), Theory of Mind (ToM), and conduct-problem (CP) symptoms. However, many studies have involved cross-sectional data, small clinical samples, pre-school children, and/or did not consider potential mediation effects. The present study examined the longitudinal relations between EF, ToM abilities, and CP symptoms in a population-based sample of 1,657 children between 6 and 11 years (T1: M = 8.3 years, T2: M = 9.1 years; 51.9% girls). We assessed EF skills and ToM abilities via computerized tasks at first measurement (T1), CP symptoms were rated via parent questionnaires at T1 and approximately 1 year later (T2). Structural-equation models showed a negative relation between T1 EF and T2 CP symptoms even when controlling for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms and other variables. This relation was fully mediated by T1 ToM abilities. The study shows how children's abilities to control their thoughts and behaviors and to understand others' mental states interact in the development of CP symptoms.
From fantasy to reality
(2022)
Aggression-related sexual fantasies (ASF) have been related to various forms of harmful sexual behavior in both sex offender and community samples. However, more research is needed to fully understand this relation, particularly whether ASF is associated with harmful sexual behavior beyond hostile sexism against women and a sexual preference for violence and sexual violence. In the present study, N = 428 participants (61.9% women) between 18 and 83 years of age (M = 28.17, SD = 9.7) reported their ASF and hostile sexism. They rated their sexual arousal by erotic, violent, and sexually violent pictures as a direct measure of sexual preference. Response latencies between stimulus presentation and arousal ratings were used as an indirect measure of sexual preference. ASF and the directly and indirectly assessed sexual preference for violent and sexually violent stimuli were positively correlated. They were unrelated to hostile sexism against women. ASF showed the strongest associations with self-reported sexually sadistic behavior and presumably non-consensual sexual sadism beyond these preferences and hostile sexism in the total group and separately among men and women. The findings indicate that ASF and sexual preference are not equivalent constructs and further underscore the potential relevance of ASF for harmful sexual behavior.
Is bad intent negligible?
(2018)
The hostile attribution bias (HAB) is a well-established risk factor for aggression. It is considered part of the suspicious mindset that may cause highly victim-justice sensitive individuals to behave uncooperatively. Thus, links of victim justice sensitivity (JS) with negative behavior, such as aggression, may be better explained by HAB. The present study tested this hypothesis in N=279 German adolescents who rated their JS, HAB, and physical, relational, verbal, reactive, and proactive aggression. Victim JS predicted physical, relational, verbal, reactive, and proactive aggression when HAB was controlled. HAB only predicted physical and proactive aggression. There were no moderator effects. Injustice seems an important reason for aggression irrespective of whether or not it is intentionally caused, particularly among those high in victim JS. Thus, victim JS should be considered as a potential important risk factor for aggression and receive more attention by research on aggression and preventive efforts.
Individuals differ in their tendency to perceive injustice and in their responses towards these perceptions. Those high in justice sensitivity tend to show intense negative affective, cognitive, and behavioral responses towards injustice that in part also depend on the perspective from which injustice is perceived. The present research project showed that inter-individual differences in justice sensitivity may already be measured and observed in childhood and adolescence and that early adolescence seems an important age-range and developmental stage for the stabilization of these differences. Furthermore, the different justice sensitivity perspectives were related to different forms of externalizing (aggression, ADHD, bullying) and internalizing problem behavior (depressive symptoms) both in children and adolescents as well as in adults in cross-sectional studies. Particularly victim sensitivity may apparently constitute an important risk factor for a broad range of both externalizing and internalizing maladaptive behaviors and mental health problems as shown in those studies using longitudinal data. Regarding aggressive behavior, victim justice sensitivity may even constitute a risk factor above and beyond other important and well-established risk factors for aggression and similar sensitivity constructs that had previously been linked to this kind of behavior. In contrast, observer and perpetrator sensitivity (perpetrator sensitivity in particular) tended to show negative links with externalizing problem behavior and instead predicted prosocial behavior in children and adolescents. However, there were also detached positive relations of perpetrator sensitivity with emotional problems as well as of observer sensitivity with reactive aggression and depressive symptoms. Taken together, the findings from the present research show that justice sensitivity forms in childhood at the latest and that it may have important, long-term influences on pro- and antisocial behavior and mental health. Thus, justice sensitivity requires more attention in research on the prevention and intervention of mental health problems and antisocial behavior, such as aggression.
