Pro-bullying attitudes among incarcerated juvenile delinquents: Antisocial behavior, psychopathic tendencies and violent crime

Abstract

The objective was to evaluate a new scale aimed at assessing antisocial attitudes, the Probullying Attitude Scale (PAS), on a group of 259 voluntarily-recruited male juvenile delinquents from a juvenile correctional institution in Arkhangelsk, North-western Russia.Exploratory factor analysis gave a two-factor solution: Factor 1 denoted Callous/Dominance and Factor 2 denoted Manipulativeness/Impulsiveness. Subjects with complete data on PAS and Childhood Psychopathy Scale (CPS) (n= 171) were divided into extreme groups (first and fourth quartile) according to their total scores on PAS and the two factor scores, respectively.The extreme groups of total PAS and PAS Factor 1 differed in CPS ratings and in violent behavior as assessed by the Antisocial Behavior Checklist (ABC). They also differed in the personality dimension Harm Avoidance as measured by use of the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI), and in delinquent and aggressive behavior as assessed by the Youth Self Report (YSR). The extreme groups of PAS Factor 2, in turn, differed in aggressive behavior as assessed by the YSR, and in the TCI scale Self-Directedness. When PAS was used as a continuous variable, total PAS and PAS Factor 1 (Callous/Dominance) were significantly positively related to registered violent crime. In conclusion, the possible usefulness of PAS in identifying high-risk individuals for bullying tendencies among incarcerated delinquents is discussed.

Does Bullying Attitude Matter in School Bullying among Adolescent Students: Evidence from 34 OECD Countries

“…A study on 170 pupils from Grade 7 to Grade 10 in the U.K. has shown that the mean score for support for victims ranged from 11 to 14, and the mean score for pro-bullying ranged from 7 to 8, indicating that most adolescents expressed a relatively high level of support for victims and anti-bullying attitudes [ 26 ]. However, attitudes in support of bullying were also reportedly present [ 24 , 28 ], considering the culture of manliness [ 24 ] and the misperception of social norms [ 23 ]. From an English primary school sample ( N = 326), Eslae and Smith (2000) found that although students were inclined to positive anti-bullying attitudes on the whole, 42% of students agreed that “most kids who bully do it for a reason,” and 38% of them agreed “I can understand how some children enjoy bullying” [ 24 ].…”

Bullying Perpetration and Subsequent Delinquency: A Regression-Based Analysis of Early Adolescent Schoolchildren

“…Research, for instance, indicates that social support is a protective factor (Konishi & Hymel, 2009) and bullying victimization (Cook, Williams, Guerra, Kim, & Sadek, 2010) and probullying attitudes (Golmaryami et al, 2016) risk factors for bullying perpetration. There is also evidence that low social support (Huebner & Betts, 2002), bullying victimization (Cullen, Unnever, Hartman, Turner, & Agnew, 2008), and probullying attitudes (Wiklund, Ruchkin, Koposov, & af Klinteberg, 2014) correlate with delinquency. Studies have identified parental knowledge of a child’s whereabouts and activities as a protective factor (Kerr & Stattin, 2000) and impulsivity/low self-control (Pratt & Cullen, 2000) and delinquent peer associations (Akers, 1998) as risk factors for delinquency.…”

The role of psychopathic traits among intimate partner-violent men: A systematic review

“…Despite a large body of literature suggesting the strong predictive power of psychopathy on dangerousnessviolent and aggressive behavior (Hecht, Berg, Lilienfeld, & Latzman, 2016;Reidy et al, 2015), violent criminal behavior (Dil & Kazmi, 2016;Wiklund, Ruchkin, Koposov, & Af Klinteberg, 2014), recidivism (Richards et al, 2016;Sturup, Karlberg, Fredriksson, Lihoff, & Kristiansson, 2016), and even violent recidivism (Richards et al, 2016;Sitney, Caldwell, & Caldwell, 2016)little is known about the role of psychopathic traits in IPV perpetration. Although traditional batterer typologies have suggested that psychopaths could belong to a specific batterer subtype-type 86 1 batterers, proposed by Gottman et al (1995), and Jacobson and Gottman (1998), or generally violent/antisocial (GVA) batterers, proposed by Holtzworth-Munroe and Stuart (1994)-further empirical studies testing these hypotheses are necessary.…”