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

Developmental Psychology

Volumn 50, Issue 1, 2014, Pages 71-85

  Caprara, Gian Vittorio ^a   Tisak, Marie S ^b   Alessandri, Guido ^a   Fontaine, Reid Griffith ^c   Fida, Roberta ^a   Paciello, Marinella ^d  

^a SAPIENZA UNIVERSITY OF ROME   (Italy)

^b BOWLING GREEN STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^c DUKE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^d SECTION OF MATHEMATICS   (Italy)

Author keywords

Adolescents; Aggression; Personality; Young adults

Indexed keywords

ADOLESCENT; ADULT; AGGRESSION; ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE; EMOTION; FEMALE; HUMAN; HUMAN DEVELOPMENT; INDIVIDUALITY; LONGITUDINAL STUDY; MALE; MORALITY; PERSONALITY; PSYCHOLOGY; VIOLENCE; YOUNG ADULT;

ADOLESCENT; ADULT; AGGRESSION; ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE; EMOTIONS; FEMALE; HUMAN DEVELOPMENT; HUMANS; INDIVIDUALITY; LONGITUDINAL STUDIES; MALE; MORALE; PERSONALITY; VIOLENCE; YOUNG ADULT;

EID: 84891759568     PISSN: 00121649     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1037/a0034488     Document Type: Article

References (95)

