The Association Among Parental Bonding, Depression, Social Aggression, and Criminal Assault: Are There Gender Differences Between Male and Female Youth Offenders?

This research examined similarities and differences in gender regarding social aggression, criminal assault, depression, and familial factors. The participants were 251 youth offenders (158 males) who were arrested and incarcerated in a juvenile facility. The measures consisted of self-reported acts of social aggression, simple and aggravated assault, subtypes of depression, and self-reports on parental care and control. Our data demonstrate the importance of including gender, types of aggression/assault, subtypes of depression, and familial factors when examining their association. For example, less parental care predicted more social aggression for both males and females. However, neither did parental care predict aggravated assault for either gender, nor did parental care predict general depression or anhedonia. Parental control had different impact depending on gender. More parental control increased rates of social aggression and simple assault for females but not for males. Symptoms of general depression predicted committing simple assault for both males and females, but not anhedonia. However, general depressive symptoms and anhedonia were associated with committing aggravated assault for both genders. Policy implications were discussed.

Moral Disengagement and Generalized Social Trust as Mediators and Moderators of Rule-Respecting Behaviors During the COVID-19 Outbreak.

In this study, we tested a theoretical model with moral disengagement, a mediator, and generalized social trust (GST), a mediator and a moderator of the relationship between personality traits and rule-respecting behaviors (i.e., social distancing and stay-at-home), during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in Italy. The data were collected on 1520 participants (61% males). General results are threefold: (1) moral disengagement mediated the relationship between emotional stability, narcissism, psychopathy, and social distancing; (2) among components of GST, trust in Government mediated the relationship between psychopathy and social distancing; trust in known others mediated the relationship between emotional stability, agreeableness, and Machiavellianism with total number of exits; trust in unknown others mediated the relationship of emotional stability, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and psychopathy with average daily number of exits; (3) GST moderated the indirect effect of personality traits on rule-respecting behaviors through moral disengagement. The theoretical and practical importance of these results is discussed.

Relations Among Victimization, Witnessing, and Perpetration of Aggression: Impact of Gender Among Youth Offenders.

The participants included 251 (158 males; 93 females) youth offenders who were arrested and incarcerated in a juvenile facility in the Midwest United States. The aims were to assess (a) how often they were a victim, a witness, and/or a perpetrator of social aggression, simple assault, and aggravated assault during the past year; (b) to examine whether exposure (either witness or victim or both) predicted committing three types of aggressive behaviors; and (c) to assess the impact of gender among the youth offenders. Differential predictability models were utilized to assess gender differences. The findings revealed that gender was an important predictor. For example, females reported higher rates of being a witness, a victim, and a perpetrator of social aggression than did males. Moreover, female offenders committed simple assault more often than males and males committed aggravated assault more often than females. The general results suggest that it is important to examine the various forms of aggression, and exposure, as well as how gender affects these relationships.

Moral Behavior in the Locker Room Predicts Perceptions of Task Cohesion in Youth Ice Hockey Player.

Task cohesion (i.e., perceptions of team unity towards a task goal and positive feelings towards one's own involvement) is associated with myriad psychosocial benefits for youth athletes. Accordingly, sport researchers and youth sport stakeholders are interested in ways of fostering task cohesion. Recent work has found evidence that prosocial and antisocial behaviors among teammates are associated with athletes' perceptions of task cohesion; however, this research has been limited to moral behavior that takes place during gameplay. Despite youth sport experiences extending well beyond practices and games, we know very little about how moral behavior between teammates, in settings outside gameplay, relates to perceptions of task cohesion. To address this knowledge gap, the current study investigated whether prosocial and antisocial behaviors in the locker room setting were associated with perceptions of task cohesion in a sample of 238 youth male ice hockey players (Mage = 10.75). Using hierarchical regression analyses, our results revealed that (a) perceptions of peer prosocial behavior was positively associated with task cohesion, (b) perceptions of peer antisocial behavior was negatively associated with task cohesion, and (c) self-reported perceptions of participants' own moral behavior was not significantly associated with task cohesion. Given the association with perceptions of task cohesion, these findings underline the value in promoting prosocial behavior and reducing antisocial behavior in sport settings outside gameplay and hold multiple theoretical and practical implications. Notably, moral behavior that takes place outside gameplay settings may be related to perceptions of task cohesion that primarily relates to goals and interactions during gameplay.

