Because a peaceful environment favors the thriving of individuals, communities, and nations, efforts to investigate the factors promoting peace can be considered among the most virtuous research undertakings. Personality seems to influence peace attitudes, and this study examines whether and which Big Five subscales influence peace attitudes. In our study, 121 individuals (80 female), completed the Big Five Questionnaire and the Peace Attitude Scale. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to investigate which traits better predict peace attitudes. Results confirmed existing evidence: Conscientiousness and Openness to Experience are associated with peace attitudes. We also observed associations with Emotional Stability and Agreeableness. Gender plays a role too: Female subjects scores higher on all subscales except for the Personal Well-Being factor. Public Significance StatementThis study confirms and expand on previous literature suggesting that all personality facets are related to peace attitudes and that women tend to score higher in measures of the latter. Furthermore, a model comprising openness to experience, conscientiousness, emotional stability and agreeableness shows predictive power over peace attitudes.

The peace construct has been observed by many theoretical perspectives (e.g., positive psychology, social psychology, international relations) and each contribution emphasized complementary aspects leading to different approaches to measurement and subdomain structure. Still, at present, no existing instrument provides a comprehensive assessment of these areas. The aim of this study is to contribute to the development, pilot testing, and initial validation of the Peace Attitude Scale (PAS), and to determine its psychometric properties, validity, and reliability. A total of 499 subjects were tested using items graded on a 7-point Likert scale. Validity analyses were performed using self-compassion subscales and by examining mean differences across people who did and did not engage in volunteering activities. Test-retest reliability was performed on 64 subjects. Results showed that, after an exploratory factor analysis, 5 domains appeared to be relevant: Sociopolitical, Personal Well-Being, Ease With Diversity, Environmental Attitude, and Caring. The PAS can be used to further assess the relationship between peace and other relevant variables. More research is needed first to confirm the validity of PAS and second to test its usefulness in educational and social settings. Public Significance StatementThe Peace Attitude Scale, a novel tool to measure individual peace attitudes, incorporates several domains that have been previously described in peace research. The paper presents this new instrument and provides a preliminary evaluation of its psychometric properties.

Purpose Taking into account previous literature on the role that the parenting styles to which individuals are exposed to during childhood have in shaping prosocial behaviors and attitudes, this study aims to investigate the relationship between parenting styles of parents and peace attitudes. Design/methodology/approach The peace attitude and the parenting style questionnaires were completed by 358 adolescent and adult participants. Pearson correlation coefficients were extracted and a stepwise multiple regression analysis was performed. Findings The results indicate that individuals with authoritative parents tend to show stronger peace attitudes and open the way to further study what parental characteristics may be responsible for the development of peace attitudes in individuals. Research limitations/implications Participants retrospectively assessed their parents’ style. Future research may recruit both the actual parents of participants to collect more accurate data on parenting practices or use observational methods. Social implications This work seems to suggest that to achieve a more peaceful society, the ability of parents to raise their children by adopting an authoritative style should be taken into account and – if needed – enhanced. Understanding the developmental pathways that can influence individuals to consistently choose peace is important to promote a stable culture of peace across several levels of observation. Originality/value To the best of authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the relationship between parenting styles of parents and peace attitudes in their children.

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