1. Adams, R. E., Bukowski, W. M., & Bagwell, C. (2005). Stability of aggression during early adolescence as moderated by reciprocated friendship status and friend's aggression. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 29, 139-145. doi:10.1080/01650250444000397
2. Anderson, C. A., & Bushman, B. J. (2002). Human aggression. Annual Review of Psychology, 53, 27-51. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.53.100901.135231
3. Anderson, J. C., & Gerbing, D. W. (1988). Structural equation modeling in practice: A review and recommended two-step approach. Psychological Bulletin, 103, 411-423. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.103.3.411
4. Arsenio, W. F., & Gold, J. (2006). The effects of social injustice and inequality on children's moral judgments and behavior: Towards a theoretical model. Cognitive Development, 21, 388-400. doi:10.1016/j.cogdev.2006.06.005
5. Arsenio, W. F., & Lemerise, E. A. (2004). Aggression and moral development: Integrating social information processing and moral domain models. Child Development, 75, 987-1002. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2004.00720.x
6. Bandalos, D. L., & Finney, S. J. (2001). Item parceling issues in structural equation modeling. In G. A. Marcoulides & R. E. Schumacker (Eds.), Advanced structural equation modeling: New developments and techniques (pp. 269-296). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
7. Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
8. Bandura, A. (1991). Social cognitive theory of moral thought and action. In W. M. Kurtines & J. L. Gewirtz (Eds.), Handbook of moral behavior and development (Vol. I, pp. 45-103). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
9. Bandura, A. (1999). Moral disengagement in the perpetration of inhumanities. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 3, 193-209. doi: 10.1207/s15327957pspr0303_3
10. Bandura, A. (2001). Social cognitive theory: An agentic perspective. Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 1-26. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.52.1.1
11. Bandura, A., Barbaranelli, C., Caprara, G. V., & Pastorelli, C. (1996). Mechanism of moral disengagement in the exercise of moral agency. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 364-374. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.71.2.364
12. Bandura, A., Caprara, G. V., Barbaranelli, C., Pastorelli, C., & Regalia, C. (2001). Sociocognitive self-regulatory mechanisms governing transgressive behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 125-135. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.80.1.125
13. Bentler, P. M. (1990). Comparative fit indexes in structural models. Psychological Bulletin, 107, 238-246. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.107.2.238
14. Berkowitz, L. (1962). Aggression: A social psychological analysis. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
15. Berkowitz, L. (1989). Frustration-aggression hypothesis: Examination and reformulation. Psychological Bulletin, 106, 59-73. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.106.1.59
16. Berkowitz, L. (1993). Aggression: Its causes, consequences, and control. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
17. Bettencourt, B. A., Tally, A., Benjamin, A. J., & Valentine, J. (2006). Personality and aggressive behavior under provoking and neutral conditions: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 132, 751-777. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.132.5.751
18. Bollen, K. A. (1989). Structural equations with latent variables. New York, NY: Wiley.
19. Burnham, K. P., & Anderson, D. R. (2004). Multimodel inference: Understanding AIC and BIC in model selection. Sociological Methods & Research, 33, 261-304. doi:10.1177/0049124104268644
20. Bushman, B. J., Bonacci, A. M., Pedersen, W. C., Vasquez, E. A., & Miller, N. (2005). Chewing on it can chew you up: Effects of rumination on triggered displaced aggression. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88, 969-983. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.88.6.969
21. Caprara, G. V. (1986). Indicators of aggression: The Dissipation- Rumination Scale. Personality and Individual Differences, 7, 763-769. doi:10.1016/0191-8869(86)90074-7
22. Caprara, G. V. (1987). The disposition-situation debate and research on aggression. European Journal of Personality, 1, 1-16. doi:10.1002/per.2410010103
23. Caprara, G. V., Alessandri, G., Tisak, M. S., Paciello, M., Caprara, M. G., Gerbino, M., & Fontaine, R. G. (2013). Individual differences in personality conducive to engagement in aggression and violence. European Journal of Personality, 27, 290-303. doi:10.1002/per.1855
24. Caprara, G. V., Barbaranelli, C., Pastorelli, C., & Perugini, M. (1994). Individual differences in the study of human aggression. Aggressive Behavior, 20, 291-303. doi:10.1002/1098-2337(1994)20:4N291::AIDAB2480200403 3.0.CO;2-S
25. Caprara, G. V., Barbaranelli, C., & Zimbardo, P. G. (1996). Understanding the complexity of human aggression: Affective, cognitive and social dimensions of individual differences in propensity towards aggression. European Journal of Personality, 10, 133-155. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1099-0984(199606)10:2133::AID-PER2523.0.CO;2-E
