{"title":"A meta-analytic review of the association between theory of mind and aggression","authors":"Müge Ekerim-Akbulut , Melis Yavuz-Müren , Gamze Turunç , Kana Imuta , Bilge Selçuk","doi":"10.1016/j.avb.2023.101890","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.avb.2023.101890","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p><span>Although the association between theory of mind (ToM) and aggression has been theorized, empirical findings have not revealed a clear link between these constructs. In the current meta-analytic review, we integrated findings from 83 studies (141 effect sizes) involving 41,650 participants from 18 countries to elucidate the association between ToM and aggression in typically developing children, adolescents, and adults. We found a significant negative association between ToM and aggression overall (</span><em>r</em><span> = −0.15). Moreover, each type and function of aggression were negatively associated with Theory of Mind (ToM). Bullying—a distinct form of aggression—was not associated with ToM. The strength of the association between overall aggression and ToM varied as a function of methodological variables: First, studies that used self-report questionnaires to measure ToM and aggression yielded the strongest effect sizes, compared to those that used task-based assessments or questionnaires completed by others (parents, teachers, peers). Second, there was a difference in the ToM measurement with the measures examining ToM with non-false belief understanding tasks yielding a stronger mean effect than those that focused exclusively on false-belief understanding. Third, the magnitude of the negative association was found to increase with participants' age, though significant negative associations between ToM and aggression held across the lifespan. These results point to the critical link between ToM and aggressive tendencies and suggest the value in implementing interventions to improve mental state understanding across the age range to foster positive social interactions.</span></p></div>","PeriodicalId":51360,"journal":{"name":"Aggression and Violent Behavior","volume":"74 ","pages":"Article 101890"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2023-11-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72365672","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Is it time for the use of pair-matching in all randomized controlled trials of crime and violence prevention? A review of the research","authors":"Heather Paterson , Brandon C. Welsh","doi":"10.1016/j.avb.2023.101889","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.avb.2023.101889","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Pair-matching in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) has received increased attention in criminology, the social sciences more generally, and medicine and public health, with a growing body of research demonstrating the design's benefits over “simple” RCTs. We carry out a review of matched-pair RCTs compared with simple RCTs to address a somewhat provocative yet fair question for evaluation research on crime and violence prevention interventions: Is it time for the use of pair-matching in all RCTs? At the heart of this question is the ability of the design to most efficiently and robustly compare like with like, thereby, improving confidence in observed effects of intervention trials. Several key findings emerge from the review. First, it is inadequate to examine or discuss RCTs as a single, uniform evaluation design. Here, the key organizing construct is the unit of allocation: individuals; groups of individuals (or clusters); and geographical places. Second, the advantages vastly outweigh the disadvantages for the use of matched-pair RCTs compared to simple RCTs, and most of the advantages hold for all three units of allocation. Third, pair-matching can be used with rather small samples (≥6 units) in cluster-based trials without compromising statistical power or degrees of freedom; less is known about individual- and place-based trials. Fourth, pair-matching cannot be used with some types of RCTs (e.g., cross-over) and is less amenable in other contexts (e.g., RCTs that enroll and randomize individuals on a rolling basis). Implications for evaluation research and public policy are discussed.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":51360,"journal":{"name":"Aggression and Violent Behavior","volume":"74 ","pages":"Article 101889"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2023-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71507018","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Christopher P. Barlett , Robin M. Kowalski , Annie M. Wilson
{"title":"Meta-analyses of the predictors and outcomes of cyberbullying perpetration and victimization while controlling for traditional bullying perpetration and victimization","authors":"Christopher P. Barlett , Robin M. Kowalski , Annie M. Wilson","doi":"10.1016/j.avb.2023.101886","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2023.101886","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The conceptualization of cyberbullying within the broader bullying literature is debated. One viewpoint (termed the Extension hypothesis) posits that cyberbullying is another form of bullying due to the shared definitional overlap and similar predictors (e.g., aggression, empathy) and outcomes (e.g., depression, anxiety). An alternative viewpoint (termed the Differences hypothesis) posits that, despite these overlaps, the reliance on the Internet makes cyberbullying distinct from traditional bullying in myriad ways. One method to compare these viewpoints is to examine the correlations between cyberbullying and other variables while statistically controlling for traditional bullying. In the current research, we conducted 38 independent meta-analyses or partial correlations that tested (a) the correlates of cyberbullying perpetration while controlling for traditional bullying perpetration and (b) the correlates of cyber-victimization while controlling for traditional victimization. Results largely supported the Differences hypothesis – the majority of meta-analytic effect sizes remained significant while controlling for the traditional bullying covariate.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":51360,"journal":{"name":"Aggression and Violent Behavior","volume":"74 ","pages":"Article 101886"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2023-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50182520","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Leticia López-Castro , Peter K. Smith , Susanne Robinson , Anke Görzig
