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January 2016

The Development Of Hostile Cognitive SchemasAnd Adult Aggressive TendenciesKristin Elisabeth Matson

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THEDEVELOPMENTOFHOSTILECOGNITIVESCHEMASANDADULTAGGRESSIVETENDENCIES

by

KristinElisabethMatsonBachelorofArts,St.OlafCollege,2008

MasterofScience,MinnesotaStateUniversity,Mankato,2011

ADissertation

SubmittedtotheGraduateFaculty

ofthe

UniversityofNorthDakota

inpartialfulfillmentoftherequirements

forthedegreeof

DoctorofPhilosophy

GrandForks,NorthDakota

August2016

ii

Thisdissertation,submittedbyKristinElisabethMatson,inpartialfulfillmentoftherequirementsfortheDegreeofDoctorofPhilosophyfromtheUniversityofNorthDakota,hasbeenreadbytheFacultyAdvisoryCommitteeunderwhomtheworkhasbeendoneandisherebyapproved.

iii

PERMISSION

Title TheDevelopmentofHostileCognitiveSchemasandAdultAggressive

TendenciesDepartment PsychologyDegree DoctorofPhilosophy InpresentingthisdissertationinpartialfulfillmentoftherequirementsforagraduatedegreefromtheUniversityofNorthDakota,IagreethatthelibraryofthisUniversityshallmakeitfreelyavailableforinspection.Ifurtheragreethatpermissionforextensivecopyingforscholarlypurposesmaybegrantedbytheprofessorwhosupervisedmydissertationworkor,inhisabsence,bytheChairpersonofthedepartmentorthedeanoftheSchoolofGraduateStudies.Itisunderstoodthatanycopyingorpublicationorotheruseofthisdissertationorpartthereofforfinancialgainshallnotbeallowedwithoutmywrittenpermission.ItisalsounderstoodthatduerecognitionshallbegiventomeandtotheUniversityofNorthDakotainanyscholarlyusewhichmaybemadeofanymaterialinmydissertation.

KristinElisabethMatsonMay17,2016

iv

TABLEOFCONTENTSLISTOFTABLES…………………………………………………………………………………………………...vACKNOWLEDGMENTS…………………………………………………………………………………………viABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………………………………….……...viiCHAPTER

I. INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………….…………..1

II. LITERATUREREVIEW…………………………………………………………….……....5

ChildhoodMaltreatment……………………………………………………...5

PersonalityTrait………………………………………………………………….7

Hypermasculinity………………………………………………………………10

HostileAttributionBias………………………….………………………….12

MeasuringAggression…………………………...…………………………..17AggressionTraitMeasures…………………...…………………17Laboratory–ProvokedAggression………………………….18CrimeIndices………………………………………………………….19LifetimeAggressionSelf-Report………………………………20

GunInterestandUse……………………………………………...………….22

CurrentStudy…………………………………………………………………....29

III. METHOD…………………………………………………………………………….………...31

Participants……………………………………………………………………....31

ExclusionCriteria………………………………………………………………32

v

PredictorVariables……………………………………………………………32

ViolentExperiencesQuestionnaire–Revised.................32PersonalityInventoryforDSM-5-BriefForm.................35AttributionBiasQuestionnaire..............................................37AuburnDifferentialMasculinityInventory......................38HonorIdeologyforManhoodScale......................................38

DependentVariables..................................................................................39

BussPerryAggressionQuestionnaire.................................39LifetimeAssessmentofViolentActs………………………...40GunEnthusiasmQuestionnaire…………………………….....41

Procedure…………………………………………………………………………42

IV. RESULTS………………………………………………………………………………………44

DescriptiveStatistics…………………………………………………………44CorrelationAnalyses………………………………………………………….47RegressionAnalyses………………………………………………………….49GunEnthusiasmandTraitAggression………………………………..51SelectedInteractionAnalyses…………………………………………….53DirectandIndirectMaltreatmentEffects……………………………55

V. DISCUSSION…………………………………………………………………………..……..57

Limitations………………………………………………………………………..65

APPENDICES…………………………………………………………………………………………………...…67REFERENCES……………………………………………………………………………………………………..76

vi

LISTOFTABLES

Table Page

1. DescriptiveStatisticsforVariablesIncludedintheAnalysis…………….……….44

2. FrequencyDistributionsforLAVAAggressionIndices……………………………...45

3. PercentageofSampleIdentifyingAggressionTriggersforOneor

MorePriorIncidents…………………………………………………………………………….………46

4. BivariateCorrelationCoefficientsforPredictorandAggressionIndices……47

5. BivariateCorrelationMatrixofPredictorIntercorrelations…………….………..48

6. BivariateCorrelationMatrixofAggressionIndices…………………………….…….48

7. MultipleRegressionUsingtheEnterMethodwith

AllPredictorVariables…………………………………………………………….………………49

8. ModelSummaryUsingEnterMethodtoIncludeAllPredictors

inEachModel…………………………………………………………………………………………50

9. GunEnthusiasmandPossessionGroupContrastsonSelectedPredictors…..52

10. SelectedInteractionAnalysesUsingPredictorMedianSplitANOVAS……….53

11. TotalVEQ-RAbuseDirectandMediated(RiskFactor)Effects

onAggression…………………………………………………………………………………………55

vii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

IwouldliketoacknowledgeandthankmycommitteechairpersonDr.Alan

King.Hisexcitementaboutthisprojectandhisdedicationtocreatingmeaningful

researchprovidedthefoundationforthiswork.Heestablishedanatmosphere

conducivetothefreeflowofideas,andhelpedtocreativelyintegratethoseideas

intoaresearchprojectthatisindividuallymeaningfulandunique.Withouthis

tirelessexplanationsofstatisticalanalyses,thisprojectwouldstillbeatChapterIII.

Iwouldalsoliketothankmycommitteemembers,Dr.RichardWise,Dr.

AndreKehn,Dr.HeatherTerrell,andDr.DonaldSens.Youruniqueperspectivesand

contributionstothisdissertationopenedmyeyestodifferentwaysofapproaching

research.

Finally,thisworkwouldnotbecompletewithoutthesupportandassistance

fromfriendsandfamily.Youreaddrafts,brainstormedanalysisideas,collected

signatures,andhelpedmecodequalitativedata.Iamindebtedtoyou.Thankyou.

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ABSTRACT

Thisdissertationresearchservedasanexplorationintotherelationships

betweenchildhoodmaltreatment,personalityfactors(i.e.negativeaffectand

antagonism),cognitivebiases(i.e.hostileattributionbiasandhypermasculinity),

adultaggression,andgunenthusiasm.Previousliteraturehasshownrelationships

betweenthesevariablesindividuallyandthisresearchattemptedtoprovidemore

insightintothecomplicatedinterplaybetweennumerousfactorsoftenpresentin

thelifeofanaggressiveadult.Theparticipantsincluded885menovertheageof18

andresidingintheUnitedStateswhowererecruitedthroughAmazonMechanical

Turksurveyservicetocompleteeightassessmentsonline.Resultsindicated

aggressiveideationandtendencieswerepredictedbyantagonism,negativeaffect,

hypermasculinity,siblinghostility,domestichostility,andgunenthusiasm,whilea

historyofaggressiveactsinadulthoodwaspredictedbyhypermasculinity,sibling

hostility,andpeerhostility.Stronginterestingunuseandownershipwaspredicted

byhypermasculinity,andindividualswhoownedgunsreportedengaginginmore

historicalaggressiveactsthanthosewhodidnotownguns.Antagonismincreased

therelationshipbetweenhypermasculinityandaggression,hostileintentbiasand

aggression,andgunenthusiasmandaggression.Whilethisstudyfoundseveral

interestingrelationshipsrelatingtoadultaggression,moreresearchisneededto

isolatespecificfactors.

1

CHAPTERI

INTRODUCTION

TheGeneralAggressionModel(GAM:Anderson&Bushman,2002;DeWall,

Anderson,&Bushman,2011)proposesthatantagonisticbiologicalpredispositions

(e.g.,prefrontalinhibitorydeficits,hormonalandbiochemicalimbalances,etc.)

aremagnifiedbyearlydevelopmentalhistory(e.g.,childabuse,exposuretoviolent

rolemodels,etc.)leadingtocognitiveschemas(attention,memoryand

interpretationbiases,hostileattributionbias,etc.)thatmediateresponsesto

perceivedprovocationandothersituationalstressors.Anessentialcomponentin

themodelinvolvestheextenttowhichhostilemeaningisattributedtosituational

andinterpersonalcuesthatmaybeotherwiseviewedasbenignandharmless.Cue

interpretationsarethoughttodevelopasapartialfunctionofbothpositive(e.g.,

closefriendships,familyvalues,academicandworksuccess,etc.)andnegative(e.g.,

childabuse,trauma,violentgaming,alcoholabuse)learningexperiences.TheGAM

thusprovidesacomprehensivebiosociallearningmodel,whichcanintegratemost

potentialaggressioncontributorsintocoherentcategoriesthatwilldifferintheir

levelsofimportanceonacase-by-casebasis.Singlefactorsanalyzedinisolationare

routinelyfoundtoaccountforlimitedvariance(<10%)inselectedaggression

dependentmeasures.Contemporaryaggressionresearcheshavesoughttoidentify

factorinteractions,whichholdpotentialtoaccountforsubstantialvariancein

2

aggressiverespondingwithinselectedsubsetsofthegeneralpopulation.Geen

(1990)postulatedthatexpressionofaggressionistheresultofbackground

variablessuchasgenes,personality,andexposuretoviolenceaswellas

environmentalstimulithatproducestressorfrustration.Morespecifically,ifan

individualwithbackgroundvariablesthatpredisposethepersontoaggression

interpretsasituationasintentionallyhostile,theywillengageinaggressive

behaviors,especiallycomparedtoasituationthattheindividualinterpretsas

explanatoryorunintentional.Inanothertheoryofaggression,Berkowitz(1993)

theorizedthataggressivebehaviorwascausedbynegativeaffectivityinresponseto

situationsofhostilityandinsult.

Personalitytraitshavebeendefinedinthecontemporarypsychologicalliterature

assimplygeneralizedresponsetendenciesthatareacquiredearlyinlifeand

resistanttochangeduringthelifespan.Whiledefinitionaldisputeshavediminished

sinceAllport(1921)andCattell(1943;1946),debatesoverthebestwaytomeasure

traitsremainactivetoday.Whilepsychologypractitionershavepreferredreliance

onpersonalityclassifications(e.g.,“clusteringofextremeattributesintotypes”),

factoranalyticresearcherhaveconcludedthatmostofthevarianceinpersonality

descriptionscanbeaccountedforthroughratingsonfivedifferenttraitdimensions

(Costa&McCrae,1992).

Thetwoapproacheshavetheirowndistinctivevaluesandlimitations.The

traditionalcategoricalapproachoftenincorrectlyinferssimilaritiesamongpeople

whoprovetodifferinimportantways,andthedimensionalapproachgeneratesrich

traitscoredifferencesthatmayprovemeaninglessorincomprehensibleinapplied

3

settings.TheDSM-5debateseemstohaveendedinadraw.Thetraditional

typologywasmaintainedbutanewfivedimensionmodelwasendorsedforpossible

inclusionintheDSM-6withacallforresearchonasuggestedmeasurement

protocol.Inthissensethefieldisnowinamoratoriumregardingthebesttrait

measurementstrategywiththeDSM-6decisionlikelytobeinformedbyresearch

emergingonthenewlyproposedtraitdimensionsintheinterim.

TheGAMemphasizestheimportanceofcognitiveinterveningvariablesin

transformingneutralorharmlessinterpersonalcuesintohostileprovocation.

Theseinformationprocessingqualitiesrepresentresponsetendenciesthatare

activatedbyamorenarrowrangeofelicitingstimulithanpersonalitytraits.Recent

researchsuggeststhatonecognitiveschema,referredtoashostileattributionbias

(HAB;Chen,Coccaro,&Jacobson,2011)mayprovetobeespeciallyimportantin

transforminginnocuousinterpersonalcuesintoperceivedprovocation.HAB

researchwillbeextendedinthisstudywiththeinclusionofgunownershipitselfas

measureofperceivedthreatfromtheenvironment.Forexample,arecentGallup

poll(Carroll,2005)cited“personalsafety/protection”asthenumberonereason

Americansowntheirgun(s).

Thisdissertationresearchwillofferoneofthefirstattemptstoestablishlinks

betweencumulativelifetimeaggressionandtwonewlyproposedDSM-5personality

disordertraitdimensions(PID-5;PersonalityInventoryfortheDSM-5).Thevalue

ofHABandhypermasculinityinpredictingself-protectiveandaggressivebehavior

willalsobeexamined.Aggressiveadultsinthisstudyareexpectedtoshowhigher

ratesofchildhoodphysicalabuse.Mostimportantly,thisanalysiswillfocuson

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interactionsbetweenthesevariables(HAB,childhoodphysicalabuse,andthetwo

newpersonalitytraitdimensionsofNegativeAffectivityandAntagonism).Gun

enthusiasmwillbeusedasadependentmeasureindicatorofperceivedthreatfrom

theenvironment.

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CHAPTERII

LITERATUREREVIEW

ChildhoodMaltreatment

Maltreatmentinchildhoodhasbeenassociatedwithbothaggressionand

developmentofpersonalityfactors.Familyenvironmentfactorssuchasharsh

punishment,parentalrejectionandneglect,parentalconflict,andphysicalviolence

werefoundinchildrenwhowerediagnosedwithconductdisorder(Holmes,

Slaughter,&Kashani,2001).Childrenwhoweremaltreated(Chen,Coccaro,Lee,&

Jacobson,2012)orevenwitnesseddomesticviolence(Moe,King,Bailly,2004)have

beenfoundtobemoreanxiousandfearfulthantheirpeers(Alessandri&Lewis,

1996)andasadultsaremorelikelytobebothverballyandphysicallyaggressive

(Haskett&Kistner,1991)thanthosewhodidnotexperiencechildhood

maltreatment.Theseindividualsexperiencetriggersthatcuefeelingsofanger,as

wellaslessdevelopedemotionalregulationtocopewiththesefeelings.Inrelation

toaggressioninadulthood,childrenwhoweremaltreatedalsohaveuniquesocial

informationprocessingthatinterpretsinnocuousenvironmentalcuesasharmful

andthreatening.Thus,hostileattributionbiasmaybemorepresentinchildrenwith

ahistoryofmaltreatmentduetothedifficultiesofemotionalcopingandthe

dysfunctionalsocialinformationprocessing.Further,childhoodmaltreatmentmay

resultinadecreasedsenseofsecurityinadults,whichmayleadindividualstotake

6

proactivemeasuresofself-defense(Chen,Coccaro,Lee,&Jacobson,2012;Coccaro,

Noblett,&McCloskey,2009).

Inastudyoftheimpactsofparentalmaltreatmentonbullyingand

victimization,169childrenwhometcriteriaformaltreatmentwerecomparedto98

childrenwhodidnotmeetthesecriteria.Thechildrenwerebetweeneightand12

yearsofageandthetwogroupswerenotsignificantlydifferentingender,ethnicity,

familysocioeconomicstatus,orfamilycomposition.However,themajorityof

participantswhowereinthemaltreatedchildrencategoryexperiencedmorethan

onetypeofchildhoodabuse(i.e.physicalabuse,sexualabuse,emotionalabuse,and

neglect).BullyingwasmeasuredbytheMountHopeFamilyCenterBully–Victim

Questionnaire(Olweus,1991).EmotionalDysregulationwasmeasuredbythe

EmotionalRegulationQ-Scale(Shields&Cicchetti,1997),theEmotionalRegulation

Checklist,(Shields&Cicchetti,1997),andtheChildBehaviorChecklistTeacher’s

ReportForm(Achenbach,1991).Finally,SocialBehaviorwasmeasuredbythePeer

ratings(Singleton&Asher,1977)andtheMinnesotaBehaviorRatings,Agencyand

Dependency(Sroufe,1983).Resultsindicatedthatchildrenwhoweremaltreated

weremorelikelytoengageinbullyingbehaviorthanthosewithouthistoriesof

maltreatment;also,boysweremorelikelythangirlstoengageinbullingbehavior.