Adolescent Misconduct Behaviors: A Cross-Cultural Perspective of Adolescents and Their Parents.

The primary goal of the current study was to examine cultural differences in Chinese and U.S. adolescents' and parents' perceptions and evaluations of adolescent misconduct behaviors. A total of 395 U.S. and Chinese adolescents (ages 11-19 years) and 255 parents participated in this study. Each participant generated adolescent misconduct behaviors and rated each misconduct behavior as to the degree of wrongness. The misconduct behaviors were coded into 10 categories across three themes (moral offenses, drugs, and conventions). Results revealed significant cultural differences in a number of adolescent misconduct behaviors. For example, the United States generated more misconduct behaviors in weapon offenses and drug use than did China. These cultural differences were further complicated by an interaction between culture and generation. Chinese adolescents were more likely than U.S. adolescents to use categories of school, home, and social conventional violations, and considered these adolescent misconduct behaviors to be more wrong. However, it was the U.S. parents who considered adolescent misconduct behaviors in these categories to be more wrong than did Chinese parents.

The contribution of moral disengagement in mediating individual tendencies toward aggression and violence.

This study examines the role of moral disengagement in fostering engagement in aggression and violence through adolescence to young adulthood in accordance with a design in which the study of individual differences and of their relations is instrumental to address underlying intraindividual structures and process conducive to detrimental conduct. Participants were 345 young adults (52% females) who were followed across 4 time periods (T1 M age = 17 years to T4 M age = 25 years). The longitudinal relations among irritability, hostile rumination, and moral disengagement attest to a conceptual model in which moral disengagement is crucial in giving access to action to aggressive tendencies. Findings suggest that irritability and hostile rumination contributed to the development of each other reciprocally and significantly across time. While hostile rumination and moral disengagement significantly mediated the relation between irritability and violence, moral disengagement significantly mediated the relation between hostile rumination and violence.

Adolescents' outcome expectancies about relational aggression within acquaintanceships, friendships, and dating relationships.

Adolescents' (N = 292) relational aggression and outcome expectancies for relational aggression in three different relationship contexts (acquaintanceship, friendship, and dating) were assessed. With respect to each type of relationship, adolescents were questioned about the emotional and dyadic consequences of relational aggression, and about whether the victim of relational aggression would retaliate. It was also of interest to assess whether adolescents' personal involvement in relational aggression was associated with these judgments. The results suggest that adolescents' involvement in relational aggression and outcome expectancies for relational aggression often varies by gender, age, relationship context, and type of relational aggression. Additionally, in several instances, adolescents' personal involvement in relational aggression was associated with outcome expectancies for relational aggression. For example, after gender and age had been accounted for, participants' own relational aggression predicted beliefs about whether the victim of relational aggression would want to continue a friendship and a dating relationship. Implications of the results and future directions for research are discussed.

Adolescents' attributions about aggression: an initial investigation.

This study examined causal attributions about aggression made by 362 participants from three age groups: early (138 7th and 8th graders), middle (121 11th and 12th graders), and late (103 college students through age 22) adolescence. Participants read a brief vignette describing a peer who displayed either proactive (non-emotional, instrumental) or reactive (emotional, undercontrolled) aggression. Participants then rated the extent to which they attributed each of 48 descriptors to be causes for the peer's aggressive behaviour. Confirmatory factor analyses of the attribution questionnaire supported the hypothesized model of causal beliefs. The strength of endorsements of internally oriented causal factors increased with age. Findings are discussed with regard to social-cognitive development in adolescence and implications for future research on aggression in the peer context.