Perceived Police Injustice, Moral Disengagement, and Aggression Among Juvenile Offenders: Utilizing the General Strain Theory Model

Effectiveness of Community-Based Programs on Aggressive Behavior Among Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Adolescent aggressive behavior has increasingly become a central issue affecting the safety of both school campuses and the broader society. Despite the existence of numerous community interventions targeting this issue, there has been a paucity of efforts to consolidate the findings on the effectiveness of community-based programs in preventing aggressive behavior. This meta-analysis sought to address this gap by reviewing and assessing the impact of community-based initiatives on reducing adolescent aggression. A thorough search was carried out on 12 electronic databases: EBSCO, ERIC, PubMed, PsycINFO, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Scopus, Web of Science, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, the China National Knowledge, Wanfang Databases, and China Science and Technology Journal Database. Sixteen studies were finalized, and meta-analyses were performed using a random effect model on RevMan v5.4 software developed by Cochrane. The analysis encompassed 16 published studies, involving a total of 2,585 participants. The key components of existing programs for aggression reduction included providing behavioral skills and training for adolescents, employing a problem-solving approach to address behavioral issues, offering psychological treatment, and emphasizing community supervision. The results indicate a significant positive effect of community-based interventions on aggression reduction (standardized mean difference = -0.26, 95% confidence intervals [-0.39, -0.13], Z = 3.84, p < .001). The subgroup analyses revealed that the intervention's effectiveness was moderated by the duration of the intervention, its theoretical foundation, and the sample size. This study furnishes empirical evidence supporting the enhancement of policies and practices to foster community engagement in mitigating aggressive behavior.

Spirituality and Cyberaggression: Mediating and Moderating Effect of Self-Control and School Climate

BACKGROUND

Cyberaggression is an essential topic to focus on when it comes to adolescents' development. We focused on understanding the relationship between spirituality, self-control, school climate, and cyberaggression by examining the mediating and moderating effect of self-control and school climate.

METHODS

We examined 456 middle school students (M age = 13.45, SD = 1.07), 475 high school students (M age = 16.35, SD = 0.76), and 1117 college students (M age = 20.22, SD = 1.50).

RESULTS

Results indicated that the mediating effect of self-control was significant for the college sample on both types of cyberaggression and marginally significant for the high school and middle school sample on reactive cyberaggression. The moderating effect varied across the three samples. School climate moderated the first half of the mediation model for all three samples, the second half for middle school and college student samples on reactive cyberaggression, the direct path for middle school samples on reactive cyberaggression, and the college student sample on both types of cyberaggression.

CONCLUSION

Spirituality has varying degrees of association with cyberaggression through the mediating role of self-control and the moderating role of school climate.

Differences in Offending Behaviors, Aggression, Substance Use, and Mental Health Problems between Male Drug Dealers and Non-Drug Dealers in Belgian Youth Detention Centers

This study investigated whether drug dealing juvenile offenders in Belgium differ from non-drug dealers in levels of violent and non-violent offending behaviors, aggression, substance use, and mental health needs. The current study examined data from 226 16- to 17-year-old male juvenile offenders. Information relating to drug dealing, substance use, and mental health needs were collected through self-report questionnaires. A structured diagnostic interview was used to collect information about past violent and non-violent behaviors. Chi-square tests and multivariate analysis of variance compared non-dealers and dealers and explored if hard-drug dealers and soft-drug dealers differed from each other. Relative to non-drug dealers, drug dealers engaged in more violent offending behaviors, exhibited higher levels of aggression, substance use and oppositional defiant problems, and displayed lower levels of anxiety. Soft- and hard-drug dealers did not differ from each other. To conclude, detained drug dealers are characterized by severe antisocial behavior.

Examining the Pathologic Adaptation Model of Community Violence Exposure in Justice Involved Adolescents: the Moderating and Mediating Effects of Moral Disengagement