Further,resultsindicatedthatchildrenwhowereidentifiedasbulliesandchildren

whowereidentifiedasvictimsofbullyingwerebothmorelikelytoendorse

emotionaldysregulationthanchildrenwhodidnotidentifyinthebullyorvictim

categories(Shields&Cicchetti,2001).

7

Childhoodmaltreatmentgoesbeyondtheparent-to-childabusive

relationshipinitsnegativeeffectsonadulthood.Siblingaggressionisassociated

withaggressivepeerinteractions,datingviolence,delinquency,substanceabuse,

andanxietyanddepression,corporalpunishmentisassociatedwithphysicaland

verbalaggression,opposition,andinterpersonalaggression(Bershoff&Bitensky,

2007)andpeerbullyingandrelationalaggressionisassociatedwithanxietyand

depression(Reijntjes,Kamphuis,Prinzie,&Telch,2010).

PersonalityTraits

Beyondaggressivebehaviors,childhoodmaltreatmenthasalastingimpact

onpersonalityformationanddevelopment.Rogosh&Cicchetti(2004)studiedthe

impactsofmaltreatmentonpersonalityformationwithalongitudinalstudyof

childrenfromtheagesofsixtonine.Childrenwhohadexperiencedanytypeof

neglect,physicalabuse,emotionalabuse,and/orsexualabusewereconsidered

maltreated.Themaltreatedgroupwascomparedtochildrenofsimilar

demographicsthathadnotexperiencedthisabuse.Resultsindicatedthatchildren

whohadexperiencedneglectandabuseweresignificantlydifferentthannon-

maltreatedchildrenonpersonalitydimensions,withthemaltreatedchildren

exhibitinglessgregariousnessandreservation,andmoredysphoria.Further,

childrenwhoweremaltreatedwereratedbytheirpeersassignificantlyless

cooperativeandsignificantlymoredisruptiveandengagedinmorefightsthantheir

non-maltreatedpeers.InregardstotheBigFivepersonalitydimensions,trained

researchassistantsratedmaltreatedchildrenassignificantlylessagreeable,

conscientious,andopentonewexperiencesandsignificantlymoreneuroticthan

8

theirpeercounterparts.Theseratingsremainedconsistentthroughoutthethree-

yearlongitudinalstudy,indicatingthatmaltreatmentinearlychildhoodcanhavea

significantimpactonpersonalityformationasmeasuredattheageofnine(Rogosh

&Cicchetti,2004).Inastudyof421childrenatasummercamp,KimandCicchetti

(2010)foundthatneglect,physicalabuse,andsexualabuseweresignificantly

negativelyrelatedtoemotionalregulation,indicatingthatchildhoodmaltreatment

wascorrelatedwithemotionaldysregulation(β=-.20,β=-.17,andβ=-.12,

respectively).Further,emotionalregulationwassignificantlynegativelyrelatedto

aggressiveanddelinquentbehaviors(β=-.38;Kim&Cicchetti,2010).

Recentliteraturehasaddressedtheimpactofpersonalityfactorsonactsof

aggressionandaggressivecharacteristics.Inameta-analysisoffifty-threestudies

since2000,Jones,Miller,andLynman(2011)reviewedtheliteraturethatinvolved

theFiveFactorModelandaggressionorantisocialbehavior.Theyfoundthatthe

five-factormodelpersonalityfacetsofangryhostility,vulnerability,impulsiveness,

andassertivenessweresignificantlyandpositivelycorrelatedwithaggression(in

orderofdescendingeffectsize).Theyalsofoundthatcompliance,altruism,

straightforwardness,warmth,trust,deliberation,tender-mindedness,competence,

dutifulness,positiveemotion,modesty,feelings,order,self-discipline,and

achievementstrivingweresignificantlyandnegativelycorrelatedwithaggression

(inorderofdescendingeffectsize).Theresultsofthismeta-analysissuggestthat

certainpersonalityfacetsmayserveaspossiblepredictorsofaggressivebehaviors,

whileothersmaybeseenasprotectivefactorsagainstaggression.Further,the

authorsnotedthatpreviousliteraturehasfoundcorrelationswiththepreviously

9

mentionedfivefactormodelpersonalityfacetsandotherdangerousexternalizing

behaviorssuchasalcoholuse,pathologicalgambling,andriskysexualinteractions.

Negativeemotionalityisapersonalityfactorthathasbeenassociatedwith

aggressivebehaviors.AccordingtoBerkowitz(1989,1990,1993),aggressioncan

resultfromuncomfortableenvironmentsandfeelingsoffrustrationbecauseboth

fightandflightresponseprocessesareactivated.Thefightprocessactivatesfeelings

ofangerwhiletheflightactivatesasenseoffearorimminentthreat,andthe

combinationresultsinaggressivebehavior.Laboratory-inducedaggressionwas

examinedbySiebert,Miller,Pryor,Reidy,&Zeichner(2010)inrelationtothefive

factormodelofpersonality,impulsivity,andbehavioralactivation/inhibition.The

authorsfoundthatthepersonalityfactorofantagonismissignificantlycorrelated

withaggressivebehaviors.Whiletheresultsdidnotsupportacorrelationbetween

negativeaffectivityandaggression,theauthorssuggestthatthelaboratory-induced

aggressionmaynothavecreatedahostileenoughsituationtoinducenegativeaffect

suchasanger.Acorrelationbetweenimpulsivityandaggressivebehaviorswasalso

notsupportedinthisresearch.Theauthorsalsofoundthatmenwhowereelevated

onextraversionandantagonismrespondedaggressivelywhentheyfeltthatthey

werebeingchallengedbytheiropponent,andthushadtoprovethattheywerenot

losingtotheopponent(Seibert,Miller,Pryor,Reidy,&Zeichner,2010).

Antisocialpersonalitydisorderhasbeenassociatedwithlaboratory-induced

aggressioninthecontextofalcohol.Inasampleoftwenty-sixmaleuniversity

students,BaillyandKing(2006)foundthatindividualsthatscoredhighonthe

Sadistic-AggressivescaleontheMillonMultiaxialClinicalInventory–ThirdEdition

10

(MCMI-III)hadlargerrespondingchangesonthePointSubtractionAggression

Paradigm(PSAP)whileundertheinfluenceofalcoholthanthecomparisongroup.

However,resultswereinconclusive,inpartduetothelimitedavailableincreaseof

aggressionscoresduetothehighbaselinePSAPscoresoftheSadistic-Aggressive

group(Bailly&King,2006).Thesesameauthorsconductedasimilarstudywith

thirty-threecollegemenwithoutanyelevationsontheMCMI-III.Participantswere

separatedintothreegroups,withanalcoholgroupconsuminganethanolandsoda

mixtureandtwoplacebogroupsconsumingsodawithasmallamountofethanol,as

tokeeptheparticipantsblindtotheirgroupaffiliation.Theydidnotfindany

elevationsinlaboratory-inducedaggressionineitherthealcoholorplacebogroups

(Bailly&King,2004).

Hypermasculinity

Masculinehonorideologyisabeliefsystemthatindividuals(traditionallymen)

aretobehonorableandrespected,aswellasmaintainareputationandsocial

standing.AccordingtoBarnes,Brown,andOsterman(2012),masculinehonor

ideologyseemstoberelatedtoreactiveaggressioninsituationsofperceivedinsult.

TheyfoundthatthistraitismorepredominantinthesouthernpartoftheUnited

Statesthanthenorthern.Theseauthorsfoundthatindividualswhowereelevated

ontheHonorIdeologyforManhoodscaleweremorelikelytorespondto

ambiguouslythreateninghypotheticalsituationswithhostilityandhypervigilance.

Individualswithelevationsonthismeasurewerealsomorelikelytochooselethal

retaliationasanecessaryresponsefortheindividualswhowereresponsibleforthe

September11,2001attackontheWorldTradeCenter.Theresultsofthestudies

11

conductedbyBarnes,Brown,andOsterman(2012)suggestthatmaleswhoare

hypervigilanttothreatandfeelaneedtopresentastoughandstereotypically

masculinearemorelikelythanothermalestorespondtothreatswithaggression.

Thesemenarealsomorelikelytointerpretinnocuousorambiguouslythreatening

situationsasapersonalattackandinsult,andrespondinareactiveaggressive

manner.

Childrenwhoexperiencedphysicaland/oremotionalabuseandneglectmay

bemorelikelytodevelopnegativeandstereotypicalgenderpatterns,withmales

exhibitingaggressiveandrigidmasculinityideologiesandcharacteristicssuchas

arroganceandhostility(Rosen&Martin,1998),thoughthesedatawerecollectedin

amilitarysampleandmaylackgeneralizabilitytothenonmilitarypopulation.The

correlationsbetweennegativemasculinityandphysical/emotionalabuse,emotional

neglect,andphysicalneglectwerepositiveandsignificantformales(0.26,0.12,and

0.17,respectively).

Thereisasignificantrelationshipbetweennegativeemotionalresponding

andexternalizingaggression(i.e.generalaggressionandphysicalaggression)for

males.Feelingsofembarrassmentandupsetwereassociatedwithhigherlevelsof

relationalaggressioninmales,butnotphysicalorgeneralaggression,which

indicatesthatinternalizingnegativeemotionalrespondingisrelatedtorelational

aggressionwhileexternalizingnegativeemotionalrespondingisrelatedtophysical

andgeneralaggression(Chen,Coccaro,&Jacobson,2012).Inameta-analysisof

factorsinvolvedinworkplaceaggression,negativeaffectivitysignificantly

correlatedwithinterpersonaltargetedaggression(r=0.22;Hershcovisetal.,2007).

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HostileAttributionBias

Hostileattributionbias(HAB),definedas“thetendencytointerpretthe

intentofothersashostilewhensocialcontextcuesareambiguous”,iswhatcauses

individualstodetermineaggressionasthenecessaryresponsetoexternalstimuli,

evenwhentheexternalstimuliisneutralorbenign(Chen,Coccaro,&Jacobson,

2008).Individualswhoscorehighonmeasuresofhostileattributionbiashavebeen

foundtobehypervigilanttoallstimulithatcouldprovideinformationregarding

another’sintent(Cohen,Nisbett,Bowdle,&Schwarz,1996;Godleski,Ostrov,

Houston,&Schlienz,2010).Aschildrenlearntointerprettheirsurroundingsand

theintentionsofothers,thestabilityandsupportoftheirenvironmentwillimpact

whethertheydevelopadaptiveormaladaptivesocialinformationprocessingskills.

Further,hostileattributionbiashasbeenfoundtoactasamediatorbetween

difficultchildhoodenvironmentssuchashistoryofabuseandpeerrejectionand

subsequentadultaggression(DeWall,Twenge,Gitter,&Baumeister,2009;Reijntjes,

Thomas,Kamphuis,Bushman,deCastro,&Telch,2011).

Huesmann’s(1988)cognitive-behavioralinformationprocessingmodel

explainsaggressivebehaviorsasaresponseforineffectivejudgmentaboutthe

situation.Thisdevelopmentalperspectivesuggeststhatchildrenlearnhowto

respondtospecificsocialsituationsbydevelopingcognitivescripts.Anindividual

whobehavesaggressivelyisfollowingacognitivescriptthatsuggestsaggressionis

anappropriateresponseinmanysocialsituations.Thisaggressivebehaviorfurther

indicatesthatapersonwhobehavesaggressivelyoftenhasacognitiveschemathat

interpretstheenvironmentasgenerallyhostileandunsafe.Theseschemasand

13

subsequentscriptswillmaintainunlessthatindividualistaughttoassessand

respondtotheenvironmentinanon-aggressivemanner.Thismodelisconsistent

withothermodelsofsocialinformationprocessing(Dodge,1986;Milich&Dodge,

1984;Weiner,1985)thatsuggestthatemotionsandbehaviorsaretheresultofthe

individualmakingcausalattributionsabouttheenvironmentandtheintentionsof

theothersintheenvironment.Thus,whenanindividualattributesanegativeevent

tothehostileintentofanother,theresultisangerandaggression.

Theinformationprocessingmodelofhostileattributionbiassuggeststhat

individualsrespondaggressivelywhentheyencodeandinterpretexternalcuesas

aggressiveandthendeterminethatanaggressiveresponsewillprovidethemost

favorableoutcome.Further,currentnegativeemotionsmaybelinkedwithone’s

interpretationofeventsashostileaswellasthehostileresponsetothestimuli.

Hostileattributionbiashasbeenextensivelyresearchedandsupportedin

childrenandadolescents.EppsandKendall(1995)soughttoextendthemodelsof

hostileattributionbiasfromchildrenandadolescentstoadults.Theparticipants

were172undergraduatestudents(89maleand83female)takingapsychology

course.Afinalsampleof120wasincludedintheanalysisduetoscoringinthe

upperandlowerone-thirdonmeasuresofangerandaggression.Themeasures

includedthatState-TraitAngerExpressionInventory(STAXI;Spielberger,1988)

andtheBuss-DurkeeHostilityInventory(BDHI;Buss&Durkee,1957).The

participantsalsoratedtheirresponsetotwenty-twoscenarios.Resultsindicated

thatmalesubjectswhoscoredhighlyonameasureofinternalizedangerweremore

likelytoattributehostileintentinbenignscenariosthanmaleswhodidnotindicate

14

highlevelsofinternalizedanger.Further,inallscenarios(hostile,ambiguous,and

benign),subjectswhowereclassifiedasexperiencinghighangerandaggression

attributedhostileintentmorethanthosewhohadlessangerandaggression.Thus,

notonlydidthoseinthelowanger/aggressiongroupnotinterprethostilityinthe

ambiguousandbenignsituations,theyalsointerpretedlesshostilityinhostile

situationsthandidthoseinthehighanger/aggressiongroup.Theseresultssupport

thepresenceofhostileattributioninadultsandindicatethatadultswhoindicatea

highlevelofself-reportedangerandaggressionaremorelikelythanthosewithlow

levelsofangerandaggressiontoattributesituationsashostile,whetherthe

situationishostile,ambiguous,orbenign(Epps&Kendall,1995).

Inanattempttoempiricallyevaluatetheproposedcorrelationbetween

hostileattributionbiasandnegativeemotions,Chen,Coccaro,&Jacobson(2011)

askedparticipantsfromthePennsylvaniaTwinCohorttocompletequestionnaires

regardingsocialinformationprocessingandlifetimeaggression.Theauthorshada

totalasampleof2,749twinsfromthePennTwinscohortinPennsylvaniawho

completedandreturnedthequestionnaires.Thetwinswerebetweentheagesof20

and55,withtheaverageagebeing33.2,andthesamplewas58.4%female.HABand

negativeemotionalrespondingweremeasuredwiththeSocialInformation

Processing-AttributionandEmotionalResponseQuestionnaire(SIP-AEQ).TheSIP-

AEQincludesfourwrittenvignettesdetailingdirectaggressivescenariosandfour

relationalaggressivescenarios.Theparticipantsthenrespondtothehostileintent

ofthevignettesona4-pointLikertscale.Theparticipantsalsorespondedto

questionsofnegativeemotionssuchasangerandembarrassmentona4-point

15

Likertscale.GeneralaggressionwasmeasuredwiththeLifetimeHistoryof

AggressionQuestionnaire,aggressionsubscale(LHA-AGG).Physicalaggressionwas

measuredwiththephysicalaggressionsubscaleoftheBuss-PerryAggression

Questionnaire.RelationalAggressionwasmeasuredwiththeSelf-Reportof

AggressionandSocialBehaviorMeasureandverbalaggressionwasmeasuredwith

theverbalaggressionsubscaleoftheBuss-PerryAggressionQuestionnaire.