School attacks are attracting increasing attention in aggression research. Recent systematic analyses provided new insights into offense and offender characteristics. Less is known about attacks in institutes of higher education (e.g., universities). It is therefore questionable whether the term “school attack” should be limited to institutions of general education or could be extended to institutions of higher education. Scientific literature is divided in distinguishing or unifying these two groups and reports similarities as well as differences. We researched 232 school attacks and 45 attacks in institutes of higher education throughout the world and conducted systematic comparisons between the two groups. The analyses yielded differences in offender (e.g., age, migration background) and offense characteristics (e.g., weapons, suicide rates), and some similarities (e.g., gender). Most differences can apparently be accounted for by offenders’ age and situational influences. We discuss the implications of our findings for future research and the development of preventative measures.
Objective:
Rejection sensitivity and justice sensitivity are personality traits that are characterized by frequent perceptions and intense adverse responses to negative social cues. Whereas there is good evidence for associations between rejection sensitivity, justice sensitivity, and internalizing problems, no longitudinal studies have investigated their association with eating disorder (ED) pathology so far. Thus, the present study examined longitudinal relations between rejection sensitivity, justice sensitivity, and ED pathology.
Method:
Participants (N = 769) reported on their rejection sensitivity, justice sensitivity, and ED pathology at 9-19 (T1), 11-21 (T2), and 14-22 years of age (T3).
Results:
Latent cross-lagged models showed longitudinal associations between ED pathology and anxious rejection sensitivity, observer and victim justice sensitivity. T1 and T2 ED pathology predicted higher T2 and T3 anxious rejection sensitivity, respectively. In turn, T2 anxious rejection sensitivity predicted more T3 ED pathology. T1 observer justice sensitivity predicted more T2 ED pathology, which predicted higher T3 observer justice sensitivity. Furthermore, T1 ED pathology predicted higher T2 victim justice sensitivity.
Discussion:
Rejection sensitivity-particularly anxious rejection sensitivity-and justice sensitivity may be involved in the maintenance or worsening of ED pathology and should be considered by future research and in prevention and treatment of ED pathology. Also, mental health problems may increase rejection sensitivity and justice sensitivity traits in the long term.
Recent research provides evidence that aggressive sexual fantasies predict aggressive sexual behavior in the general population. However, sexual fantasies including fantasies about the infliction of pain and humiliation, should be frequent and often consensually acted upon among individuals with sadomasochistic likings. The question arises whether sexual fantasies with aggressive content still predict presumably non-consensual aggressive sexual behavior in individuals with sadomasochistic likings, given that BDSM encounters are generally considered consensual. To investigate this question, we conducted a questionnaire survey of sexual fantasies, as sessing the frequency of seventy sexual fantasies involving non-aggressive, masochistic, and aggressive acts. Our sample (N = 182) contained 99 respondents who self-identified as sadist, masochist, or switcher; 44 reported no such identification. For respondents reporting BDSM identification, we replicated a factor structure for sexual fantasies similar to that previously found in the general population, including three factors reflecting fantasies about increasingly severe aggressive sexual acts. Fantasies about injuring a partner and/or using weapons and fantasies about sexual coercion predicted presumably non-consensual sexual behavior independently of other risk factors for aggressive sexual behavior and irrespective of BDSM identification. Hence, severely aggressive sexual fantasies may predispose to presumably non-consensual sexual behavior in both individuals with and without BDSM identification.
