Risk indicators and stress situations as related to pursuant disinhibitory psychosocial disturbances : Personality and extreme stress

• A new scale to assess pro-bullying attitudes, the Pro-Bullying Attitude Scale (PAS) was evaluated in 259 voluntarily recruited male juvenile delinquents in Russia. Exploratory factor analysis gave a two-factor solution: Callous Dominance (CD) and Manipulativeness/ Impulsiveness (MI). The subjects were divided into three groups (low, intermediate, high) according to their scores on PAS and its two factors. Low and high group Ss were compared and results indicated higher delinquent and aggressive behavior among high group Ss as assessed by the Youth Self Report (YSR) and violent behavior as assessed by the Antisocial Behavior Checklist (ABC), as well as higher scores on the personality trait Novelty seeking and lower on Cooperativeness as assessed by the Temperament and Character Inventory (Cloninger et al., 1994). High PAS and CD groups displayed significantly higher scores on psychopathy traits as assessed by the Childhood Psychopathy Scale (Lynam, 1997) significantly related to registered violent crime. Probullying attitudes are discussed as a link between personality and psychopathy on the one hand and antisocial and violent behavior on the other. The PAS is also discussed in terms of usefulness in identifying high-risk individuals for violent behavior among incarcerated delinquents and in preventing violence and bullying tendencies in juvenile forensic institutions.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Psykologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Psychology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

bullying

psychopathy

personality

juvenile delinquents

Psychology

Psykologi

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

kap (subject category)