ImpulsivitywasmeasuredwiththeBarrattImpulsivenessScaleversion11.Finally,

genderandsocio-economicstatusweremeasuredwithademographics

questionnaire.Resultsindicateapositivemaineffectforexternalemotional

response(i.e.anger)andphysical,relational,verbal,andgeneralaggression.

Internalemotionalresponse(i.e.embarrassment/upset)wasinverselyrelatedto

generalandphysicalaggression,aswellasnegativelyassociatedwithverbal

aggression.Theserelationshipswerestrongerinmalesthanfemales.Theauthors

alsofoundthathigherlevelsofinternalnegativeemotionswereassociatedwith

higherlevelsofrelationalaggressioninmalesbutnotinfemales.Resultsalso

suggestamaineffectofHABonaggressioninbothmalesandfemales.Theyalso

foundthatthepositiverelationshipbetweenHABandgeneralaggressionisweaker

atlowlevelsofimpulsivityandmoresignificantwithindividualswithaverageand

highlevelsofimpulsivity,whichsuggeststhatthatimpulsivityisamoderatingeffect

onaggressionthatisgeneralizabletobothdevelopmentalstagesandinformational

processingcomponents.However,thisinteractionwasnotseeninphysical,

relational,orverbalaggression(Chen,Coccaro,&Jacobson,2011).

16

Previousresearchhasfoundadirectreciprocalrelationshipbetweenhostile

attributionbiasandnegativeemotionalityinaggression(Crick&Dodge,1994;

Guerra&Huesmann,2004;Lemerise&Arsenio,2000).In2012,Chen,Coccaro,&

Jacobsonsoughttoexaminetherelationshipbetweenhostileattributionbias,

negativeemotionalresponding,andaggressionwithmoderatingvariablesofgender

andimpulsivity.ParticipantswererecruitedfromthePennTwinsCohortanda

sampleof2,749adults(ages20-55)completedandreturnedallmeasures.

ImpulsivitywasmeasuredusingtheBarattImpulsivenessScaleversion11.Hostile

attributionalbiasandnegativeemotionalrespondingweremeasuredwiththe

SocialInformationProcessing-AttributionandEmotionalResponseQuestionnaire.

Aggressionwasseparatedintofourcategories:generalaggression,physical

aggression,relationalaggression,andverbalaggression.Generalaggressionwas

measuredwiththeLifetimeHistoryofAggressionQuestionnaire;Physical

aggressionandverbalaggressionweremeasuredwiththeBuss-PerryAggression

Questionnaire;andrelationalaggressionwasmeasuredwiththeSelf-Reportof

AggressionandSocialBehaviorMeasure.Theresultsindicatedthattherewasa

significantrelationshipforallofthefoursubtypesofaggressionandimpulsivity,

hostileattributionbias,andanger.Hostileattributionbiaswassignificant

correlatedwithgeneralaggression(r=0.17,p<0.001).Theseresultssupportthe

theorythatindividualswhoattributehostileintentiontoanother’sactionsaremore

likelytorespondinanaggressivemanner.

17

MeasuringAggression

AggressionTraitMeasures

Self-reporttraitmeasuresofaggressionsuchastheBuss-DurkeeHostility

Inventory(BDHI;Buss&Durkee,1957)AggressionQuestionnaire(AQ;Buss&

Perry,1992)areconsideredsomeofthemosthighlyusedmeasuresofaggression

(Bryant&Smith,2001;Thornberry&Krohn,2000)duetotheirefficiencyand

validity(Tremblay&Ewart,2005;Websteretal.,2014).TheBDHIwasoneofthe

firstandmostwidelyusedself-reportmeasureofangerandhostility(Buss&

Durkee,1957)anditwasvalidatedinavarietyofpopulations(Bishop&Quah,

1998;Gunn&Gristwood,1975;Lange,Dehghani,&DeBeurs,1995).TheBDHImade

wayfortheAQin1992duetoaneedforupdatedquestionsandconcernsthatthe

hostilitysubscalewasmisplaced(seeBuss&Perry,1992forafullexplanation).

Anexaminationofover300universitystudentsfoundthatallfoursubscales

oftheAQ(physical,verbal,anger,andhostility)weresignificantlycorrelatedwith

actsofbothdirectandindirectaggressiontowardsbothpartnersandsame-sex

others.Further,therewasasignificantpositiverelationshipbetweendirect

aggressiontowardsasame-sexotherandthephysicalandverbalaggressionscales

ontheAQ(Archer&Webb,2006).TheAQwasalsosignificantlycorrelatedwithan

inabilitytoinhibitrespondingtoanangryfaceinanemotionalresponse-inhibition

task.Specifically,participantswhoreceivedhighscoresonthetotalAQhadamore

difficulttimeinhibitingrespondingwhenthetaskwastorespondtohappyfacesbut

nottoangryfacesthatappearedonthecomputerscreen.Theseresultswere

18

specificallyrelatedtotraitaggressionandnotothertraitsthatweremeasured,such

asimpulsivity(Denny&Siemer,2012).

BriefversionsoftheAQhaverecentlybeendeveloped,suchastheBrief

AggressionQuestionnaire(BAQ;Websteretal.,2014)andtheBuss-Perry

AggressionQuestionnaire–ShortForm(BPAQ-SF;Bryant&Smith,2001).Analysis

oftheBPAQ-SFrevealedthatthequestionsrepresentthesamefactormodelasthe

originallongformandthereliabilityandvaliditywasnotcompromised(Bryant&

Smith,2001;Websteretal.,2014).

Laboratory–ProvokedAggression

Acommonlyusedandwell-validatedlaboratorymeasureofaggressionisthe

TaylorAggressionParadigm(TAP;Taylor,1967),inwhichparticipantsthinkthey

areplayingacomputerreactiongameagainstanopponentandtheslowerreactor

willreceiveashock.Theparticipantsaregiventheopportunitytodeterminethe

levelofshocktheopponentreceivespriortothetrial.EarlystudiesoftheTAPand

similarlaboratoryaggressionmeasuresfoundthatindividualswithahistoryof

aggressivebehaviorchosetoprovidemoreintenseshockstotheiropponentsthan

individualswithoutaggressivehistories(Shemberg,1968;Hartmann,1969).A

studycomparingrespondinginaPointSubtractionAggressionParadigm(PSAP)

foundthatfemaleoffendersrespondedwithsignificantlymoreaggressionthantheir

non-offendingcounterparts.Theauthorsalsofoundthattheoffendersscored

significantlyhigherontheBrownHistoryofViolenceQuestionnaire(BHVQ)andthe

assaultmeasureoftheBDHI,whichisthepredecessortotheAQ(Cherek,Lane,

Dougherty,Moeller,&White,2000).

19

Whilelaboratoryaggressionparadigmsremainavalidmeasureof

aggression,therehasbeencriticismregardingthegeneralizabilitytoreal-world

situations(Tedeschi&Quigley,1996).Further,inregardstothecurrentstudy,the

validityandreliabilityofalaboratoryaggressionparadigmdoesnotprovideenough

incrementalvaliditytooutweighthelimitationsthatwouldresultfromlimitingthe

sampletoparticipantsintheregionalareawillingtoparticipateinalengthy

laboratoryexperiment.

CrimeIndices

Itwouldbelogicaltoassumethatareviewcriminalhistorywouldbean

adequatemeasureoflifetimehistoryofaggression.Criminalhistoryhasbeen

significantlyandpositivelycorrelatedwithpsychopathyinjuvenileoffenderswhen

accountingforthenumberofviolentoffensesandthenumberoftechnicalviolations

whileincarcerated.Furtherjuvenileoffenderswithahistoryofviolentorversatile

criminalactivityreceivedsignificantlyhigherscoresonthePsychopathyChecklist–

YouthVersion(PCL-YV;Forth,Kosson,&Hare,2003)thanjuvenileoffenderswitha

historyofnon-violentcriminaloffenses(Campbell,Porter,&Santor,2004).This

researchindicatesthatcriminalhistorymaybeagoodindicatoroftraitaggression

beyondaggressiveacts.

Whilepublicrecordsofcriminalhistoryprovideanobjectivemeasureofa

person’saggressivebehavior,therearemanylimitationstousingcriminalhistoryas

ameasureofaggression.Namely,anexaminationofcriminalrecordsonlyaddresses

aggressionthathasbeenidentified,acknowledged,andprosecuted.Earlystudieson

victimizationindicatedthatbarelyoverhalfofcrimeswerereportedtoauthorities

20

andcrimesthatinvolvedphysicalharmwerelesslikelytobereportedthancrimes

toproperty(Kilpatrick,Saunders,Veronen,Best,&Von,1987).Morerecentdata

focusingonwomenhasfoundthatphysicalandsexualassaultsarenotreported

seventyandeightypercentofthetime,respectively.

Thoughcriminalhistoryisanimportantaspectofanindividual’slifetime

historyofphysicalaggression,criminalhistoryaloneisclearlyinsufficientin

measuringlifetimeaggression.Asignificantnumberofcrimesgounreportedand

notallreportedcrimesareprosecuted(seeKoss,2000forareviewofprosecution

inphysicalaggressiontowardswomen).

LifetimeAggressionSelf-Report

Themosteffectiveself-reportmeasurementsofaggressionincludeavariety

ofaggressivebehaviorsandcriminalactivityofbothminorandseriousscopes,an

understandingoftheseriousnessofthebehaviorandthefrequencyofthebehavior.

(Thornberry&Krohn,2000).Aspreviouslydiscussed,actsofdirectandindirect

aggressiontowardspartnersandsame-sexotherswassignificantlyrelatedtoall

fourscalesontheAQ.Aggressiveactsweremeasuredonafive-pointfrequency

scale:Never(1);Afewtimes(2);Occasionally(3);Someofthetime(4);andAllthe

time(5).Examplesofdirectaggressiveactsinthisstudyincludedpunch,shove,

threatenwithweapons,hitthepersonwithanobject,madeobscenegestures,called

obscenename,andbeatenthemup.Examplesofindirectaggressiveactsinclude

spreadrumors,madeupstoriesabouttheperson,saidbadthingsbehindback,stole

fromthem,andtoldothersnottoassociatewiththemThisself-reportmeasureof

thefourcategoriesofaggressiveacts(directpartner,directsame-sexother,indirect

21

partner,andindirectsame-sexother)hadCronbach’salphavaluesrangingfrom

0.81to0.92(Archer&Webb,2006).

TheLifetimeHistoryofAggressionquestionnaire(LHA;Coccarro,Berman,&

Kavoussi,1997)isaneleven-itemself-reportmeasurewithsubscalesofAggression,

Antisocialbehavior/consequences,andSelf-directedaggression.Thismeasurehas

significantconcurrentvaliditywiththeBDHIandtheOvertAggressionScale–

ModifiedforOutpatients(OAS-M;Coccaro,Harvey,Kupsaw-Lawrence,Herbert,&

Bernstein,1991).However,thebrevityofthemeasureincludesactsofphysical

aggressionasasingularquestion.Duetothefocusinthepresentresearchon

physicalaggression,itisimperativetoevaluatethenumerousbehaviorsand

consequencesassociatedwithphysicalaggression.

TheLifetimeAggressionSelf-Report(LASR),firstpresentedindissertation

researchbyBailly(2005)isamodificationandcombinationoftheBPAQandthe

OAS-M.UnliketheLHA,thismeasurefocusesspecificallyonactsofphysical

aggression,suchashitting,kicking,andshovingduringperiodsofanger.TheLASR

measuresfrequencyoftheseactsandconsequencesthatresultedfromeachofthe

firsttenacts.Unlikeotherquestionnairesaddressingtraitaggression,theLASR

providesinformationaboutactualaggressiveepisodesthatthepersonhasengaged

in.Thisinformationallowstheexaminationofanydifferencesbetweenthosewho

havetraitaggressionandthosewhoengageinphysicallyaggressiveacts.Arecently

developedmodificationoftheLASRwasusedforthecurrentstudy(Lifetime

AssessmentofViolentActs;LAVA;King,Bailly,&Russell,2016).Asmentioned

above,mostcommonlyusedandwell-validatedmeasureofaggressioncharacterize

22

aggressionasatraitratherthanspecificactscommitted.Thecurrentresearch

conceptualizedaggressionactscommitted,whichallowsforidentificationof

individualswhohavebehavedwithphysicalaggressionbutmaynotconceptualize

themselvesashavingaggressiveideationorintention.

GunInterestandUse

Defenseandprotectionhasrecentlybeencitedasthenumberonereasonfor

owningagunby60%ofgunowners1.Recentstatisticssuggestthatkeepingagun

accessibleinthehome,asnecessaryfordefensivepurposes,iscorrelatedwith

higherinstancesofdeathsoccurringinthehome.Gunshotwoundsareresponsible

formorethan31,000deathsannuallyintheUnitedStates(Websteretal.,2012)and

themajorityofgunshotdeathsoccurringinthehomearetheresultofsuicideor

homicide(Dahlberg,Ikeda,&Kresnow,2004).Despitethemostrecentdata

suggestingthatgunsareactuallyusedforself-defensebyonlyapproximately2.5%

ofgunowners,itisstillthenumberonereasonforgunownership.Acommon

responsetofearofbeingavictimofcriminalactionistoownagun.Whenhandgun

ownerswereaskedtheirreasoningforgunownership,themostcommonresponse

wasfearofcrimeorperceptionofbeingatriskofcriminalvictimization,suggesting

thatgunownershipisapsychologicalcopingmechanismforfearofvictimization

(Kleck,Kovandzic,Saber,&Hauser,2011).

Ameta-analysisexaminedstudiesthataddressedfearofvictimizationand

gunownership.Manypreviousstudiesonprotectivegunownershipandfearof

1ItshouldbenotedthataGallupPollfromNovember22,2005indicatesthataroughlyequalamountofRepublicans,Independents,andDemocratsowngunsforself-defenseandprotection,suggestingthatthisisnotapartisanphenomenon.

23

threatfoundpositivebutnonsignificantassociations.However,manyofthese

studieswerenotedtohavesignificantlimitationsthatcouldhaveledtothenull

results(specificallydifferentiationbetweenlong-gunownershipforhunting/

sportingpurposesandhandgunownershipfordefensivepurposes).Theonestudy

thatcontrolledforthesenotedlimitationsfoundasignificantassociationbetween

fearofcrimeanddefensivegunownership.Otherstudiesindicatedthatindividuals

whoweremorefearfulofbeingthevictimoffuturecrimeweremorelikelyof

owninggunsfordefensivepurposes.Twostudiesinthemeta-analysisfounda

negativerelationshipbetweenfearandgunownership.Theauthorsexplainthis

discrepantfindingbynotingthatthesestudiesdidnotdifferentiatebetweengun

type(i.e.long-gunorhandgun)orownershippurpose(i.e.sportorself-protection;

Kleck,Kovandzic,Saber,&Hauser,2011).