{"title":"Age differences in bullying victimisation and perpetration: Evidence from cross-cultural surveys","authors":"Leticia López-Castro , Peter K. Smith , Susanne Robinson , Anke Görzig","doi":"10.1016/j.avb.2023.101888","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2023.101888","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>School victimisation and perpetration rates change in frequency with age. However, findings vary by study, gender, and type of bullying, especially offline and online. We provide a comprehensive analysis of age trends by analysing data from 3 large-scale surveys: Health Behaviour in School-age Children (HBSC), EU Kids Online (EUKO), and Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). Age trends were classified as U (up), S (same), D (down), P (peak), or V (trough). Findings from HBSC and TIMSS confirm a general D trend for victimisation, especially for boys, with rather more P findings for girls. Findings from HBSC and EUKO confirm mainly P (more girls) or U (more boys) trends for bullying perpetration. For both victimisation and perpetration the gender differences are most marked in the last 2 survey periods of 2013/14 and 2017/18. Age trends online are more varied than online, Cyber victimisation appears to decline less often than general victimisation, but girls more than boys show a P (peak) age trend at 13 years in HBSC data. Findings are discussed in relation to theories about the age changes, and the gender differences in relation to both timing of puberty, and interest in social media sites.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":51360,"journal":{"name":"Aggression and Violent Behavior","volume":"73 ","pages":"Article 101888"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2023-09-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50197531","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Examining the cognitive contributors to violence risk in forensic samples: A systematic review and meta-analysis","authors":"Sarah Janes , Lindsey Gilling McIntosh , Suzanne O'Rourke , Matthias Schwannauer","doi":"10.1016/j.avb.2023.101887","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2023.101887","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>A systematic review and meta-analysis was undertaken to quantitatively summarise the association between measures of cognitive abilities (e.g., neuropsychological and clinical measures, and risk assessments with a cognitive component) and violent outcomes. After acknowledging that existing reviews in this area have largely focused on executive functions and specific diagnostic groups only, the review adopted a broader approach, first examining factors which differentiate violent from non-violent offenders (part one), followed by separately analysing the neuropsychological correlates of violence (part two). Forty-two studies were included in the analyses, and 12 individual neuropsychological domains were examined in part one, and five in part two. The findings from this study revealed a large range of effect sizes with wide confidence intervals, highlighting significant heterogeneity due to methodological differences between studies, calling for a consensus to be reached on the neuropsychological risk factors which are most relevant to violence risk, to bring more focus and specificity to the literature. Measures of impulsivity, inattention, and lack of insight boasted significant correlations with prospectively measured violent outcomes, revealing their potential to add a small amount of incremental validity to existing risk assessments.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":51360,"journal":{"name":"Aggression and Violent Behavior","volume":"74 ","pages":"Article 101887"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2023-09-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50182521","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lara Murvartian , Francisco Javier Saavedra-Macías , Jennifer J. Infanti
{"title":"Public stigma toward women victims of intimate partner violence: A systematic review","authors":"Lara Murvartian , Francisco Javier Saavedra-Macías , Jennifer J. Infanti","doi":"10.1016/j.avb.2023.101877","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.avb.2023.101877","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Public stigma toward women victims of intimate partner violence (IPV) undermines their recovery. However, research on this topic is still recent. This systematic review aimed to analyze the way this stigma was studied, findings from the literature related to or describing public stigmatization that contributed to understanding how it works and existing interventions and recommendations to combat stigma. Searches for peer-reviewed articles published between 2010 and 2021 were conducted in six databases. The articles selected were limited to empirical studies in English, in which participants resided in high-income countries and providing results on IPV public stigma. A total of 29 articles were included. Stigma was normally not the primary focus of the studies, most articles did not draw upon any stigma theoretical model to contextualize their findings and qualitative methodologies predominated. We summarized a series of themes regarding stigma functioning: social norms and perceptions, public stigmatizing reactions and its consequences for victims. Factors such as ethnicity increased or decreased the stigma. Not disclosing the abuse and not looking for help were the most frequently mentioned consequences. Only one intervention and a few strategies to reduce the stigma were identified. Implication of these findings for research and practice were discussed.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":51360,"journal":{"name":"Aggression and Violent Behavior","volume":"73 ","pages":"Article 101877"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2023-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41629944","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A framework for understanding emotions in violent ethnic conflicts","authors":"Ephrem Fernandez","doi":"10.1016/j.avb.2023.101860","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.avb.2023.101860","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p><span><span>Emotions have been studied largely within an interpersonal context<span> but are now increasingly investigated wthin large scale social problems. This paper reviews key concepts in affective science as applicable to violent ethnic conflict. Beginning with the customary question “what are emotions?”, a cognitive-motivational perspective points to the appraisals and action tendencies inherent in anger and fear, the twin emotions corresponding to fight or flight during violent encounters. Also relevant to violent ethnic conflict are resentment, contempt, sadness, shame, guilt, pride/honor, and remorse. Whether these emotions are (i) situational (state) or dispositional (trait), (ii) felt vs expressed, they have further implications for conflict. Anger, as one example of emotion, can be characterized with reference to five parameters; it can also be represented along six major dimensions of expression, as witnessed interpersonally and intercommunally. A new theoretical position is taken in which violent ethnic conflict is no longer positioned within the primordalist-constructivist </span></span>dichotomy, but instead is viewed as a function of predisposing factors, </span>precipitating factors, exacerbating factors, perpetuating factors, consequences, and enabling factors. Each of these factors may carry its own cache of emotions that interact with one another over the course of violent ethnic conflict.