Serious violent behavior and antisocial outcomes as consequences of exposure to ethnic-political conflict and violence among Israeli and Palestinian youth

Psychological responses to political hostility: a study on aggression, bullying, and well-being in Qatar

In 2017, the Gulf crisis led to a blockade that severely restricted Qatar's air, land, and sea access. This political crisis had far-reaching consequences, particularly affecting cross-national families and children. This qualitative analysis explores the effects of the blockade's political instability on individuals and families, specifically for Qatari citizens married to non-Qatari spouses and their cross-national children. Applying the General Aggression Model and Social Learning Theory, we interviewed 24 individuals residing in Qatar from nations directly affected by the crisis (Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates). Two main themes emerged: first, the characteristics of aggressive and bullying behaviour, and second, the impacts on the well-being of cross-national families. The results showed that Qatari women and their children suffered disproportionately due to gender-based citizenship rights issues. The impacts on their well-being included heightened anxiety, depression, feelings of danger, uncertainty, and division within individuals, families, and communities. Recommendations include increasing collaborative efforts between governments, educational institutions, and community-based organizations, which are crucial to addressing aggressive and bullying behaviour across all age groups fostering a more harmonious and resilient society.

Youth involvement in serious physical violence and political violence: Similarities and differences in risk factors

INTRODUCTION

Youth involvement in violence and delinquency has received widespread attention in the literature. However, little is known about youth involvement in political violence, especially among youth who live in conflict areas. The current study examined the mechanisms that underlie youth involvement in serious physical and political violence. We explored the similarities and differences in the association between both individual factors (including religiosity and school commitment) and parental factors (including parental control and education), and the two types of violent behaviors.

METHOD

A large representative sample of 814 Arab male students from neighborhoods located in East Jerusalem, aged 12-18 years, completed a structured, anonymous, self-report questionnaire. The data was collected between February and May 2019.

RESULTS

Over half of the participants reported that they had been involved in political violence (55.1%) or serious physical violence (58.8%) during the previous year. Youth involvement in serious physical violence was positively associated with involvement in political violence. Furthermore, we found that greater parental control and lower impulsivity are associated with lower levels of political and physical violence. School commitment was associated negatively with serious physical violence but not with involvement in political violence. Youth work was positively correlated with involvement in political violence but not in serious physical violence.

CONCLUSION

The results of the current study show that Arab youth from East Jerusalem are highly involved in political and serious physical violence. The risk and protective factors identified here should inform the design of specific intervention strategies.

The moderation effect of mentalization in the relationship between impulsiveness and aggressive behavior

Aggressive behavior is a growing problem across many contexts. Thus, searching for its predictors is important. The aim of the current study was to analyze the moderator effect of mentalization in the relationship between impulsiveness and both verbal and physical aggressive behavior, using a sample of 583 participants gathered from the general Spanish population (MAge  = 34.60, SDAge  = 12.99). In our sample, 182 were male and 401 were female. The results showed significant bivariate relationships among aggression, impulsiveness, and mentalization. Moderation structural equation modeling (MSEM) showed a significant moderation effect, so whereas the value of mentalization is not relevant in cases of people with low impulsiveness, high mentalization abilities allow those people with high impulsiveness to behave less aggressively than people with high impulsiveness and low mentalization abilities. Practical implications and limitations of the study are discussed.

Exposure to violence predicts callous-unemotional traits and aggression in adolescence in the context of persistent ethnic-political conflict and violence

According to social-cognitive ecological theory, violence exposure increases emotional factors-such as callous-unemotional (CU) traits-which then contribute to engagement in aggressive behavior. However, previous research has generally not tested this mediational pathway, particularly in the context of persistent ethnic-political violence exposure. The present study examined associations among violence exposure, CU traits, and aggression in a sample of 1051 youth in the Middle East (Palestine and Israel), using youth- and parent-reported data in a cohort-sequential design with three age cohorts (starting ages 8, 11, and 14 years) assessed over four waves spanning 6 years. Results from structural equation models with latent variables indicated that cumulative violence exposure in childhood and adolescence (measured annually for 3 years, and comprising exposure across multiple settings including political, community, family, and school) predicted later CU traits and aggression in adolescence and early adulthood, even after controlling for earlier levels of aggression and CU traits and demographic characteristics (child age and sex and parental socioeconomic status). Additionally, in mediation analyses, CU significantly mediated the association from earlier cumulative violence exposure to concurrent aggression, while aggression did not significantly mediate the association from earlier exposure to concurrent CU traits. The results of this study suggest that violence exposure leads to both aggressive behavior and a constellation of traits that place youth at greater risk for subsequent aggressive behavior, and that CU traits could partially explain the increased risk of aggression after violence exposure.