26. Caprara, G. V., Cinanni, V., D'Imperio, G., Passerini, S., Renzi, P., & Travaglia, G. (1985). Indicators of impulsive aggression: Present status of research on irritability and emotional susceptibility scales. Personality and Individual Differences, 6, 665-674. doi:10.1016/0191-8869(85)90077-7
27. Caprara, G. V., Coluzzi, M., Mazzotti, E., Renzi, P., & Zelli, A. (1985). Effect of insult and dissipation-rumination on delayed aggression and hostility. Archivio di Psicologia, Neuologia e Psichiatria, 46, 130-139.
28. Caprara, G. V., Mazzotti, E., & Prezza, M. (1990). Una scala per la misura dell'atteggiamento verso la violenza [An instrument to assess attitudes toward violence]. Giornale Italiano di Psicologia, 17, 107-120. Retrieved from http://www.mulino.it/edizioni/riviste/issn/0390-5349
29. Caprara, G. V., Paciello, M., Gerbino, M., & Cugini, C. (2007). Individual differences conducive to aggression and violence: Trajectories and correlates of irritability and hostile rumination through adolescence. Aggressive Behavior, 33, 359-374. doi:10.1002/ab.20192
30. Caprara, G. V., Renzi, P., D'Augello, D., D'Imperio, G., Rielli, G., & Travaglia, G. (1986). Interpolating physical exercise between instigation to aggress and aggression: The role of irritability and emotional susceptibility. Aggressive Behavior, 12, 83-91. doi:10.1002/1098-2337(1986)12:283::AID-AB24801202023.0.CO;2-S
31. Carlo, G. (2006). Care-based and altruistically based morality. In M. Killen & J. G. Smetana (Eds.), Handbook of moral development (pp. 551-579). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
32. Carlo, G., Mestre, M. V., Samper, P., Tur, A., & Armenta, B. E. (2010). Feelings or cognition? Moral cognitions and emotions as longitudinal predictors of prosocial and aggressive behaviors. Personality and Individual Differences, 48, 872-877. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2010.02.010
33. Cattell, R. B., & Vogelmann, S. (1977). A comprehensive trial of the scree and KG criteria for determining the number of factors. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 12, 289-325. doi:10.1207/s15327906mbr1203_2
34. Cheung, G. W., & Rensvold, R. B. (2002). Evaluating goodness-of-fit indexes for testing measurement invariance. Structural Equation Modeling, 9, 233-255. doi:10.1207/S15328007SEM0902_5
35. Cole, D. A., & Maxwell, S. E. (2003). Testing mediational models with longitudinal data. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 112, 558-577. doi:10.1037/0021-843X.112.4.558
36. Crane-Ross, D., Tisak, M. S., & Tisak, J. (1998). Aggression and conventional rule violation among adolescents: Social-reasoning predictors of social behavior. Aggressive Behavior, 24, 347-365. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1098-2337(1998)24:5347::AID-AB23.0.CO;2-E
37. Crick, N. R. (1995). Relational aggression: The role of intent attributions, feelings of distress, and provocation type. Development and Psychopathology, 7, 313-322. doi:10.1017/S0954579400006520
38. Crick, N. R., & Dodge, K. A. (1994). A review and reformulation of social information-processing mechanisms in children's social adjustment. Psychological Bulletin, 115, 74-101. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.115.1.74
39. Dodge, K. A. (1991). The structure and function of reactive and proactive aggression. In D. Pepler & K. Rubin (Eds.), The developmental treatment of childhood aggression (pp. 201-218). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
40. Dollard, J., Doob, C. W., Miller, N. E., Mowrer, O. H., & Sears, R. R. (1939). Frustration and aggression. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. doi:10.1037/10022-000
41. Eccles, J. S., & Midgley, C. (1989). State-environment fit: Developmentally appropriate classrooms for young adolescents. In R. Ames & C. Ames (Eds.), Research on motivation in education: Vol. 3. Goals and cognitions (pp. 139-186). New York, NY: Academic Press.
42. Eisenberg, N., Spinrad, T. L., & Sadovsky, A. (2006). Empathy-related reasoning in children. In M. Killen & J. G. Smetana (Eds.), Handbook of moral development (pp. 517-549). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
43. Feingold, A. (1994). Gender differences in personality: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 116, 429-456. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.116.3.429
44. Fite, P. J., Stauffacher, K., Ostrov, J. M., & Colder, C. R. (2008). Replication and extension of Little et al.'s (2003) forms and functions of aggression measure. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 32, 238-242. doi:10.1177/0165025408089273
45. Fontaine, R. G. (2006). Applying systems principles to models of social information processing and aggressive behavior in youth. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 11, 64-76. doi:10.1016/j.avb.2005.05.003
46. Fontaine, R. G. (2007). Disentangling the psychology and law of instrumental and reactive subtypes of aggression. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 13, 143-165. doi:10.1037/1076-8971.13.2.143