Thecurrentstudyaddressedthepreviouslynotedmethodologicalproblems

byonlyusingnon-gunownersintheirsampleandaskingaboutfutureplansofgun-

ownershipfortherespondent.Thestudyalsomeasuredperceivedriskofcrimein

theimmediateneighborhoodorathome.Theresultsofareviewofa2006Gallup

Pollsuggestedastatisticallysignificantassociationwithfearandgunownership

whenthequestionspecifiedpersonalgunownershipspecificallyforprotective

purposesandperceivedrisk(notsignificantforhouseholdownershiporgun

ownershipforhunting/sportingpurposes).Theassociationbecamemoresignificant

whenitcontrolledforplannedgunownershipforprotectivepurposesratherthan

currentownershipforprotectivepurposes(Kleck,Kovandzic,Saber,&Hauser,

2011).

24

Asecondmeta-analysisbytwoofthepreviousauthorsfoundthat,inthe

reviewedliterature,threeofsixteenstudiesthatidentifiedastatisticallysignificant

positiveassociationbetweenfearofcrimeandgunownership.Fourofthesixteen

studiesfoundsignificantpositiveresultswhensubtypeofgunwascontrolled;i.e.

therewasasignificantpositiveassociationbetweenhandgunownershipandfearof

crime,butnotlong-gunownership.Theremainingninestudiesdidnotfinda

significantassociationbetweengunownershipandfearofcrime.However,the

authorsnotedthatthemethodologyofthestudieshasimpactedtheinconsistent

findings,withlittleagreementregardingwhattypeofgunisincludedingun

ownershipandwhethergunownershipreferstoindividualsownershipofthe

respondentorsimplyhavingsomeoneinthehouseholdowningagun.Further,the

measureoffearisnotconsistentacrossvariousstudies(Hauser&Kleck,2012).

Aseconddifficultyinpreviousgunownershipliteratureisaproblemof

causality.HauserandKleck(2012)notedthatwhilefearofcrimemaybeaprimary

motivatingfactorinhandgunownership,thesubsequentpurchaseofahandgun

maydecreasefearofcrimevictimization(Hauser&Kleck,2012).Toaddressthese

difficulties,theauthorsrevieweddatathatcamefromthesurveyofCommunity,

Crime,andHealth,alongitudinalphone-basedsurveyinIllinois.Gunownershipwas

measuredbyaskingtherespondentiftherewasaguninthehousehold.Theauthors

codedforwhetherahouseholdgunwasobtainedbetweenwavesoneandtwo,or

whetherahouseholdgunwaslostbetweenwavesoneandtwo.Fearof

victimizationwasmeasuredwithtwoLikert-scalequestions(“Iamafraidtowalk

aloneatnightnearmyhome”and“Myneighborhoodissafe”),andthreequestions

25

measuredbynumberofdaysinthepastseventhatthefollowinghadoccurred;

“Worriedthatyourhomewouldbebrokeninto”,“feltafraidtoleavethehouse”,and

“fearedbeingrobbed,attacked,orphysicallyinjured”.Theauthorsalsocontrolled

forcrimeratesintherespondent’scountyofresidence,andwhethertherespondent

wasavictimofassault,mugging,orburglarypriortothefirstwavein1995.Results

indicatedthatrespondentswhoreportedahighleveloffearofvictimizationatwave

oneweremorelikelytoobtainagunbywavetwo,thoughtheresultsdidnotreach

significance.Similarly,respondentswhowerevictimizedshortlybeforewaveone

weresignificantlymorelikelytohaveobtainedagunbywavetwo.Resultsalso

indicatedthat,whiletherewasnotasignificantchangeinfearofcrimefollowing

gunacquisition,therewasasignificantincreaseinfearofcrimefollowingthelossof

agun.Thisresearchwaslimitedinthattheauthorswereunabletodistinguish

betweenpurposesforgunownership(i.e.sportversusself-defense).Theauthors

alsonotedthattherespondentsatwavetwoincludedveryfewhighly–victimized

individualscomparedwithwaveone,whichmayinfluencetheresultsoffearof

crimeandgunacquisition(Hauser&Kleck,2012)

Recentresearchhasfoundapossiblygeneticassociationwithgun

ownershipandfear.DatafromtheNationalLongitudinalStudyofAdolescent

Health,betweenthedatesof2001and2008,andacorrespondingDNAsample,was

usedtoexaminetheinteractionbetweenthe5-HTTgeneandgunownership

followingtheterroristattacksonSeptember11,2001(Barnes,Beaver,&Boutwell,

2013).The5-HTTgenehaspreviouslybeenlinkedtodepression,substanceabuse,

andpoordecisionmakingwhenthereisaninteractionwithstressfulortraumatic

26

situations.Theauthorsofthecurrentstudygenotypedasampleof2,350twinsand

siblingsandconductedthreeinterviews,bothbeforeandafterSeptember11,2001.

Theresultsindicatedthatindividualswiththeshortalleleofthe5-HTTgene(484

bp)hadsignificantlymoregunownershippriortoSeptember11,2001than

individualswithouttheshortallele.Theauthorsalsofoundthatstudyparticipants

whowereinterviewedaftertheSeptember11,2001attackweremorelikelyto

carryagunfordailyusethanthosewhowereinterviewedbeforethisinfluential

date(Barnes,Beaver,&Boutwell,2013).

Gunusehasalsobeenlinkedtogeneralaggressivebehavior(Turner,

Simmons,Berkoitz,&Frodi,1977).AstudybyBuss,Booker,andBuss(1972)

addressedthequestion:“doesfiringaweaponenhancenonweaponaggression?”

Thefirststudyaddressedthisissuebyrunningparticipantsthroughanaggression

paradigmaftertheyfiredasmallairpoweredpelletrifle.Participantsincluded

twenty-twomalepsychologyundergraduatestudentsatRutgersUniversity.They

wereseparatedintoacontrolgroupandtwoexperimentalgroups.Thecontrol

groupcompletedapegtaskandtheaggressionparadigm.Thefirstexperimental

groupcompletedthepegtask,targetshootingwiththepelletgun,andthenthe

aggressionparadigm.Thesecondexperimentalgroupcompletedthetargetshooting

task,thepegtask,andthentheaggressionparadigm.Theauthorsdidnotfinda

significantdifferencebetweenthecontrolgroupandtheexperimentalgroup

regardingthemeanintensityofshockdeliveredover35shocktrials(Buss,Booker,

andBuss,1972).

27

AsecondexperimentintheBuss,Booker,andBuss(1972)studywassimilar

tothefirstexperiment,exceptthatthepelletgunusedbytheexperimentalgroup

wasreplacedwithafull-sizedpistolequippedwithacarbondioxidecartridge,

whichreleasedpellets.Theauthorsdidnotfindasignificantdifferencebetweenthe

experimentalgroupandthecontrolgroup.Boththeexperimentalgroupandcontrol

grouphadaslighttendencytogivehigherintensityshocksinthesecondaggression

paradigm.Thethirdexperimentexpandedtheparticipantpooltotwentymale

psychologystudentsattheUniversityofTexas.Studentscompletedafour-question

questionnaireregardingexperiencewithweapons(a.Ienjoyhuntingbirdsand

smallgame,b.WhenIwasyoungerIlikedtargetshooting,c.Ihavebeenhandling

andfiringweaponssinceIwasachild,andd.Ihavelittleornoexperiencewith

guns).Thetwentyparticipantswerechosenfromthetwoextremes(i.e.prior

historywithgunsandnohistorywithguns).Eachextremegroupwasseparatedinto

acontrolgroupandanexperimentalgroup,andthestudymethodwasareplicaof

themethodinthesecondstudy.

Theauthorsfoundthatexperimentalgroupsusedhigherintensityshocksin

thesecondaggressionparadigmthanthefirst.Theyalsofoundthegroupthathada

previoushistorywithgunscontinuedtoincreaseshockintensityovertrialswhile

thegroupthathadnopreviousexperiencewithgunsdidnotsignificantlyincrease

shockintensity.Further,thegroupwithgunusehistoryincreasedshockhistory

moreforthesecondaggressionparadigmwhilethegroupwithnogunusehistory

increasedshockmoreforthefirstaggressionparadigm.Regardingtheexperimental

groups,theauthorsfoundthattheexperimentalgroupwithagunusehistoryused

28

overallhighershockintensitythantheexperimentalgroupwithnogunusehistory.

Theyalsofoundthattheshockintensitywashigherforthesecondaggression

paradigmthanthefirst,andthatthosewithoutagunusehistoryincreasedtheir

shockfrequencyovertrialsmorethanthosewithagunusehistory.Thus,whilethe

experimentalgroupwithnogunusehistoryincreasedtheshockintensitymorethan

theothergroup,thehighestintensityoftheshockdidnotreachtheintensityused

bythoseintheexperimentalgroupwithagunusehistory.

Thefourthstudywasareplicaofthethirdstudy,withtenmalestudentsin

thegunusehistorygroupandtenmalestudentsinthenogunusehistorygroup.

Theauthorsdidnotfindanysignificantresults.Thefifthexperimentwasa

replicationofanexperimentdonebyBerkowitzandLePage(1967),thoughthe

authorsofthecurrentstudychangedthestoryregardingwhyapistolandashotgun

weresittingnexttotheconfederate(i.e.theinitialstudysaidthattheywereleft

therewhentheconfederate,asupposedsubject,wasconductingadifferentstudy,

whilethecurrentstudytoldtheparticipantsthattheweaponsweretherebecause

theconfederatewasgoingtoloanthemtoafriendwhowasconductingadifferent

study).ThischangewasintendedtodecreasethesuspicionthattheBerkowitzand

LePageparticipantshadaboutwhyanotherparticipantinthestudy(the

confederate)wouldbeconductingadifferentstudy.Buss,Booker,andBussfound

thatthepresenceofweaponsassociatedwiththeconfederatedecreasedthe

intensityofshockstheparticipantsgavetotheconfederate.Duetothecontradictory

resultsofthecurrentstudyandtheBerkowitzandLePagestudy,theauthorsranthe

procedureagainwithnewparticipants.Onthissecondattempt,theydidnotfind

29

anysignificantresultsregardingthepresenceoftheweaponsandtheshock

intensity(Buss,Booker,andBuss,1972).

Onedifficultyforcomparingresearchongunattitudesanduseisthewide

varyingpurposesofgunownership(asnotedinHauser&Kleck,2012),which

complicatesattemptstodefineguninterest.Forexample,anindividualmayowna

shotgunthathasbeenpassedthroughthefamilybuthaveverylittleinterestin

usingguns,whileanotherindividualmayhavestronginterestinusinggunsand

protectinganindividual’sabilitytopurchaseguns,butmaynotcurrentlyowna

personalgun.Usinggunownershipasameasureofgunattitudesandinterestdoes

notidentifyindividualsforwhomextenuatingcircumstancesdictateownership.

Guninteresthasalsobeenmeasuredbyaskingaboutbeliefsongunpermits

(Pederson,Hall,Foster,&Coates,2015).Whilethisallowsforindividualstoidentify

ashavinginterestingunswithoutpersonallyowningagun,itstilldoesnotexplore

thenuancesofgunuseandguninterest.Anewmeasureofgunenthusiasmwas

createdforthepurposesofthisresearchtodefineguninterestthroughquestions

aboutpersonalexperiencewithguns,beliefsaboutthesecondamendment,and

purposesforgunuse.

CurrentStudy

Thecurrentstudyattemptedtounderstandthepreviouslydescribed

variablesintheirabilitytopredictadultaggression.Itfirstlookedtoestablishalink

betweencumulativelifetimeaggressionandpersonalitybyusingtwonewly

proposedpersonalitytraitsdimensionsofnegativeaffectivityandantagonism

(AmericanPsychiatricAssociation,2013).Italsolookstoestablishalinkbetween

30

lifetimeaggressionandhostileattributionbiasandhypermasculinity.Further,this

currentsstudyaimedtoexamineinteractionsbetweenchildhoodmaltreatment,

negativeaffectivity,antagonism,hostileattributionbias,andhypermasculinityin

predictingaggressionandenthusiasmforfirearmsandweaponuse.Finally,the

currentstudysoughttodevelopandinitiallyanalyzeanewmeasureofgun

enthusiasm.

Thehypothesesofthisstudyinclude:childhoodmaltreatmentwill

significantlypredictadultaggressionandgunenthusiasm;personalityfactorswill

significantlypredictadultaggressionandgunenthusiasm;hostileattributionbias

willsignificantlypredictadultaggressionandgunenthusiasm;and

hypermasculinitywillsignificantlypredictgunenthusiasm.Further,itis

hypothesizedthatthepredictorvariableswillsignificantlycorrelateandthe

dependentvariableswillsignificantlycorrelate.Finally,itishypothesizedthatgun

enthusiasmwillsignificantlypredictadultaggression.

31

CHAPTERIII

METHOD

Participants

Apoweranalysiswasconductedforasmalleffectsizetoincludeatleast20

subjectsperfactorwith19factors;approximately380participantswerenecessary

toachieveadequatepower.Atotalof1,190initiallyaccessedthesurveyand

providedinformedconsent.ParticipationwasrestrictedtoAmericanmenoverthe

ageof18whocompletedtheprotocolonMechanicalTurk(MTurk).Research

samplesrecruitedfromMTurkhavebeenshowntoberepresentativeoftheU.S.

generalpopulation(Berinsky,Huber,&Lenz,2012;Buhrmester,Kwang,&Gosling,

2011;Paolaccietal.,2010).

Respondentsrangedinagefrom19to73,withameanageof35.6(SD=

11.6).Theethnicdiversityseeninthesample(White,77.9%;Black,8.2%;Hispanic,

5.3%;Asian,4.8%;Multi-Racial,1.9%;&AmericanIndian,1.6%)approximated

2010U.S.censusfigures(Colby&Ortman,2015)forthegeneralpopulation(White,

62.2%;Black,5.2%;Hispanic,17.4%;Asian,2%;Multi-Racial,2.0%;American

Indian,0.7%).Thissamplewasgeographicallydiverseaswell(Northeast,17.5%;

Midwest,21.7%;South,34.4%;&West,22.2%).

32

ExclusionCriteria

Oneitemwasembeddedinthemiddleofthesurveydirectingrespondentsto

affirmativelyindicateaspecifiedresponse.Respondentswhofailedtorecognizeand

respondtothisvaliditycheck(n=305)wereexcludedfromanalysis.Respondents

wereexcludedfromanalysisofthefourLAVAdependentmeasuresiftheyshowed

aninconsistencybetweentwoindicatorsdescribedbelow.Thisresultedinthe

exclusionof103initialrespondentsintheLAVAanalyses.Thevariablessample

distributionsfortheremainingrespondentsarepresentedinTable3.

PredictorVariables

ViolentExperiencesQuestionnaire–Revised

TheViolentExperiencesQuestionnaire-Revised(VEQ-R;King,2012;King&

Russell,2016)providesretrospective,self-reportscreeningindicesforthe

experienceduringchildhoodand/oradolescenceof12differentformsofaggression

thatfallintoanumberofindexwindows:A)PhysicalActswithorwithoutPhysical

Injury:pushing,shoving,shaking,striking,kicking,punching,beating,burning,or

useofaweapontoinflictpainorinjury;B)ThreatsofPhysicalViolence:wordsor

gesturesexpressingathreattoinflictphysicalinjury;C)VerbalConflict:yelling,

cursing,mildtomoderatepainwithoutphysicalinjury;D)Peerphysicaltaunting,

bullying,orverbalteasing;orE)ParentalDiscipline:spankingorotherformsof

reasonablephysicaldisciplineproducingmildtomoderatepainwithoutphysical

injury(seeAppendixA).VEQ-Rscoresforeachofthe12subscalesindicatethe

numberofdaysperyear,onaverage,anactintheindexgroupoccurredduringthe

12year(ages5to16)retrospectiverecordingperiod.Thescoreforeachscaleis

33

interpretedasthenumberofdaysonaverageperyearaspecifiedclassofbehavior

occurredduringtherespectivetimeperiod.Thisfrequencyindexallowsscoresto

rangefrom0to104.ThepredecessorVEQ(King,Tuhy,&Harris,1989)focused

exclusivelyonparentalphysicalabuseandexposuretointimatepartnerviolence

withoutsamplingsiblingabuse,peerbullying,orcorporalpunishment.