Consequences of Exposure to War Violence: Discriminating Those with Heightened Risk for Aggression from Those with Heightened Risk for Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms

Chronic exposure to ethnic-political and war violence has deleterious effects throughout childhood. Some youths exposed to war violence are more likely to act aggressively afterwards, and some are more likely to experience post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTS symptoms). However, the concordance of these two outcomes is not strong, and it is unclear what discriminates between those who are at more risk for one or the other. Drawing on prior research on desensitization and arousal and on recent social-cognitive theorizing about how high anxious arousal to violence can inhibit aggression, we hypothesized that those who characteristically experience higher anxious arousal when exposed to violence should display a lower increase in aggression after exposure to war violence but the same or a higher increase in PTS symptoms compared to those low in anxious arousal. To test this hypothesis, we analyzed data from our 4-wave longitudinal interview study of 1051 Israeli and Palestinian youths (ages at Wave 1 ranged from 8 to 14, and at Wave 4 from 15-22). We used the 4 waves of data on aggression, PTS symptoms, and exposure to war violence, along with additional data collected during Wave 4 on the anxious arousal participants experienced while watching a very violent film unrelated to war violence (N = 337). Longitudinal analyses revealed that exposure to war violence significantly increased both the risk of subsequent aggression and PTS symptoms. However, anxious arousal in response to seeing the unrelated violent film (measured from skin conductance and self-reports of anxiety) moderated the relation between exposure to war violence and subsequent psychological and behavioral outcomes. Those who experienced greater anxious arousal while watching the violent film showed a weaker positive relation between amount of exposure to war violence and aggression toward their peers but a stronger positive relation between amount of exposure to war violence and PTS symptoms.

A Developmental Psychopathology Perspective on Political Violence and Youth Adjustment

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The longitudinal relation between violence exposure in daily life, hostile automatic thoughts, and cyber-aggression

Cyber-aggression is a serious social problem worldwide. Its risks have been frequently explored, and violence exposure in daily life has been regarded as an important risk factor of cyber-aggression. However, the longitudinal association between violence exposure in daily life and cyber-aggression has not yet been examined, and the mechanisms underlying the link between violence exposure and cyber-aggression remain largely unclear. Based on the General Aggression Model and Script Theory, we explored the circular relation between violence exposure in daily life, hostile automatic thoughts, and cyber-aggression. The current study adopted a longitudinal design to address these issues among 941 college students. The results indicated violence exposure in daily life predicted hostile automatic thoughts and cyber-aggression 6 months later; hostile automatic thoughts predicted violence exposure and cyber-aggression 6 months later; and cyber-aggression predicted hostile automatic thoughts and violence exposure 6 months later. Moreover, each of them plays a mediating role in the association between the other two variables. These results support and expand the General Aggression Model and Script Theory that violence exposure, aggressive cognition, and aggression facilitate each other. This also provides theoretical guidance on reducing cyber-aggression in daily life.

Longitudinal predictions of young adults' weapons use and criminal behavior from their childhood exposure to violence

In this study, we examine whether youth who are exposed to more weapons violence are subsequently more likely to behave violently with weapons. We use data collected with a 3-cohort, 4-wave, 10-year longitudinal study of 426 high-risk youth from Flint, Michigan, who were second, fourth, or ninth-graders in 2006-2007. The data were obtained from individual interviews with the youth, their parents, and their teachers, from archival school and criminal justice records, and from geo-coded criminal offense data. These data show that early exposure to weapons violence significantly correlates at modest levels with weapon carrying, weapon use or threats-to-use, arrests for weapons use, and criminally violent acts 10 years later. Multiple regression analyses, controlling for children's initial aggressiveness, intellectual achievement, and parents' income, education, and aggression, reveal statistically significant independent 10-year effects: (1) more early exposure to weapon use within the family predicts more using or threatening to use a gun; (2) more cumulative early violent video game playing predicts more gun using or threatening to use weapons, and normative beliefs that gun use is acceptable; (3) more cumulative early exposure to neighborhood gun violence predicts more arrests for a weapons crime; and (4) more cumulative early exposure to movie violence predicts more weapon carrying. We argue that youth who observe violence with weapons, whether in the family, among peers, or through the media or video games, are likely to be infected from exposure with a social-cognitive-emotional disease that increases their own risk of behaving violently with weapons later in life.