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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.
Objective: The incompatible response hypothesis states that inducing incompatible emotional states mitigates the effect of situational risk factors on aggressive behavior. The current study extended this approach to situated aggression control to withdrawal-related negative emotions. We proposed that even a negative affective state can be incompatible with aggression if its basic motivational orientation counteracts the approach orientation underlying anger and aggression. Specifically, we predicted that although it is inherently negative, sadness may reduce anger-driven aggressive behavior. Method: An experiment was conducted (N = 149) in which half the participants were angered by means of a frustrating number-sequences task, whereas the other half were asked to engage in a similar but nonfrustrating task. To counteract anger-driven aggressive behavior, sadness was induced in half the participants by asking them to recall a sad personal episode. Participants in the no-sadness group recalled an affectively neutral episode. Finally, participants were asked to choose the difficulty level of the number sequences that would ostensibly be assigned to future participants, with the number of difficult sequences chosen indicating the strength of the aggressive response. Results: As predicted, the induction of sadness buffered anger-related aggressive behavior. Anger translated into aggression in the control condition but not in the sadness condition. The aggression-inhibiting effect of the experience of sadness was found to be driven by the compensating coactivation of anger and sadness. Conclusions: The results support the extension of the incompatible response hypothesis to withdrawal-related negative emotions and shed further light on the underlying processes.
This longitudinal study investigated patterns of developmental problems across depression, aggression, and academic achievement during adolescence, using two measurement points two years apart (N = 1665; age T1: M = 13.14; female = 49.6%). Latent Profile Analyses and Latent Transition Analyses yielded four main findings: A three-type solution provided the best fit to the data: an asymptomatic type (i.e., low problem scores in all three domains), a depressed type (i.e., high scores in depression), an aggressive type (i.e., high scores in aggression). Profile types were invariant over the two data waves but differed between girls and boys, revealing gender specific patterns of comorbidity. Stabilities over time were high for the asymptomatic type and for types that represented problems in one domain, but moderate for comorbid types. Differences in demographic variables (i.e., age, socio-economic status) and individual characteristics (i.e., self-esteem, dysfunctional cognitions, cognitive capabilities) predicted profile type memberships and longitudinal transitions between types.
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.
Theory of mind is one of the most important cognitive factors in social information-processing, and deficits in theory of mind have been linked to aggressive behavior in childhood. The present longitudinal study investigated reciprocal links between theory of mind and two forms of aggression – physical and relational – in middle childhood with three data waves over 3 years. Theory of mind was assessed by participants’ responses to cartoons, and physical and relational aggression were assessed through teacher reports in a community sample of 1657 children (mean age at Time 1: 8 years). Structural equation modeling analyses showed that theory of mind was a negative predictor of subsequent physical and relational aggression, both from Time 1 to Time 2 as well as from Time 2 to Time 3. Moreover, relational aggression was a negative predictor of theory of mind from Time 1 to Time 2. There were no significant gender or age differences in the tested pathways. The results suggest that reciprocal and negative longitudinal relations exist between children’s theory of mind and aggressive behavior. Our study extends current knowledge about the development of such relations across middle childhood.
The aggressive expression of driving anger is a risk factor for aggressive and dangerous driving behavior and is associated with a greater risk of accident involvement. The present study related positive and negative facets of a masculine and feminine self-concept to aggressive and adaptive forms of anger expression while driving. A sample of 417 drivers (194 women, 46.5%) in Germany completed the Positive-Negative Sex Role Inventory (PN-SRI) as a measure of positive and negative masculinity and femininity and the Driving Anger Expression Inventory (DAX) as a measure of driving anger expression. Aggressive forms of expressing driving anger were unrelated to gender but differed significantly in relation to gendered self-concept. Negative but not positive masculinity was found to predict higher aggressive and lower adaptive anger expression. No main effects of positive or negative femininity were found. However, the link between negative masculinity and aggressive anger expression was buffered by positive femininity: Negative masculinity was unrelated to aggressive anger expression when accompanied by positive femininity. Adaptive anger expression showed negative links with negative masculinity and positive links with positive masculinity. The findings held for both men and women and support the theoretical distinction between positive and negative facets of the gendered self-concept. The implications for the conceptualization of both gendered self-concept and anger expression on the road are discussed.
This two-wave longitudinal study identified configurations of social rejection, affiliation with aggressive peers, and academic failure and examined their predictivity for reactive and proactive aggression in a sample of 1,479 children and adolescents aged between 9 and 19 years. Latent profile analysis yielded three configurations of risk factors, made up of a non-risk group, a risk group scoring high on measures of social rejection (SR), and a risk group scoring high on measures of affiliation with aggressive peers and academic failure (APAF). Latent path analysis revealed that, as predicted, only membership in the SR group at T1 predicted reactive aggression at T2 17 months later. By contrast, only membership in the APAF group at T1 predicted proactive aggression at T2.
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.
Although sexual aggression is recognized as a serious problem worldwide, evidence on the prevalence and impact of sexual aggression is based predominantly on studies from Western countries with a Christian or non-religious majority. Little evidence is available from non-Western countries, especially from Muslim societies. The purpose of the present article was to provide a first systematic review of the studies examining the prevalence of sexual aggression in Turkey, including both victimization and perpetration reports from women and men. Additionally, differences in prevalence rates depending on relationship constellations and characteristics of victims and perpetrators were reviewed. By a two-stage literature search, 56 studies were identified for inclusion. All studies examined sexual victimization of women, only four studies included sexual victimization of men. Data on sexual aggression perpetration were extremely limited, with only two studies providing prevalence rates. Prevalence rates of sexual victimization were found to vary greatly, which may be attributed to a lack of methodological and conceptual consistency across studies. Likewise, no consistent picture was revealed for victims' or perpetrators' sociodemographic or situational characteristics associated with differences in prevalence rates. We discuss reasons for the variability in prevalence rates and outline recommendations for future research.
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.