TheVEQ-Rphysicalabuse,verbalconflict,andthreatsofviolenceindicesare

alsodifferentiatedbyperpetratorsourceoroneoffour“hostility”factors(Parental,

Sibling,Peer,andDomesticViolence).Thesefourfactorscoreswereusedfor

purposesofthepresentstudy.ThetotalVEQ-Rscorereflectsthewiderangeof

“hostile”actsexperiencedoverthe12yearrecordingperiod.Whilegeneralizedin

content,thetotalVEQ-Rscorereflectsauniqueindexthataggregatestheexperience

ofawiderangeofhostileactsthatoccurredinarangeofinterpersonalcontexts

overthe12yearretrospectiveperiod.TheTotalVEQ-Rscoreisscaledasaz-score

whichreflectstheaveragestandarddeviationdifferenceofrespondentscoresfrom

thenormativesampleacrossalloftheindividualindices.

ApsychometricanalysisoftheVEQ-R(King&Russell,2016)establishedthe

internalconsistencyofthefactordimensionsinbothacollege(n=1,211:Parental

Hostility,α=.89;SiblingHostility,α=.92;DomesticHostility,α=.87;&Peer

Hostility,α=.88)andnational(n=1,259:ParentalHostility,α=.95;Sibling

Hostility,α=.95;DomesticHostility,α=.93;&PeerHostility,α=.90)sample.One-

weektest-retestreliabilityestimateswerealsogeneratedwithinthissamecollege

sample(ParentalHostility,r=.81;SiblingHostility,r=.71;DomesticHostility,r=

.81;&PeerHostility,r=.79).

34

ElevatedVEQorVEQ-Rsubscalescoreshavebeenlinkedtoarangeof

maladaptiveoutcomesinninepublishedstudiestodate.Subscalescoreshavebeen

analyzedbothdimensionallyandcategoricallyusingpercentilecutoffsthatvaried

bysample.CPAscores(>9)havebeenassociatedwithhigher(d=2.1)

experimentallyinducedaggressionamongcollegemen(Moe,King,&Bailly,2004).

First-borncollegestudentswithCPAelevations(>1)havebeenfoundtogenerate

relativelyhigherMMPI-2Pd(PsychopathicDeviant)scoresthancounterpartsfrom

differentbirthorders(King,2014a).CollegestudentrecollectionsofCPA(>0)have

beenassociatedwithincreasedrelativerisks(rangingfrom3.2to13.5)forpast

physicalfighting,violence-relatedtrouble,inflictionofinjuryonothers,homicidal

threats,andotheraggressiveacts(King,2014b).Similarrelativerisksincreases

werefoundinthissamestudyfortheSPA(>12.5),IVP(>0),andCORP(>5)indices.

Lowerlevelsofdispositionalmindfulnessinanothercollegesample(Walter&King,

2013)werefoundforrespondentsscoringhigherontheVEQ-RCPA(r=-.25,p<

.01),IPV(r=.20,p<.01),orSPA(r=.22,p<.01)indices.Traitimpulsivityas

measuredbythePID-5(PersonalityInventoryforDSM-5)hasbeenlinkedtoboth

CPA(>14,d=.23)andIPV(>7,d=.32)inanationalsample(Russell,Veith,&King,

2015).CollegestudentsrecallingelevatedCPA(>4)orIPV(>4)havebeenshownto

elicitrelativelylessfavorablefirstimpressionsfromunfamiliarpeersafter

unstructuredlab-basedinteractions(King,2016).CollegestudentswithCPAorIPV

elevationsinthissamesamplewerefoundtodescribetheirbestfriendshipsas

relativelylesssecure(CPA>9;d=.5;Mugge,King,&Klophaus,2009),rewarding

(IPV>9,d=.31;Green&King,2009),orhigherinmaintenancedifficulty(r=-.13,p<

35

.05;Walter&King,2013).Bullying(BULL>12)wasnegativelyassociatedwith

perceivedexecutive-functioningcompetencies(dsrangingfrom.50to.74)inboth

collegeandnationalsamples(Mugge,Chase,&King,2015).Thelackuniformity

regardingtheclassificationthresholdsappliedinthesestudiescanhopefullybe

resolvedinthisstudy.

Retrospectiveself-reportsofchildhoodmaltreatmenthavemetsome

controversyduetotherelianceonaccuracyofmemoryandtruthfulnessin

reporting(Hardt&Rutter,2004).Whiletherearemethodologicalconcernsand

measurementerrorinherentinanyretrospectiveself-report,ameta-analysisof

researchonchildhoodmaltreatmentindicatedthatretrospectiveself-report

measuresthatincludedoperationalizeddefinitionsofchildhoodmaltreatmentare

reliablemeasuresofpastevents,thoughtherearemorefalsenegativeresultsthan

falsepositives,indicatinganunderestimationofprevalencerates(Hardt&Rutter,

2004;Widom&Shepard,1996).

PersonalityInventoryforDSM-5–BriefForm

ThePersonalityInventoryforDSM-5(PID-5;Krueger,Derringer,Markon,

Watson,&Skodol,2013)isaself-reportpersonalitytraitmeasuredevelopedbythe

AmericanPsychiatricAssociationtoassessforpersonalitytypesdenotedinthe

DiagnosticandStatisticalManual,5thEdition(DSM-5).Hopwood,Wright,Krueger,

Schade,Markon,&Morey(2013)foundinternalconsistencyratingsofgreaterthan

0.7foreachofthescales.Theseauthorsfoundoverlappingcharacteristics

addressedbythePDI-5andthePAI,includingassociationsbetweenhighscoreson

thenegativeaffectscaleandinterpersonaltimidity,fear,andsubmission.

36

AssociationsweretracedaswellbetweenPID-5traitscoresandavarietyofother

establishedpersonalityinventoriesincludingtheNEOPersonalityInventory–

Revised(NEOPI-R;Costa&McRae,1992),the5DimensionalPersonalityTest

(5DPT;vanKampen,2012),andtheInventoryofPersonalityCharacteristics–5

(IPC-5;Tellegen&Waller,1987).PID-5Antagonismscoreswerepositively

associatedwiththe5DPTInsensitivityandinverselywiththeNEOPI-R

AgreeablenessandIPC-5Agreeabilitydomains.PID-5NegativeAffectsscoreswere

associatedwiththeNEOPI-RNeuroticism,IPC-5NegativeEmotionality,and5DPT

Neuroticismdomains.

ThepresentstudyutilizedAntagonismandNegativeAffectdomainscoresof

theBriefFormofthePID-5(PID-5-BF;AmericanPsychiatricAssociation,2013).The

25-itembriefversionofthePID-5measuresthesamefivepersonalitydomainswith

higherscoresagainindicatinggreaterdysfunction.Arecentpsychometricanalysis

conductedon877Italianhighschoolstudentsfoundevidenceofacceptable

reliability(bothinternalconsistencyand2-monthtemporalstability)andconstruct

validityforthisbriefversionofthePID-5(Fossati,Somma,Borroni,Markon,&

Krueger,2015).ThePID-5-BFquestionsarescaledonafour-pointmetric(0=very

falseoroftenfalse;1=sometimesorsomewhatfalse;2=sometimesorsomewhat

true;&3=verytrueoroftentrue)withtwoitemsreversed.Themeasureproduces

domainscoresrangingfrom0to15.Domainscoresarenotcalculatedifmorethan

25%ofthecontributingitemsareleftblank.Missingscoreswithinthisexclusion

criterionareassignedtheaverageofcompleteditems.

37

AttributionBiasQuestionnaire

Hostileattributionbiaswasmeasuredbyusingambiguousscenarioscreated

byMacBrayer,Milich,&Hundley(2003).TheAttributionBiasQuestionnaire(ABQ)

providesscenariosforparentsandchildreninteractingwithotheradultsorother

children.Onlytheparentwithadultpeerversionofthescenarioswasutilizedfor

thisresearch(SeeAppendixB).Permissiontousethesescenarioswasprovidedby

authorRichardMilich.Participantsreadanambiguousscenario(e.g.,“Imaginethat

youareatworkandlosesomeimportantequipment.Youlookforitbutcannotfind

itanywhere.Ifyoudonotfindit,youwillnotbeabletofinishyourwork.Justwhen

youthinkitislostforgood,younoticethatoneofyourco-workershasyour

equipmentandhasnottoldyou.”).Inanopentextbox,theyrespondedtothe

questions“whydoyoubelievethisexchangeoccurred?”and“howwouldyou

respondinthissituation?”Thefirstquestionmeasuredattributionandthesecond

questionmeasuredintent.Theattributionresponsesweregivenanumericalcoding

withazerorepresentingambiguousresponding(i.e.doesnotanswerthequestion),

aone,representingbenignattribution(i.e.,theeventwasseenasa

misunderstandingorthefaultoftheparticipant),oratwo,representinghostile

attribution(i.e.,theeventwasduetoanegativecharacteristicoftheotherpersonor

intendedtocauseharmtotheparticipant).Twograduatestudentsindependently

codedthequalitativedatawithgoodagreement(κ=.716,p<.001).Ininstancesof

disagreement,athirdgraduatestudentreviewedthestatementsandprovideda

finalcode.EachcoderreviewedthecodingdocumentsprovidedbyauthorRichard

Milich(personalcorrespondence,July2014).

38

AuburnDifferentialMasculinityInventory

TheAuburnDifferentialMasculinityInventory(ADMI)isa60-iteminventory

thatmeasureshypermasculinity,sexualidentity,dominanceandaggression,

conservativemasculinity,anddevaluationofemotion(Burk,Burkhart,&Sikorski,

2004).Theitemswereratedona5-pointscaleusingthefollowinganchors:zero

represents“notatalllikeme,”onerepresents“notmuchlikeme,”tworepresents“a

littlelikeme,”threerepresents“likeme,”andfourrepresents“verymuchlikeme.”

Fiveitemsarereversescoredtoallowforhigherscorestoidentifymoreofthe

subscaletrait.TheADMI-60totalscorewassignificantlypositivelycorrelatedwith

hostilitytowardwomen,sensationseeking,andantisocialpractices.Itwas

significantlynegativelycorrelatedwithsocialdesirability.Scaleinternalconsistency

wasmeasuredwithalphacoefficientsintwosubsequentstudiesat0.83and0.85,

respectively,andsubscalereliabilitiesrangedfrom0.76to0.87.Ithasbeen

validatedonasampleofcollege-agedmales.OnlytheHypermasculinitysubscale

wasanalyzedinthisstudy.Burk,Burkhart,andSikorskidefinethisconstructas“the

exaggerationofmaletraits,aswellasadevaluationoffemininetraits”(pg.9;2004).

HonorIdeologyforManhoodScale

TheHonorIdeologyforManhood(HIM;Barnes,Brown,&Osterman,2012)

scaleisasixteen-item,nine-pointscale(onerepresentsstronglydisagreeandnine

representsstronglyagree)thatmeasurestheparticipants’beliefsonhonorand

masculinity.Eightofthesixteenstatementsregardusingphysicalaggressionfor

purposesofdefendingselfandreputation,andeightofthestatementsregard

specificqualitiesthatrepresentmanhoodandmasculinity(seeAppendixC).Afactor

39

analysisindicatedthepresenceofoneprimaryfactorandallitemsloadedpositively

(0.47-0.83)onthisfactor.Aninitialstudyof328Caucasianmalesfromboth

southernandnorthernregionsoftheUnitedStatesindicatedthattheinternal

reliabilityofthismeasurewas0.94(Barnes,Brown,&Osterman,2012).This

measurewassignificantlyandpositivelycorrelatedwithimplicithonorideologyas

measuredbytheaffectmisattributionprocedure(Imura,Burkley,&Brown,2014).

DependentVariables

BussPerryAggressionQuestionnaire

TheBuss-PerryAggressionQuestionnaire(BPAQ;Buss&Perry,1992)

measuresfourfactorsofaggression:physical,verbal,anger,andhostility,witha

totaloftwenty-ninequestions.Thestatementswereratedonafive-pointLikert

scalewithanchors:(1)Neverorhardlyappliestome;(2)Usuallydoesnotapplyto

me;(3)Sometimesappliestome;(4)Oftenappliestome;&(5)Veryoftenapplies

tome(Archer&Webb,2006).Thesefourfactorswereisolatedandconfirmedin

exploratoryandconfirmatoryfactoranalyses.TheinternalconsistencyofPhysical

Aggression,VerbalAggression,Anger,andHostilityis0.85,0.72,0.83,and0.77,

respectively,withatotalscoreinternalconsistencyof0.89.Reliabilityofthe

dimensionswereallabove0.70,inasampleof372subjects,withatotalscore

reliabilityof0.80(Buss&Perry,1992;Buss&Warren,2000).BPAQscoreshave

beenlinkedextensivelyintheliteraturetoangryandaggressivebehavior(Archer&

Webb,2006;Gerevich,Bacskai,&Czobor,2007;Harris,1997;O’Connor,Archer,&

Wu,2001).

40

LifetimeAssessmentofViolentActs

TheLifetimeAssessmentofViolentActs(LAVA;King,Bailly,&Russell,2016)

providesaretrospectiveaccountofthenumber,target,situationalprecipitants,and

resultinginjuriesassociatedwithpriorviolentactsastheyoccurredinthenatural

environment(seeAppendixD).Scoringmodificationfromanoriginalversion

(AggressiveExperiencesQuestionnaire;Bailly,2005)providedtheadditional

indicesthataredescribedbelow.TheLifetimeAggressiveActs(LAGG)scorewas

calculatedfromasingleitem(“Howmanytimesinyourlifehaveyouacted

aggressively?”)scaledfrom0to10.Respondentswerethenaskedtospecify(yes

versusblankifnotapplicable)upto14differentfactorsthatmotivatedtheirmost

recentact(s).Whileofqualitativeimport,thesedescriptivedatawerealsousefulin

thecalculationofaMotivatedActs(MA)index,whichcountedonlyLAGGincidents

thatweredescribedinsomelevelofdetail.Anaffirmativeidentificationofanyofthe

14extenuatingfactorsforanidentifiedactincreasedtheMAscorebyoneunit,

culminatinginapossiblerangeof0to5.InconsistenciesinLAGGandMAscores

wereseentoposeavalidityconcern(i.e.,LAGG>0,MA=0;LAGG=0,MA>0).Three

items(“Iusedaweapontothreatensomeoneinvolvedinadispute;”Iusedaweapon

againstsomeoneinvolvedinthisdispute;”Ithreatenedtokillsomeoneinvolvedinthis

dispute.”)contributedtoaWeaponsUsage(WEAP)scorethatrangedfrom0to15.

ALegalConsequences(LEGAL)scorewasgeneratedfromthreeotheritems(“police

arrest”;“extendedjailtime”;“felonyconviction”).AnInjurytoSelf(ITS)scoreranging

from0to75wascalculatedasthesumof13possibleinjuries(brokenbone,bruise,

blackeye,headorfacialinjury,braininjury,superficialcut,deepcut,internalinjury,

41

lossofconsciousness,ambulanceservice,emergencyroomtreatment,or

hospitalization)thatcouldhavebeensustainedoverfivepastaltercations.