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":51360,"journal":{"name":"Aggression and Violent Behavior","volume":"72 ","pages":"Article 101860"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2023-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46507596","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Atrocity denial and emotions in the Ethiopian civil war","authors":"Michael Woldemariam , Yilma Woldgabreal","doi":"10.1016/j.avb.2023.101875","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.avb.2023.101875","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>What is the relationship between atrocity<span> denial and emotion in violent ethnic conflict? Atrocity denial is often anchored in instrumental calculations, as it facilitates implicated parties escaping legal and political accountability; yet it is also a phenomenon tethered to personal and mass emotions in important ways. Freud's classic intuition that denial arises from a subconscious desire to suppress painful emotions resonates specifically in the context of atrocity denial, since association with morally reprehensible acts can generate difficult sentiments of shame, guilt, and remorse that perpetrators and their constituents would prefer to avoid. Atrocity denial conventionally understood is thus a defense mechanism, designed to blunt distressing emotions, and its effect on violence is permissive—neutralizing the uncomfortable emotive sentiments that might otherwise constrain conflict in the future.</span></p><p>Using the case of the Ethiopian civil war, we argue that this classic conception of the atrocity denial-emotion nexus misses an important dimension. Atrocity denial blunts certain emotional responses, but appeals to emotion as well, including the very emotions that cause and sustain violent ethnic conflict. Careful analysis of two specific alleged atrocities committed in the course of the war—the Mai Kadra massacre and the ethnic of cleansing of Tigrayans in Western Tigray—and the corresponding denial narratives of the various parties to the conflict, highlight the ways in which emotions such as hatred, fear, and resentment are consistently invoked in denial accounts. Atrocity denial is thus not simply an act of defense via emotional supression, but through emotional appeals, constitutive of political violence itself.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":51360,"journal":{"name":"Aggression and Violent Behavior","volume":"73 ","pages":"Article 101875"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2023-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42961572","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Daniel Falla, Carmen Dueñas-Casado, Rosario Ortega-Ruiz
{"title":"Unjustified aggression in early childhood education: A systematic, narrative and conceptual review of the current scientific literature","authors":"Daniel Falla, Carmen Dueñas-Casado, Rosario Ortega-Ruiz","doi":"10.1016/j.avb.2023.101857","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.avb.2023.101857","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Unjustified aggression in early childhood education has received less scientific attention due to the methodological and ethical difficulties involved in working with children. This limitation has generated a degree of conceptual ambiguity, due to the methodological and procedural diversity employed by researchers. The aim of this study is to provide a systematic review on unjustified aggression and victimization in the classroom in early childhood over the last decade. Following the guidelines set by Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA), a total of 3905 articles published between 2011 and 2021 were reviewed, which were narrowed down to a final sample of 52 papers that met the inclusion criteria. The results indicated a low scientific production, in which the existing research comes almost exclusively from developed countries, where 57.70 % were carried out with samples of less than 250 participants. A total of 67.31 % of these studies have used teachers' reports to obtain the information, victimization does not feature highly in these studies, and there are few longitudinal studies in this respect. The results are discussed in relation to both the need to reconceptualize the construct and the need to standardize the methodology to obtain more robust data on this interpersonal classroom dynamic in early childhood.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":51360,"journal":{"name":"Aggression and Violent Behavior","volume":"72 ","pages":"Article 101857"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2023-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45898232","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Anonymity and its role in digital aggression: A systematic review","authors":"M. Kim , M. Ellithorpe , S.A. Burt","doi":"10.1016/j.avb.2023.101856","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.avb.2023.101856","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p><span>Digital aggression (DA), or the use of information communication technologies to inflict harm on others, is an emerging public health crisis. Targets of DA experience increased anxiety, depression, aggression, and higher rates of suicidal ideation and attempts. There is thus a clear need to uncover the origins of DA. A handful of studies have identified contextual features that increase DA, most notably anonymity. Critically, however, research in this context has rarely evaluated different aspects of anonymity, specifically technical versus social anonymity or self- versus other-anonymity. It has also frequently relied on potentially problematic self-report assessment techniques. The current paper sought to better understand the role of anonymity in DA with a </span>systematic review<span> of the relevant literature. While the systematic review did highlight a significant relationship between perpetrator self-anonymity and DA, we also uncovered evidence of a more complex and nuanced relationship between anonymity and DA than was expected, including the need to jointly consider positive cyberbullying attitudes and related constructs. Implications for prevention and intervention efforts aimed at reducing DA are discussed.</span></p></div>","PeriodicalId":51360,"journal":{"name":"Aggression and Violent Behavior","volume":"72 ","pages":"Article 101856"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2023-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42942174","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}