47. Fontaine, R. G. (2012). The mind of the criminal: The role of developmental social cognition in criminal defense law. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9781139044066
48. Fontaine, R. G., & Dodge, K. A. (2009). Social information processing and aggressive behavior: A transactional perspective. In A. J. Sameroff(Ed.), The transactional model of development: How children and contexts shape each other (pp. 117-135). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. doi:10.1037/11877-007
49. Fontaine, R. G., Fida, R., Paciello, M., Tisak, M. S., & Caprara, G. V. (2012). The mediating role of moral disengagement in the developmental course from peer rejection in adolescence to crime in early adulthood. Psychology, Crime and Law. Advance online publication. doi:.10.1080/1068316X.2012.719622
50. Fontaine, R. G., Yang, C., Dodge, K. A., Pettit, G. S., & Bates, J. E. (2009). Development of response evaluation and decision (RED) and antisocial behavior in childhood and adolescence. Developmental Psychology, 45, 447-459. doi:10.1037/a0014142
51. Furstenberg, F. F., Eccles, J., Elder, G. H., Jr., Cook, T., & Sameroff, A. (1999). Adolescent development in urban communities: How families manage risk and opportunity. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
52. Geen, R. G. (1998). Processes and personal variables in affective aggression. In R. G. Geen & E. Donnerstein (Eds.), Human aggression (pp. 1-21). San Diego, CA: Academic Press doi:10.1016/B978-012278805-5/50002-X
53. Gibbs, J. C. (2003). Moral development and reality: Beyond the theories of Kohlberg and Hoffman. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
54. Gibbs, J. C., Potter, G. B., Barriga, A. Q., & Liau, A. K. (1996). Developing the helping skills and prosocial motivation of aggressive adolescents in peer group programs. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 1, 283-305. doi:10.1016/1359-1789(95)00018-6
55. Gini, G. (2006). Social cognition and moral cognition in bullying: What's wrong? Aggressive Behavior, 32, 528-539. doi:10.1002/ab.20153
56. Graber, J. A., Brooks-Gunn, J., & Petersen, A. C. (1996). Transitions through adolescence: Interpersonal domains and contexts. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
57. Hansen, W. B., Tobler, N. S., & Graham, J. W. (1990). Attrition in substance abuse prevention research: A meta analysis of 85 longitudinally followed cohorts. Evaluation Review, 14, 677-685. doi:10.1177/0193841X9001400608
58. Hoyle, R. H. (1995). Structural equation modeling: Concepts, issues, and applications. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
59. Hu, L., & Bentler, P. M. (1999). Cutoffcriteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling, 6, 1-55. doi:10.1080/10705519909540118
60. Huesmann, L. R. (1988). An information processing model for the development of aggression. Aggressive Behavior, 14, 13-24. doi:10.1002/1098-2337(1988)14:113::AID-AB24801401043.0.CO;2-J
61. Huesmann, L. R., & Guerra, N. G. (1997). Children's normative beliefs about aggression and aggressive behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72, 408-419. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.72.2.408
62. Istituto Italiano di Statistica. (2002). Annuario statistico italiano 2002 [Italian yearbook of statistics 2002]. Rome, Italy: Author.
63. Jöreskog, K. G., & Sörbom, D. (1984). LISREL VI: Analysis of linear structural relationships by method of maximum likelihood. Chicago, IL: National Educational Resources.
64. Kenny, D. A., West, T. V., Cillessen, A. H. N., Coie, J. D., Dodge, K. A., Hubbard, J. A., & Schwartz, D. (2007). Accuracy in judgments of aggressiveness. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 33, 1225-1236.
65. Killen, M., & Smetana, J. (2006). Handbook of moral development. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
66. Ladd, G. W. (2002). Identifying victims of peer aggression from early to middle childhood: Analysis of cross-informant data for concordance, estimation of relational adjustment, prevalence of victimization, and characteristics of identified victims. Psychological Assessment, 14, 74-96. doi:10.1037/1040-3590.14.1.74
67. Little, R. J. A., & Rubin, D. B. (2002). Statistical analysis with missing data. New York, NY: Wiley.
68. Loeber, R., & Hay, D. (1997). Key issues in the development of aggression and violence from childhood to early adulthood. Annual Review of Psychology, 48, 371-410. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.48.1.371
69. MacKinnon, D. P., Lockwood, C. M., Hoffman, J. M., West, S. G., & Sheets, V. (2002). A comparisons of methods to test mediation and other intervening variable effects. Psychological Methods, 7, 83-104, doi: 10.1037/1082-989X.7.1.83
70. Marsee, M. A., Barry, C. T., Childs, K. K., Frick, P. J., Kimonis, E. R., Muñoz, L. C.,.. Lau, K. S. L. (2011). Assessing the forms and functions of aggression using self-report: Factor structure and invariance of the Peer Conflict Scale in youths. Psychological Assessment, 23, 792-804. doi:10.1037/a0023369
71. Martinez, M. L., Black, M., & Starr, R. H. (2002). Factorial structure of the Perceived Neighbourhood Scale (PNS): A test of longitudinal invariance. Journal of Community Psychology, 30, 23-43. doi:10.1002/jcop.1048