Roughly14%ofthepresentsamplewasexcludedasaresultoftheLAVA

validityexclusioninthepresentsample.One-weektest-retestreliabilityestimates

havebeengeneratedfrom135collegestudents(King,Bailly,&Russell,2016)for

LAGG(r=.74),MA(r=.74),andITO(r=.83)scores.LAGGandBPAQscoreswere

foundaswelltobesignificantly(p<.001)correlatedinbothacollege(N=1,333;

Anger,r=.38,Hostility,r=.33;VerbalAggression,r=.28;PhysicalAggression,r=

.48)andnational(N=255;Anger,r=.41,Hostility,r=.38;VerbalAggression,r=

.35;PhysicalAggression,r=.52)sample.LAGGscoresinthesenormativesamples

variedwidely;over35%and50%ofthecollegeandnationalsamples,respectively,

acknowledgedthreeormorepastactsofaggression.Approximately25%and40%

ofthesesamesamplesdescribedinflictingoneormoreinjuriesonother(s)through

aviolentactatsometimeintheirlives.Roughly10%and25%acknowledged

makingatleastonepriorhomicidalthreatduringanaggressiveact.

GunEnthusiasmQuestionnaire

Acustomizedscalewasconstructedforpurposesofthisstudyto

differentiategunenthusiastsfromothersexpressingreservationsaboutfirearm

usage.Aninitialteambrainstormingsessiongeneratedeightitemsthatweretested

onafive-pointscale(“Ibelievethatthesecondamendmentaffordsthebestprotection

againstatyrannicalgovernment;”“Ienjoycollectingassaultrifles;”“Ienjoyattending

gunshows;”“Ihavebeenshootingfirearmssincechildhood;”“Ienjoyhuntingsmall

gamesuchasfowlorrabbits;”“Ihavelittleornoexperiencewithguns;”“Ibelievethat

42

gunlawsneedtobemorerestrictive;”“Ibelievethatgunsdonotbelonginindividual

homes”).Allitemswereconvertedafterdatacollectiontoassurethathighscores

reflectedlevelsofgunenthusiasm.Aprinciplecomponentanalysis(covariance

matrix,norotation,Eigenvalue>1)generatedatwo-factorsolution.Factor1

accountedfor40.55%ofthevarianceandincludedalleightoftheitemsabovewith

factorloadingsof.64,.50,.67,.78,.64,.71,.57,&53respectively.Thesecondfactor

accountedfor21.24%ofthevarianceandwasrepresentedprimarilybythelasttwo

items(loadingsof-.15,.44,.38,.39,.49,-.06,-.68,&-.69respectively).Theresulting

questionnaire,titledtheGunEnthusiasmQuestionnaire(GEQ)wascomposedofthe

eightitemsonFactor1(seeAppendixE).Thisquestionnaireproducedgoodinternal

consistencyinthecurrentstudy(α=.79).Scoreswerenotcalculatedifanyofthe

itemswereleftunanswered.

Procedure

ThesurveywasdescribedontheMTurkwebsiteasfollows:“Participationin

thisstudyisexpectedtorequireapproximately30minutes.Ahyperlinkwillbe

providedforinterestedpotentialparticipantsonMechanicalTurkthatwilllink

themtoQualtrics,theprogramusedtoconductthesurveyandmanageanonymous

results.Thepurposeofthisstudyistoidentifytheinteractionsbetweenchildhood

maltreatment,negativeaffect,antagonism,hypermasculinity,andhostileattribution

biaswithlifetimeaggression.”

Afterclickingonthehyperlink,individualswerebroughttotheQualtrics

website,wheretheywereabletoviewtheInformedConsentdocument.Tobegin

thesurvey,participantswererequiredtoacknowledgetheyhadreadand

43

understoodthedocument.Individualswhomarked“no”tothisstatementwere

immediatelylinkedtothefinalpageofthesurveyandreturnedtotheMTurk

website.Theeightmeasureswereproducedinrandomorder.Onceparticipants

viewedthefinalmeasure,theywerelinkedtoapagethatincludedacodethat

allowedthemtoreceivereimbursementthroughMTurk.Reimbursementfor

completingthesurveywasinitiallysetat25cents.Itwasincreasedto75centsafter

fourmonthsduetolowparticipation.Theaveragecompletiontimefortheentire

surveywas23minutes.Noidentifyinginformationwascollected,andalldatawas

storedontheQualtricssystem.AnalyseswerecompletedusingtheIBMSPSS

software.Asnotedabove,exclusioncriteriawereappliedtothedataset,which

resultedinatotalof885participantsincludedintheanalysis.WhentheLAVA

constructswereanalyzed,anadditional103participantswereexcluded,which

resultedinasamplesizeof782.

44

CHAPTERIV

RESULTS

DescriptiveStatistics

Thedescriptivestatisticsforpredictoranddependentvariablesare

presentedinTable1.Thecentraltendenciesandvariabilitiesofthesedistributions

seemedconsistentwiththosereportedelsewhereintheliterature.Therewasgood

internalconsistencyforthemeasuresthatcouldbecalculated,rangingfrom0.79

(GunEnthusiasm)to0.95(VEQ-RSiblingHostility).GEQscoreswerewidely

distributedaswell,andtheindexwasusedasbothapredictorandcriterion

measureinalloftheanalyses.

Table1DescriptiveStatisticsforVariablesIncludedintheAnalysis

Variable α n M SD RangeLifetimeAssessmentofViolentActs(LAVA)

LifetimeAggressiveActs NC 782 4.36 3.38 0-10InjurytoSelf NC 782 2.71 4.13 0-33WeaponUsage NC 782 0.56 1.18 0-9

LegalConsequences NC 782 0.39 1.01 0-6Buss-PerryAggressionQuestionnaire

PhysicalAggression .86 808 21.52 7.55 9-45PersonalityInventoryfortheDSM-5-BriefForm

Antagonism .80 826 0.69 0.65 0–3NegativeAffectivity .82 828 0.92 0.74 0-3

AuburnDifferentialMasculinityInventory(ADMI)Hypermasculinity .94 830 17.33 14.79 0-68

HonorIdeologyforManhood(HIM)ManhoodHonorIdeology .95 820 73.31 30.96 16-144

45

TheTable2resultsillustratethattheLAVAaggressionindexscoresvariedwidelyin

thesample.

Table1continuedVariable α n M SD Range

AttributionBiasQuestionnaire(ABQ)IntentBias NC 774 5.74 1.10 0-10

AttributionalBias NC 763 6.36 1.50 1-17ViolentExperiencesQuestionnaire-Revised(VEQ-R)

ParentalHostility .93 786 9.18 19.79 0-104SiblingHostility .95 788 10.41 22.72 0-104DomesticHostility .92 785 7.85 17.87 0-104PeerHostility .89 813 14.55 24.83 0-104

GunEnthusiasmQuestionnaire(GEQ)Enthusiasm .79 861 20.82 7.29 8-40

Note.Gunsownedby26.7%oftotalsample.NC=Notcalculable.

Table2FrequencyDistributionsforLAVAAggressionIndices

Frequency

LifetimeAggressive

Acts

InjuriestoSelf

WeaponUsage

LegalConsequences

0 86 356 614 6561 93 108 36 372 105 74 20 163 107 38 99 654 78 42 8 45 80 34 2 26 43 17 2 17 18 14 1 18 12 4 9 8 5 10 152 4 11 8 12 58 13 6 14 6 15 4 16 2 21 1 33 1

46

Table3providesasummaryoftheextenuatingcircumstancesthatcontributedto

theactsofaggressionthatwereidentifiedbyrespondents.

Table3PercentageofSampleIdentifyingAggressionTriggersforOneorMorePriorIncidents

MotiveorExtenuatingFactor

NumberofPriorIncidents0 1 2 3 4 5

Ifeltthreatenedwithphysicalharmtoselforothers

39.6% 48.6% 4.9% 3.5% 1.2% 2.2%

Ifeltthreatenedwithlossofpersonalproperty

67.1% 30.4% 1.8% 0.3% 0.3% 0.1%

Ifeltthreatenedbythelossofarelationship

69.4% 29.7% 0.5% 0.3% 0% 0.1%

Ifeltthreatenedbyalossofprideinaconflict

62.7% 32.2% 2.3% 1.3% 0.5% 1.0%

Ifeltverballyorphysicallyharassed

45.3% 43.5% 4.7% 2.3% 1.8% 2.4%

Ifeltpersonallyinsulted 51.4% 39.5% 3.6% 2.0% 1.4% 2.0%Ifeltbetrayedbysomeone 63.4% 32.0% 2.6% 0.8% 0.4% 0.9%

Iwasinvolvedincompetitionandlostmytemper

72.5% 26.0% 1.0% 0.4% 0% 0.1%

Targetoftheactwasnottryingtoprovokeme

75.3% 22.8% 1.4% 0.3% 0% 0.3%

Thetargetoftheactwasaromanticpartner

70.1% 27.4% 1.2% 0.6% 0.4% 0.4%

Thetargetofmyactwasdrinkingalcohol

66.1% 29.7% 2.8% 0.9% 0.3% 0.3%

Underinfluenceofalcohol(lessthanlegallimit)

75.8% 22.4% 1.3% 0.3% 0.3% 0%

Underinfluenceofalcohol(overthelegallimit)

75.6% 22.3% 1.7% 0.5% 0% 0%

Underinfluenceofalcohol(welloverlegallimit)

75.3% 22.0% 1.9% 0.5% 0.3% 0%

Ithreatenedtokillsomeone 82.1% 16.6% 0.9% 0.3% 0.1% 0%Iusedaweapontothreaten

someone83.8% 15.5% 0.8% 0% 0% 0%

Iusedaweaponagainstsomeone 82.2% 16.9% 0.6% 0.1% 0.1% 0%

47

CorrelationAnalyses

Bivariatecorrelationsbetweenpredictorandcriterionmeasureswere

generallypositiveandstatisticallysignificant(seeTable4).AntagonismandADMI

Hypermasculinityweretheonlypredictormeasuresthatweresignificantly

correlatedwithallsixcriterionmeasures.

Table4BivariateCorrelationCoefficientsforPredictorandAggressionIndices

PredictorVariables

BPAQ LAVA GEQPhysicalAggressio

n

LifetimeAggression

InjuriestoSelf

WeaponUsage

LegalDamage

GunEnthusiasm

PersonalityInventoryfortheDSM-5-BriefFormAntagonism .479*** .147*** .342*** .341*** .314*** .143***NegativeAffectivity

.401*** .128*** .199*** .208*** .183*** -.065

AuburnDifferentialMasculinityInventory(ADMI)Hypermasculinity .430*** .102*** .279*** .305*** .261*** .266***

HonorIdeologyforManhood(HIM)HIM .602*** .288*** .208*** .200*** .174*** .308***

AttributionBiasQuestionnaire(ABQ)IntentBias .243*** .182*** .029 .068 .013 .081*

AttributionalBias .151*** .080* .010 .089* .031 .033ViolentExperiencesQuestionnaire-Revised(VEQ-R)

ParentalHostility .171*** .206*** .076* .025 -.002 .049SiblingHostility .186*** .286*** .068 .002 .017 .037DomesticHostility .198*** .158*** .095* .037 .014 .026PeerHostility .082* .168*** .038 -.049 -.046 -.015

GunEnthusiasmQuestionnaire(GEQ)GunEnthusiasm .240*** .131*** .155*** .140*** .103** XNote.Statisticallysignificantcoefficientsindicatedinbold.BPAQ=Buss-PerryAggressionQuestionnaire.AEQ=AggressiveExperiencesQuestionnaire.Samplesizes:PID-5(N=786);ADMI(N=785);ABQ(N=740);VEQ-R(N=750);HIM(N=771),&GEQ(N=808).*p<.05.**p<.01.***p<.001.Significantcoefficientsbolded.

48

Interrelationshipsbetweenthepredictorvariablestendedtobemodestinsize(see

Table5).

Theprimarycriterionmeasures(BPAQPhysicalAggression&LAVALifetime

Aggression)werecloselyassociated(r=.45),andtheremainingcriterionmeasures

showedrelated,butdifferent,facetsandconsequencesoftraitaggression(seeTable

6).

Table5BivariateCorrelationMatrixofPredictorIntercorrelationsLabel A B C D E F G H I J KA X - - - - - - - - - -B .50 X - - - - - - - - -C .15 .14 X - - - - - - - -D .09 .10 .42 X - - - - - - -E .06 .08 .07 .01 X - - - - - -F .03 .08 .02 .00 .45 X - - - - -G .06 .12 .10 .02 .57 .36 X - - - -H -.01 .17 .01 .05 .28 .31 .27 X - - -I .52 .24 .27 .19 .03 -.01 .03 -.10 X - -J .34 .17 .27 .16 .05 .07 .06 -.02 .50 X -K .14 -.07 .08 .03 .05 .04 .03 -.02 .27 .31 X

Note.A=Antagonism;B=NegativeAffectivity;C=IntentBias;D=AttributionalBias;E=ParentalHostility;F=SiblingHostility;G=DomesticHostility;H=PeerHostility;I=HypermasculinityJ=HonorIdeologyforManhood;K=GunEnthusiasm.

Significantcoefficientsbolded(p<.01,twotailed)

Table6BivariateCorrelationMatrixofAggressionIndicesLabel Variable A B C D E FA BPAQPhysicalAggression X - - - - -B LifetimeAggressiveActs .45*** X - - - -C InjurytoSelf .33*** .20*** X - - -D WeaponUsage .29*** .15*** .59*** X - -E LegalConsequences .24*** .09* .73*** .63*** X -F GunEnthusiasm .24*** .13*** .16*** .14*** .10** X

Note.α=.72.N=789.Significantcoefficients:***p<.001.**p<.01.*p<.05.

49

RegressionAnalyses

Generallinearregressionwasusedwith11predictorstoaccountforunique

varianceinthecriterionmeasures(seeTable7).

BPAQPhysicalAggressionwasbestpredictedbythePID-5traits(Antagonism&

NegativeAffectivity),childmaltreatment(siblinghostilityandexposuretodomestic

violence),gunenthusiasm,andmostcentrally,HonorIdeologyforManhoodscores.

HIMscoresalsoprovidedthestrongestpredictorofLAVALifetimeAggressionand

GunEnthusiasm.PID-5Antagonismscoreswereassociatedaswellwithprior

homicidalthreats,legalconsequences,andself-injury.PID-5NegativeAffectively

wasinverselyassociatedwithGESscores.Gunenthusiastswerelesslikelytoexpress

symptomsofnegativeaffectivityandmorelikelytoacknowledgepenchantstoward

Table7MultipleRegressionusingtheEnterMethodwithAllPredictorVariables

PredictorVariables

BPAQ

LifetimeAssessmentofViolentActs

GEQ

PhysicalAggression

LifetimeAggression

InjurytoSelf

WeaponUsage

LegalConseq.

Gun

EnthusiasmAntagonism .181*** .065 .228*** .202*** .205*** .072NegativeAffectivity

.205*** .038 .062 .093* .074 -.186***

Hypermasculinity .035 -.095* .126* .149** .129** .164**HIM .440*** .246*** .040 .015 .024 .236***

IntentBias .036 .125** -.052 -.040 -.068 -.002AttributionalBias .017 .001 -.015 .048 .006 -.026ParentalHostility .025 .079 .007 .005 -.025 .033SiblingHostility .089** .201*** .026 -.004 .029 .013DomesticHostility .082* -.009 .058 .029 .016 -.005PeerHostility .006 .082* .022 -.050 -.045 .028GunEnthusiasm .073* .05 .083* .075 .042 XNote.Pairwiseexclusionsusedincasesofmissingdata.BPAQ=Buss-PerryAggressionQuestionnaire;HIM=HonorIdeologyforManhoodScaleSignificantstandardizedbetaweightsbolded:***p<.001.**p<.01.*p<.05.