According to the pathologic adaptation model (Ng-Mak et al. in The American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 72, 92-101, 2002), youth who experience community violence exposure may become desensitized to these experiences. Moral disengagement, which refers to changing one's moral or ethical standards to justify engaging in destructive or harmful behavior, has been proposed as a construct to explain the relation between community violence exposure and desensitization (Bandura et al., 1996). The purpose of the current study was to test the pathologic adaptation model of community violence exposure and examine the role of moral disengagement in these pathways. The current study included a sample of justice-involved adolescents (n = 1,170; M age = 16.05, SD = 1.16) from the Pathways to Desistance study. The PROCESS bootstrapping procedure for SPSS was used to examine whether moral disengagement mediates the associations from community violence to aggressive behaviors and depressive. Exploratory analyses examined moral disengagement as a moderator these associations. Moral disengagement significantly moderated the association between witnessing violence and self-reported offending such that witnessing violence at baseline significantly positively predicted offending for individuals who were moderate to high (but not low) in moral disengagement. In contrast, moral disengagement did not moderate the linear association between community violence exposure and depressive symptoms. Further, moral disengagement did not mediate the association between community violence exposure and offending. Results from this study highlight the need to increase access to mental health services and re-entry programs to reduce offending behaviors for justice-involved youth.

Trust in the Police during the Pro-Democracy Movement in Hong Kong: Psychosocial Factors of Perceived Procedural and Distributive Justice

Hong Kong has experienced social unrest in response to the proposed anti-extradition bill since early June 2019. Demonstrations and rallies have often ended in violent clashes between protestors and the police. Based on a sample of 1024 Hong Kong adults, this study explored the psychosocial factors underlying public perceptions of police procedural and distributive justice among Hong Kongers. Testing the propositions of several criminological theories (i.e., neutralization theory, the general aggression model, general strain theory, and self-control theory), the findings indicated that men reported significantly more positive general perceptions of police procedural and distributive justice, better general mental health, and more negative attitudes toward violence than women did. Young adults perceived significantly higher levels of police general, procedural, and distributive justice than did their middle-aged and older counterparts, who reported significantly better general mental health and greater self-control. Multivariate analyses indicated that across all age groups, better general mental health, greater self-control, and more negative attitudes toward violence were significantly associated with positive perceptions of police general, procedural, and distributive justice. This study concludes with practical guidance for enhancing public perceptions of police procedural and distributive fairness.

Violent video games exposure and aggression: The role of moral disengagement, anger, hostility, and disinhibition

Based on the General Aggression Model (GAM), the current study investigated the interactive effect of personal factors (e.g., sensation-seeking) and situational factors (e.g., violent video games exposure [VVGE]) on the trait aggressive behavior, and the mediating role of individual difference trait (e.g., moral disengagement, anger, and hostility). We recruited 547 undergraduates (48.45% male) from five Chinese universities. The results showed that VVGE was positively associated with moral disengagement, disinhibition, and the four aggressive traits (physical aggression, verbal aggression, anger, and hostility), which were positively associated with each other. Moral disengagement was positively associated with both the disinhibition and the four aggressive traits. Disinhibition was positively associated with the four aggressive traits as well. When controlled for gender, moral disengagement, anger, and hostility wholly mediated the relationship between VVGE and aggression, but the moderation effect of disinhibition was not significant. These findings support the framework of GAM and indicate that moral disengagement, anger, and hostility may be the factors that increase the risk of a higher level of aggression following repeated exposure to violent video games.

Potential roles of masculine role discrepancy, discrepancy stress, and self-esteem in affecting addictive use of social networking sites among Chinese men: A random population-based study

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Masculine role discrepancy (i.e., men perceiving themselves not living up to the ideal manhood and being less masculine than the typical "man") and related discrepancy stress were associated with some risk behaviors. No study has looked at their relationships with addictive use of social networking sites (SNSs), an emerging potential public health concern. The study constructed a moderated mediation model to test whether masculine role discrepancy would be positively associated with discrepancy stress, which would, in turn, be positively associated with addictive use of SNS, and whether self-esteem would buffer (moderate) the association between masculine role discrepancy and discrepancy stress.

METHODS

A random population-based cross-sectional telephone survey interviewed 2,000 Hong Kong male adults in the general population.

RESULTS

Currently unmarried and non-cohabiting, younger, and better educated participants reported higher addictive use of SNS scores than others. Adjusted for these variables, masculine role discrepancy and discrepancy stress were positively associated, and self-esteem was negatively associated with addictive use of SNS scores. Path analysis indicated that masculine role discrepancy was associated with addictive use of SNS through discrepancy stress (mediation); self-esteem buffered (moderated) the association between masculine role discrepancy and discrepancy stress; self-esteem was not significantly associated with addictive use of SNS in this model with good fit.

DISCUSSION

The findings support the general strain theory's postulation that strain is associated with stress, which is in turn associated with addictive use of SNS sites. Implications, potential interventions, and future studies are discussed in this study.