Background: Aggression-related sexual fantasies (ASF) are considered an important risk factor for sexual aggression, but empirical knowledge is limited, in part because previous research has been based on predominantly male, North-American college samples, and limited numbers of questions. <br /> Aim: The present study aimed to foster the knowledge about the frequency and correlates of ASF, while including a large sample of women and a broad range of ASF. <br /> Method: A convenience sample of N = 664 participants from Germany including 508 (77%) women and 156 (23%) men with a median age of 25 (21-27) years answered an online questionnaire. Participants were mainly recruited via social networks (online and in person) and were mainly students. We examined the frequencies of (aggression-related) sexual fantasies and their expected factor structure (factors reflecting affective, experimental, masochistic, and aggression-related contents) via exploratory factor analysis. We investigated potential correlates (eg, psychopathic traits, attitudes towards sexual fantasies) as predictors of ASF using multiple regression analyses. Finally, we examined whether ASF would positively predict sexual aggression beyond other pertinent risk factors using multiple regression analysis. <br /> Outcomes: The participants rated the frequency of a broad set of 56 aggression-related and other sexual fantasies, attitudes towards sexual fantasies, the Big Five (ie, broad personality dimensions including neuroticism and extraversion), sexual aggression, and other risk factors for sexual aggression. <br /> Results: All participants reported non-aggression-related sexual fantasies and 77% reported at least one ASF in their lives. Being male, frequent sexual fantasies, psychopathic traits, and negative attitudes towards sexual fantasies predicted more frequent ASF. ASF were the strongest predictor of sexual aggression beyond other risk factors, including general aggression, psychopathic traits, rape myth acceptance, and violent pornography consumption. <br /> Clinical Translation: ASF may be an important risk factor for sexual aggression and should be more strongly considered in prevention and intervention efforts. <br /> Strengths and Limitations: The strengths of the present study include using a large item pool and a large sample with a large proportion of women in order to examine ASF as a predictor of sexual aggression beyond important control variables. Its weaknesses include the reliance on cross-sectional data, that preclude causal inferences, and not continuously distinguishing between consensual and non-consensual acts. <br /> Conclusion: ASF are a frequent phenomenon even in in the general population and among women and show strong associations with sexual aggression. Thus, they require more attention by research on sexual aggression and its prevention.
Individuals differ in their sensitivity toward injustice. Justice-sensitive persons perceive injustice more frequently and show stronger responses to it. Justice sensitivity has been studied predominantly in adults; little is known about its development in childhood and adolescence and its connection to prosocial behavior and emotional and behavioral problems. This study evaluates a version of the justice sensitivity inventory for children and adolescents (JSI-CA5) in 1472 9- to 17-year olds. Items and scales showed good psychometric properties and correlations with prosocial behavior and conduct problems similar to findings in adults, supporting the reliability and validity of the scale. We found individual differences in justice sensitivity as a function of age and gender. Furthermore, justice sensitivity predicted emotional and behavioral problems in children and adolescents over a 1- to 2-year period. Justice sensitivity perspectives can therefore be considered as risk and/or protective factors for mental health in childhood and adolescence.
Justice sensitivity captures individual differences in the frequency with which injustice is perceived and the intensity of emotional, cognitive, and behavioral reactions to it. Persons with ADHD have been reported to show high justice sensitivity, and a recent study provided evidence for this notion in an adult sample. In 1,235 German 10- to 19-year olds, we measured ADHD symptoms, justice sensitivity from the victim, observer, and perpetrator perspective, the frequency of perceptions of injustice, anxious and angry rejection sensitivity, depressive symptoms, conduct problems, and self-esteem. Participants with ADHD symptoms reported significantly higher victim justice sensitivity, more perceptions of injustice, and higher anxious and angry rejection sensitivity, but significantly lower perpetrator justice sensitivity than controls. In latent path analyses, justice sensitivity as well as rejection sensitivity partially mediated the link between ADHD symptoms and comorbid problems when considered simultaneously. Thus, both justice sensitivity and rejection sensitivity may contribute to explaining the emergence and maintenance of problems typically associated with ADHD symptoms, and should therefore be considered in ADHD therapy.