50

physicalviolence(BPAQPhysicalAggression)andpastself-injuriesassociatedwith

aggressiveacts.Withoneexception(IntentBias&LAGG),ABQ(AttributionBias

Questionnaire)scoreswerenotassociatedwithanyofthetraitaggression

indicators.

Allofthesixregressionmodelswerehighlysignificantandaccountedforas

muchas50%ofthevarianceinBPAQscores(seeTable8).

TheBPAQPhysicalAggressionmodelwassignificant,R(11,694)=.72(SE=.70),p<

.001,with50.8%ofthevarianceinaggressionexplainedbythepredictorvariables.

TheLAVALAGGmodelwassignificant,R(11,604)=.44(SE=.90),p<.001,and

accountedfor17.6%oftheoutcomevariance.TheLAVAInjurytoSelfmodelwas

significant,R(11,604)=.39(SE=1.07),p<.001,andaccountedfor13.8%ofthe

outcomevariance.TheLAVAWeaponsUsagemodelwassignificant,R(11,604)=.39

(SE=1.11),p<.001,andaccountedfor13.7%oftheoutcomevariance.TheLAVA

LegalConsequencesmodelwassignificant,R(11,604)=.35(SE=1.17),p<.001,and

accountedfor10.6%ofthevariance.Around12.7%ofGunEnthusiasmvariance

wasaccountedforusingthetenpredictors,R(10,605)=.39(SE=.93),p<.001.

Table8ModelSummaryUsingEnterMethodtoIncludeAllPredictorsinEachModel

DependentVariable R AdjustedRSquare FChangeBPAQPhysicalAggression .72 .508 67.13***LAVALifetimeAggression .44 .176 12.93***LAVAInjurytoSelf .39 .138 9.94***LAVAWeaponsUsage .39 .137 9.88***LAVALegalDamages .35 .106 7.66***GunEnthusiasm .39 .127 11.22***Note.Pairwiseexclusionsusedincasesofmissingdata.BPAQ=BussPerryAggressionQuestionnaire.LAVA=LifetimeAssessmentofViolentActsSignificantFChangebolded:***p<.001.**p<.01.*p<.05.

51

GunEnthusiasmandTraitAggression

Tables5and6identifythethreepredictorandfivecriterionvariablesthat

weresignificantlyassociatedwithgunenthusiasm.Regressionanalysissuggested

thatahighlevelofgunenthusiasmwasmoststronglypredisposedbytraitsof

hypermasculinity(asmeasuredbyboththeHIMandADMIscales)and,toalessor

extent,antagonism.Childhoodmaltreatmentandgeneralizedunhappiness(e.g.,

NegativeAffectivity)werenotpredictiveofgunenthusiasm.Additionalanalyses

wereconductedtoassesstheextenttowhichHigh(GEQ>28,top15%,M=32.7,SD

=3.20),Average(GEQ=13-28,middle70%,M=20.4,SD=4.26),andLow(GEQ<

13,bottom15%,M=10.0,SD=1.50)levelsofgunenthusiasmpredictedtrait

aggression.Significantgroupdifferenceswerefound(seeTable9)forPID-5

Antagonism,F(2,803)=12.29,p<.001,PID-5NegativeAffect,F(2,804)=3.79,p=

.023,ADMIHypermasculinity,F(2,805)=16.45,p<.001,HonorIdeologyfor

Manhood,F(2,795)=26.58,p<.001,BPAQPhysicalAggression,F(2,786)=17.58,p

<.001,LAVALifetimeAggression,F(2,756)=8.43,p<.001,LAVAInjurytoSelf,F

(2,756)=5.72,p=.003,LAVAWeaponUsage,F(2,756)=7.95,p<.001,andLAVA

LegalDamages,F(2,756)=5.02,p=.007.GroupdifferenceswerenotfoundforABQ

IntentBias,F(2,754)=1.75,p=.17.ThelowerhalfofTable9replicatesthesesame

contrastsusinggunownershipasapredictorofaggressivetraitsand/orbehavioral

proclivities.

52

Table9GunEnthusiasmandPossessionGroupContrastsonSelectedPredictors(z-scores)

PredictororCriterion

Variable

GunEnthusiasm(GEQ) Post-HocCellDifference(d)

Low(<15%)

Average

High(>85%)

LowvsAvg.

LowvsHigh

Avg.vsHigh

RawScore: 8-12 13-28 29-40PID-5-BFAntagonism -.36 .15 .039 .51 .40 NSPID-5-BFNegative

Affectivity.00 .08 -.19 NS NS .27

ADMIHypermasculinity -.40 .08 .31 .48 .71 .23ABQIntentBias -.08 -.03 .14 NS NS NS

ManhoodHonorIdeology -.50 .04 .40 .54 .90 .36

BPAQPhysicalAggression -.43 .07 .30 .50 .73 NSLifetimeAggression

(LAGG)-.21 -.03 .31 NS .52 NS

InjurytoSelf(ITS) -.17 .22 .26 .39 .43 NSWeaponUsage -.24 .25 .18 .49 .42 NSLegalDamages -.18 .23 .09 .41 NS NS

n 125 604 132

PredictororCriterionVariable

GunOwnership StatisticalProbabilitiesNo Yes

PID-5-BFAntagonism .05 .12 t(819)=.84,p=.40PID-5-BFNegative

Affectivity.05 -.02 t(821)=.93,p=.35

ADMIHypermasculinity .00 .22 t(823)=2.77,p=.006ABQIntentBias -.05 .13 t(767)=2.20,p=.028

ManhoodHonorIdeology -.08 .30 t(813)=4.90,p<.001 Table9Continued

PredictororCriterion

Variable

GunOwnership StatisticalProbabilitiesNo Yes

BPAQPhysicalAggression -.03 .24 t(801)=3.53,p<.001LifetimeAggression

(LAGG)-.01 .04 t(774)=.66,p=.51

InjurytoSelf(ITS) .13 .32 t(774)=2.12,p=.049WeaponUsage .16 .25 t(774)=1.00,p=.319LegalDamages .13 .22 t(774)=.93,p=.353

n 644 235 Note.TukeytestswereusedwithCohen’sdcelleffectsizedifferences.NS=notsignificant.

Significantdifferencesbolded.

53

SelectedInteractionAnalyses

Thisstudyprovidedanopportunitytoexaminewhetherthestrengthofgun

enthusiasmlinkstotraitaggressionmightvaryasafunctionofmaladaptive

personalitytraitssuchasantagonismandhypermasculinity.Aquestionofinterests

waswhetherornotthecombinationofmalicioustraitsandguninterestmight

culminateinevenmoreextrememanifestationsoftraitaggression.Collateral

interactionanalyseswereconductedtotestwhethercombinationsofthesethree

predictorsseemedtomagnifycriterionscores.Mediansplitsofthethreepredictor

(gunenthusiasm,antagonism,andmanhoodhonorideology)distributionswere

usedineachofthefiveanalysesofvariance(seeTable10).

Table10SelectedInteractionAnalysesUsingPredictorMedianSplitANOVAs

MainandInteractionFactors

LAVALifetimeAggression

BPAQPhysicalAggression

F p PartialEta2 F p PartialEta2

CorrectedModel(11,758)

6.49 .000 .087 33.73 .000 .323

A)GunEnthusiasm

5.09 .006 .013 7.43 .001 .019

B)Antagonism 12.63 .000 .017 37.44 .000 .046C)HonorIdeologyforManhood

8.04 .005 .011 33.47 .000 .041

A*BInteraction 3.08 .047 .008 .913 .402 NSA*CInteraction 0.02 .977 NS .031 .970 NSB*CInteraction 0.81 .367 NS 3.46 .063 NS

A*B*CInteraction

0.82 .443 NS .106 .900 NS

54

Significanteffectswerefoundforonlythe:1)GEQxAntagonisminteractionon

LAGGscores,F(11,758)=6.49,p<.001(η2=.087);2)GEQxHIMinteractionon

Legalscores,F(11,758)=7.50,p<.001(η2=.10);and3)GEQxAntagonismxHIM

interactiononInjurytoSelfscores,F(11,758)=10.54,p<.001(η2=.13).

Table10Continued

MainandInteractionFactors

LAVALegalConsequences

LAVAWeaponsUsage

F p PartialEta2

F p PartialEta2

CorrectedModel(11,758)

7.50 .000 .100 9.22 .000 .120

A)GunEnthusiasm

1.71 .182 NS 4.64 .010 .012

B)Antagonism 16.73 .000 .022 10.58 .001 .014C)HonorIdeologyforManhood

0.55 .457 NS 2.95 .086 NS

A*BInteraction .581 .560 NS 2.74 .065 NSA*CInteraction 3.09 .046 .008 1.71 .181 NSB*CInteraction .008 .928 NS .014 .905 NS

A*B*CInteraction

2.70 .068 NS 1.77 .172 NS

LAVAInjurytoSelf(ITS)

F p PartialEta2

CorrectedModel(11,758)

10.54 .000 .134

A)GunEnthusiasm

5.05 .007 .023

B)Antagonism 15.29 .000 .020C)HonorIdeologyforManhood

3.06 .081 NS

A*BInteraction 4.80 .008 .013A*CInteraction 1.20 .302 NSB*CInteraction .460 .498 NS

A*B*CInteraction

5.10 .006 .013

55

DirectandIndirectMaltreatmentEffects

Evidencesuggestingthedirecteffectofchildhoodphysicalmaltreatmenton

traitaggressionwasfoundtobelimitedandinconsistent(seeTable7).Thisdataset

did,however,provideanopportunitytoexaminetheextenttowhichchildhood

maltreatmentmightelevateaggressivetendenciesindirectlythroughmaladaptive

traitdevelopment,orperhapsevengunenthusiasm.Aseriesof25independent

mediationanalyses(5mediatorsx5outcomemeasures)wereconductedto

examinethesepotentialindirecteffectsofaggregatedchildhoodmaltreatmentas

measuredthroughthetotalVEQ-Rscore(seeTable11).BPAQPhysicalAggression

scoreswerefoundtobeindirectlyelevatedbychildhoodmaltreatment(totalVEQ-

R)viatheHypermasculinitymediationeffect.

Table11TotalVEQ-RAbuseDirectandMediated(RiskFactor)EffectsonAggression

RiskFactora↗↘b

Abuse----c’--->AGG

BPAQPhysicalAggression

LifetimeAggression

Acts

InjurytoSelf

WeaponsUsage

Legal

Consequences

HonorIdeologyforManhoodRiskDirectEffect(b) .628 .308 .252 .255 .233AbuseDirectEffect(c’) .300 .462 .267 .005 .061AbuseIndirectEffect

(ab).052 .015 .012 .012 .011

N 643 584 584 584 584Hypermasculinity(ADMI)

RiskDirectEffect(b) .429 .115 .332 .388 .133AbuseDirectEffect(c’) .377 .480 .235 -.017 .019AbuseIndirectEffect

(ab).099 .037 .033 .030 .028

N 655 597 597 597 597Antagonism(PID-5-BF)

RiskDirectEffect(b) .462 .134 .405 .387 .374AbuseDirectEffect(c’) .301 .468 .221 -.010 .027AbuseIndirectEffect

(ab).027 .002 .007 .007 .006

N 658 601 601 601 601

56

Table11ContinuedIntentBias(ABQ)

RiskDirectEffect(b) .207 .149 .006 .152 .017AbuseDirectEffect(c’) .318 .473 .254 .003 .049AbuseIndirectEffect

(ab).016 .010 .000 .003 .001

N 623 567 567 567 567GunEnthusiasm(GEQ)

RiskDirectEffect(b) .214 .150 .148 .152 .118AbuseDirectEffect(c’) .298 .472 .223 -.019 .021AbuseIndirectEffect

(ab).013 .013 .013 .013 .010

N 653 600 600 600 600Note.Significant(p<.05)directormediatedeffectsarebolded(1,000bootstrapsamples)

57

CHAPTERV

DISCUSSION

Theoverarchingpurposeofthisdissertationresearchwastoexplore

predictorsthathavebeenlinkedtoadultmaladjustment,andtheirrelationshipsto

adultaggressivetendenciesandinterestanduseoffirearms.Previousresearch

suggeststhatbiologicalpredispositionandearlydevelopmentleadtopersonality

factorsandcognitiveschemas,whichmediatecurrentenvironmentalstressors

(Anderson&Bushman,2002;DeWall,Anderson,&Bushman,2011).Thistheory

servedasagrossmodelthatdirectedthisresearch.Specifically,theresearch

focusedontheimpactofchildhoodmaltreatment,personalityfactors,andcognitive

schemasonaggressionandgunenthusiasm.Thedescriptivestatisticscalculatedfor

thesemeasureswiththisparticipantpopulationsuggestthattheyarereliableand

sufficientlyvariedinresponses.

TheLAVAversionusedinthisstudyprovidedrespondentswithmaximum

latitudetodefinewhatconstitutedprior“aggressive”acts.Over50%ofthesample

acknowledgedthreeormorepastaggressiveacts,androughly20%describedten

priorincidentswithoneormoreinvolvinghomicidalthreatsand/orlegal

ramifications.Theseprevalenceratesweregenerallyconsistentwiththosefoundin

thenormativenationalsample(King,Bailly,&Russell,2016)andtestifytothe

pervasivenatureofaggressioninthenaturalisticenvironment.TheLAVAindices

58

were,aspredicted,closelyassociatedwithBPAQPhysicalAggressionscores(r=

.45)whichreflectedrespondentinclinationstoreactviolentlytoperceived

provocation(e.g.“OnceinawhileIcan’tcontroltheurgetostrikeanotherperson,”

“Givenenoughprovocation,Imayhitanotherperson,”“Isometimesfeellikea

powderkegreadytoexplode,”and“IfIhavetoresorttoviolencetoprotectany

rights,Iwill”).Thesecollectivecriterionmeasuresprovidedmultipleindicesoftrait

aggressionasitismanifestedinthegeneralpopulation.Thefivemostcommon

triggersforthosewhoengagedinaggressiveactswerephysicalthreatstoselfor

others,verbalorphysicalharassment,personalinsult,lossofpride,andpersonal

betrayal(Table3).

Thebivariatecorrelations(Tables4,5,and6)provideevidenceofstrong

relationshipsbetweenmanyofthepredictorandcriterionvariables.Alleleven

predictorvariablesweresignificantlyandpositivelycorrelatedwithBPAQPhysical

AggressionandLAVALifetimeAggression.GunEnthusiasmwassignificantly

correlatedwithAntagonism,ADMIhypermasculinity,ABQIntentBias,andHIM.

However,someofthesepredictorsdonotaccountforsignificantvariancewhen

comparedwithother,stronger,predictorvariables(seeTable7).Specifically,the

predictivevalueofthechildhoodmaltreatmentvariableswasdilutedby

antagonism,andhypermasculinityvariables.Thus,thesevariablesallwarrant

furtherstudyindependentoftheothervariablestoevaluatetheirstrengthin

predictingthecriterionvariablesinothercircumstances.

Gunenthusiasmoccupiedacentralfocusinthisstudyandwastestedasboth

apredictorandcriterionvariableintheseanalyses.Theimpactofgunownership,

59

andparticularlygunenthusiasm,onbroadersocietyremainsahotlycontestedissue

withinandwithoutpoliticalandscientificcircles.Thereappearstobemany

developmentalcontributorstogunenthusiasm(Branscombe,Weird,&Crosby,

1991;Cooke&Puddifoot,2000;Heath,Weeks,&Murphy,1997),andlinksbetween

gunownershipandpenchantstowardviolencehavebeenestablished(Berkowtiz&

LePage,1967;Buss,Booker,&Buss,1972;Klinesmith,Kasser,&McAndrew,2006).