72. Maxwell, S. E., & Cole, D. A. (2007). Bias in cross-sectional analysis of longitudinal mediation. Psychological Methods, 12, 23-44. doi:10.1037/1082-989X.12.1.23
73. McCullough, M. E., Bono, G., & Root, L. M. (2007). Rumination, emotion, and forgiveness: Three longitudinal studies. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92, 490-505. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.92.3.490
74. Meredith, W. (1993). Measurement invariance, factor analysis and factorial invariance. Psychometrika, 58, 525-543. doi:10.1007/BF02294825
75. Muthén, L. K., & Muthén, B. O. (2006). Mplus user's guide (4th ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Muthén & Muthén.
76. Nisbett, R. E., & Cohen, D. (1996). Culture of honor: The psychology of violence in the south. Denver, CO: Westview Press.
77. Olweus, D. (1979). Stability of aggressive patterns in males: A review. Psychological Bulletin, 86, 852-875. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.86.4.852
78. Paciello, M., Fida, R., Tramontano, C., Lupinetti, C., & Caprara, G. V. (2008). Stability and change of moral disengagement and its impact on aggression and violence in late adolescence. Child Development, 79, 1288-1309. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2008.01189.x
79. Roberts, B. W., Caspi, A., & Moffitt, T. E. (2001). The kids are alright: Growth and stability in personality development from adolescence to adulthood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 670-683. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.81.4.670
80. Roberts, B. W., & DelVecchio, W. F. (2000). The rank-order consistency of personality traits from childhood to old age: A quantitative review of longitudinal studies. Psychological Bulletin, 126, 3-25. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.126.1.3
81. Roberts, B. W., Walton, K. E., & Viechtbauer, W. (2006). Patterns of mean-level change in personality traits across the life course: A metaanalysis of longitudinal studies. Psychological Bulletin, 132, 1-25. doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.132.1.1
82. Sameroff, A. J., & MacKenzie, M. J. (2003). Research strategies for capturing transactional models of development: The limits of the pos- sible. Development and Psychopathology, 15, 613-640. doi:10.1017/S0954579403000312
83. Stanford, M. S. Greve, K. W., & Dickens, T. J. (1995). Irritability and impulsiveness: Relationship to self-reported impulsive aggression. Personality and Individual Differences, 19, 757-760. doi:10.1016/0191-8869(95)00144-U
84. Steiger, J. H., & Lind, J. C. (1980, May). Statistically based tests for the number of common factors. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Psychometric Society, Iowa City, IA.
85. Taylor, A. B., MacKinnon, D. P., & Tein, J. Y. (2008). Tests of the three-path mediated effect. Organizational Research Methods, 11, 241-269. doi:10.1177/1094428107300344
86. Tisak, M. S., & Jankowski, A. M. (1996). Societal rule evaluations: Adolescent offenders' reasoning about moral, conventional, and personal rules. Aggressive Behavior, 22, 195-207. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1098-2337(1996)22:3195::AID-AB43.0.CO;2-M
87. Tisak, M. S., Lewis, T., & Jankowski, A. M. (1997). Expectations and prescriptions for responding to peer aggression: The adolescent offenders' perspective. Aggressive Behavior, 23, 149-160. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1098-2337(1997)23:3149::AID-AB13.0.CO;2-H
88. Tisak, M. S., Tisak, J., & Goldstein, S. E. (2006). Aggression, delinquency, and morality: A social-cognitive perspective. In M. Killen & J. G. Smetana (Eds.), Handbook of moral development (pp. 611-629). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
89. Turiel, E. (1979). Distinct conceptual and developmental domains: Socialconvention and morality. In H. E. Howe & C. B. Keasey (Eds.), Nebraska symposium on motivation, 1977: Vol. 25. Social cognitive development (pp. 77-116). Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.
90. Turiel, E. (1983). The development of social knowledge: Morality and convention. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
91. Turiel, E. (2002). The culture of morality: Social development, context and conflict. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511613500
92. Turiel, E. (2010). Domain specificity in social interactions, social thought, and social development. Child Development, 81, 720-726. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01429.x
93. Vitiello, B., & Stoff, D. M. (1997). Subtypes of aggression and their relevance to child psychiatry. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 36, 307-315. doi:10.1097/00004583-199703000-00008
94. Widaman, K. F., & Reise, S. P. (1997). Exploring the measurement invariance of psychological instruments: Applications in the substance use domain. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. doi:10.1037/10222-009
95. Williams, J., & MacKinnon, D. P. (2008). Resampling and distribution of the product methods for testing indirect effects in complex models. Structural Equation Modeling, 15, 23-51. doi:10.1080/10705510701758166