TheGunEnthusiasmQuestionnaire(GEQ;AppendixE)createdforthisstudy

reliedondistinctandextremefirearmopinionstodifferentiaterespondentsfrom

oneanother.Theresultingscalewasfoundtobeinternallyconsistent(α=.79)and

significantlycorrelatedwithallfiveofthetraitaggressionindicators(seeTable4).

Gunenthusiasmalsoseemedtoalsoserveasavisiblemanifestationofantagonism

and,morecentrally,hypermasculinity.Therewasastronglinkofgunownership

andhypermasculinity(asmeasuredbyboththeADMIandHIM)BPAQ,andLAVA

ITS.Inotherwords,thosewhoendorsedowninggunsweremorelikelythanthose

whodidnotendorseowninggunstobehypermasculine,aggressive,andsustaining

injuriesasaresultofaggressiveacts.Thereweresignificantdifferencesinthe

presentationofparticipantsinhigh,average,orlowgunenthusiasm.Further,

individualswhowerehighlyenthusiasticaboutgunsweresignificantlydifferent

thanthosewhoendorsedlowlevelsofgunenthusiasminhypermasculinity,

antagonism,andaggression.Theseresultssuggesttherearesignificantdifferences

inthepersonalities,beliefsystems,andbehaviorsofpeoplewhoareenthusiastic

aboutgunsandthosewhoarenot.Theseresultshaveshownaclearlinkbetween

aggressionandgunenthusiasm.Further,theresultsalsosuggestthenewGun

60

EnthusiasmQuestionnaireuniquelyidentifiessubgroupsofindividualswhohave

varyinginterestinfirearms.Interestingly,gunenthusiasmwasassociatedwith

lowerlevelsofnegativeaffectivityandwasnotpredictedbychildhood

maltreatment.Further,thereisanegativerelationshipbetweenlowlevelsofgun

enthusiasmandaggressionmeasures,suggestingindividualswhoarenotinterested

inusinggunsorprotectingindividualgunownershiparealsonotengagingin

aggressiveactsingeneral.

TheoperationaldefinitionsofhypermasculinityrelieduponintheADMIand

HIMusedinthisstudywarrantcloserattention.Respondentswhoendorsedstrong

traditionalmalecharacteristicsanddeniedstereotypicfemaleattributesweremost

likelytoreportaggressiveurges,ideations,andbehaviors.Thisgroupofindividuals

alsoshowedmoregunenthusiasmandinterestinfirearms.Theseresultsare

consistentwithpreviousresearchthatfoundthatmenassociatedgunpossession

withmasculinityandfulfillingtheroleofprotector(Stroud,2012).Inamultiple

regressionanalysis,hypermasculinitywasthestrongestpredictorofBPAQphysical

aggressionscores,LAVAlifetimeaggressionscores,andGunEnthusiasm

Questionnairescores.Ininteractionanalyses,hypermasculinity,measuredwiththe

HIMscale,hadasmallbutstatisticallysignificanteffectonLAVALAGGandasmall

tomediumstatisticallysignificanteffectontheBPAQPhysicalAggressionscale.The

interactionbetweenGunEnthusiasmandhypermasculinityhadasignificanteffect

onLAVAlegalconsequences.Thus,thereisalinkbetweenhypermasculinityand

aggressionandthosewhohavehypermasculinebeliefsandgunenthusiasmare

mostlikelytoengageinaggressivebehaviorthatresultsinlegalconsequences.

61

Hypermasculinitywasinvestigatedwithtwodifferentmeasures.

Hypermasculinity,asmeasuredbytheHonorIdeologyforManhoodscalecorrelated

withright-wingauthoritarianism,socialdominance,andgeneralaggressiveness

(Barnes,Brown,&Osterman,2012).ThequestionsontheHIMmeasurethe

outwardmanifestationsofhypermasculineattitudesandbeliefs,includingphysical

aggressionanddominance(e.g.“Amanhastherighttoactwithphysicalaggression

towardanothermanwhocallshimaninsultingname,”“Arealmancanalwaystake

careofhimself,”and“Arealmanneverleavesascoreunsettled”).Incontrast,the

hypermasculinityscaleoftheAuburnDifferentialMasculinityInventoryidentifies

beliefsaboutmalesuperiorityoverfemalesandmalegenderroles(e.g.“Women,

generally,arenotassmartasmen,”“Ivaluepoweroverpeople,”and“Iknow

feministswanttobelikemenbecausemenarebetterthanwomen”).Thetwo

measurescombinedprovidearobustunderstandingofhypermasculinity,asit

presentsinrelationships,attitudes,andactions.TheHIMidentifies

hypermasculinityasaproactive,externalizingbehaviorwhiletheADMIidentifies

hypermasculinityasaninterpersonal,relationalinteraction.

Thechildhoodmaltreatmentindiceswerenotasstronglyandpervasively

linkedtothecriterionmeasuresashypothesized.Siblinghostilitywasthethirdof

sixsignificantpredictorsofBPAQphysicalaggression,anditwasthesecond

strongestoffivepredictorsofLAVAlifetimeaggression.Domestichostilitywasa

significantpredictorofBPAQphysicalaggressionandpeerhostilitywasasignificant

predictorofLAVAlifetimeaggression.Parentalhostilitywasnotsignificantly

predictiveofanyofthedependentvariables.Further,nomeasureofchildhood

62

maltreatmentwaspredictiveoforcorrelatedwithgunenthusiasm.Thissuggest

thattheindividualswhoendorsehighlevelsofguninterestandparticipationare

notmorelikelytocomefromhomesorchildhoodsinwhichviolenceisprevalent

thanthosewithoutthatsameinterestinfirearms.

Twogeneralpersonalitytendenciesthathavebeenassociatedwith

aggressioninpreviousliterature(Bailly&King,2006;Jones,Miller,andLynman,

2011;Seibert,Miller,Pryor,Reidy,&Zeichner,2010)werenegativeaffectand

antagonism.Negativeaffectasmeasuredwiththequestions“Iworryaboutalmost

everything,”“Igetemotionaleasily,oftenforverylittlereason,”“Ifearbeingalone

inlifemorethananythingelse,”“Igetstuckononewayofdoingthings,evenwhen

it’sclearitwon’twork,”and“Igetirritatedeasilybyallsortsofthings.”Antagonism

wasmeasuredwiththequestions“It’snotbigdealifIhurtotherpeoples’feelings,”

“Icraveattention,”“Ioftenhavetodealwithpeoplewhoarelessimportantthan

me,”“IusepeopletogetwhatIwant,”and“Itiseasyformetotakeadvantageof

others.”ThisisoneofthefirststudiesthatusedthePID-5assessmenttocompare

thesetraits,asconceptualizedintheDSM-5,andaggression.Antagonistictendency

wasasignificantpredictorofaggressionandgunenthusiasm,anditwas

significantlycorrelatedatmoderatestrengthwithnegativeaffectand

hypermasculinity.Antagonismalsohadamediatingeffectonhypermasculinity,

intentbias,andgunenthusiasmonaggression.Thus,thepresenceofantagonism

elevatestherelationshipbetweenthosefactorsandaggressiveacts.Thoughthe

effectsshownweresmall,itsuggeststhereisauniquerelationshipthatneedstobe

furtherstudied.SinceantagonismisapersonalitytraitproposedbytheDSM-5,

63

thereisapossibilityforearlyidentificationandtreatmenttodampenitsimpactin

adultaggression.Furtherresearchwillbeinstrumentalinisolatingtheeffectsof

antagonismanddeterminingpossibleinterventions.

Unsurprisingly,negativeaffectwassignificantlycorrelatedwithintentbias,

attributionalbias,domestichostility,andpeerhostility,thoughthecorrelations

wereweakinstrength.ItwasalsoasignificantpredictorofBPAQphysical

aggression,historicalaggressiveacts,injuriessustainedinaggressiveacts,weapons

usedinaggressiveacts,andlegalconsequencesfollowingaggressiveacts.Therewas

notasignificantrelationshipbetweennegativeaffectandgunenthusiasm.Itseems

that,whilehigherinhypermasculinityandantagonismtendencies,participantswith

stronginterestingunsdidnotexperiencesignificantnegativeordistressing

emotions.Further,negativeaffectwasnegativelypredictiveofgunenthusiasmina

multipleregressionanalysis,suggestingthatindividualswithnegativeemotionality

andpoorself-conceptwerelesslikelytobeinterestedinfirearmsthanthose

withoutthesenegativeemotions.

Ofnote,hostileattributionbiasdidnothavethestronglinktoaggression

thatwasoriginallyhypothesized.Previousresearchfoundrelationshipsbetween

hostileattributionbiasandadultaggression(Chen,Coccaro,&Jacobson,2012;Crick

&Dodge,1994;Guerra&Huesmann,2004;Lemerise&Arsenio,2000).Thereisnot

currentlyawellvalidatedandreliablemeasureofhostileattributionbias.TheSocial

InformationProcessing-AttributionandEmotionalResponseQuestionnaire(SIP-

AEQ;Coccaro,Noblett,&McCloskey,2009)hasbeenusedinsomeoftheprevious

researchthathasfoundthelinkbetweenhostileattributionbiasandaggression;

64

however,itwasnotchosenforuseinthisresearchbecausetheinternalconsistency

resultshavebeenvaried(α=.57toα=.82).Hostileintentbias(i.e.hostile

responsestothequestion“Howwouldyourespondinthissituation?”)was

significantlypredictiveofLAVALAGGscores;itwasthethirdstrongestpredictorin

aregressionwithfivesignificantpredictors.Thissuggeststhat,thoughitwasnotas

stronglypredictiveashypothesized,hostileattributionbiasremainsaninteresting

constructthatshouldcontinuetobeevaluatedinrelationtoaggression.One

probableexplanationfortheresultsofattributionbiasisthisvariablewas

overshadowedbyother,stronger,predictorssuchashypermasculinityand

antagonism.Thebivariatecorrelationssupportthehypothesisthatattributionbias

iscorrelatedwithphysicalaggression.Asapredictivefactor,however,attribution

biasdidnotstandoutwhenpairedwithothervariables.Thepreviousresearchthat

foundlinksbetweenaggressionandattributionbiasdidnotincludeotherfactors

thatcouldexplainmoreofthevariance.Further,thescenariosintheAttribution

BiasQuestionnairemaynothaveadequatelyidentifiedthesituationsthatresultin

aggressionforthoseindividualswhoarehypermasculineandantagonistic.The

scenariosincludedbothovertprovocations(i.e.acoworkerisinpossessionofyour

equipmentandyouareatabarwhenanotherpatronbumpsintoyouandlaughs)

andrelationalprovocation(i.e.afriendtellsanunflatteringstoryaboutyou,you

overhearcoworkerstalkingaboutapartytowhichyouwerenotinvited,andyou

passacquaintancesonthestreetandtheydonotreturnyouracknowledgement;see

AppendixB).

65

Limitations

Therewereseverallimitationsinthisresearchdesignthatshouldtemper

conclusionsdrawnfromtheresults.Whileitemscontributingtothecriterionscales

werefacevalid,theresultingscoreswerederivedfromretrospectiveself-reports.

Twovaliditycheckswereusedtoexcludeinattentiveresponding,butthevalidityof

scalescorescouldnotbeindependentlyvalidated.Further,aggressionwasnot

definedinthesurveyasphysicalaggression;however,theoptionslistedforinjuries

sustainedclearlyresultfromphysicalaggression(i.e.brokenbone,bruise,orblack

eye).Participantscouldhaveconstrueditemsinsubstantiallydifferentway.Itwas

alsoclearthatasubset(~12%)ofrespondentswithLAAGscoresexceedingzero

describedthoseact(s)usinganimpropersequencingcolumn(i.e.,“secondmost

recentaggressiveact”whenLAAG=1).Thisadditionalerrormightbereduced

throughmoredetailedinstructionsinfutureLAVAadministrations.Interpretations

fromTable3regardingchangesinaggressionmotivationoversuccessiveacts

shouldbebalancedwithrecognitionofthisadditionalerrorsource.

Hypermasculinitywasmeasuredwithtwoseparateassessments,andthey

werepositivelysignificantlycorrelatedwithmoderatestrength.Thoughthe

measuresappearedtoidentifytwodifferent,butintegrallyrelatedaspectsof

hypermasculinity,itseemsthatthedatawascomplicatedbytheuseoftwo

measuresforoneconstruct,andfutureresearchshouldbedonetodeterminewhich

measuremostaccuratelyandreliablyidentifieshypermasculinity.Thisargument

canalsobemadeforthemeasurementofhostileattributionbiasasincludingboth

attributionbiasandintentbias.Thevarietyofmeasuresandconstructsproduceda

66

broadrangeofdatathatprovokesmanyrelationshipsthatcanbelookedinto

furtherinfutureresearch,thoughitalsocreatedabarrierinisolatinganyofthe

factorsandgleaningspecificinformationintotherelationshipsandeffectsofthese

factors.

APPENDICES

68

AppendixAViolentExperiencesQuestionnaire(VEQ-R)andScaleItemAssignments

Pleaseindicatehowoftenoneormoreofthetargetactsoccurredduringthespecifiedtimeframe.

FrequencyIndexofIncident:A)neverhappenedB)happenedonlyonceC)happenedonlytwiceD)happenedlessthanfourtimesE)happenedaboutonceayearF)happenedabouttwiceayearG)happenedaboutonceamonthH)happenedaboutonceaweekI)happenedmorethanonceaweek

ACTS

TOWARDYOUBYA

PARENTorSTEP-PARENT

duringeach

oftheseageranges

ACTS

TOWARDYOUBYA

SIBLINGorSTEP-SIBLING

duringeach

oftheseageranges

ACTS

OBSERVEDBETWEEN

PARENTSor

STEP-PARENTS

duringeachoftheseageranges

TARGETACT 5-8 9-12

13-16

5-8 9-12

13-16

5-8

9-12

13-16

ParentalDiscipline:spankingorotherformsofreasonablephysicaldisciplineproducingmildtomoderatepainwithoutphysicalinjury

1

2

3

VerbalConflict:yelling,cursing,damagingproperty,orotherexpressionsofangerwithoutphysicalinjury

4

5

6

13

14

15

22

ThreatsofPhysicalViolence:wordsorgesturesexpressingathreattoinflictphysicalinjury

7

8

9

16

17

18

25

PhysicalActswithorwithoutPhysicalInjury:pushing,shoving,shaking,striking,kicking,punching,beating,burningoruseofaweapontoinflictpainorinjury

10

11

12

19

20

21

28

69

ACTSDIRECTEDTOWARDYOUBYABULLY 5–8 9–12 13-16

Howoftenwereyou:Physicallytauntedorbulliedbypeersduringorafterschool?

31

32

33

Callednamesorverballyteasedbypeersduringorafterschool?

34 35 36

VEQ-RPrimaryIndices Label Items ComponentIndices ItemsCorporalPunishment CORP 1-3 ParentalHostility 1-3&7-12Parent-ChildVerbalDiscord PVD 4-6 SiblingHostility 13-21SiblingVerbalDiscord SVD 13-15 DomesticHostility 22-30ObservedParentalDiscord OVD 22-24 PeerHostility 31-36Parent-ChildPhysicalThreats PPT 7-9 SiblingPhysicalThreats SPT 16-18 AgeIndices z-score

summations

ObservedParentalThreats OPT 25-27 Childhood 1,4,7,10,13,16,19,22,25,28,31,34

Child-ParentPhysicalAbuse CPA 10-12 Pre-Teen 2,5,8,11,14,17,20,23,26,29,32,35

SiblingPhysicalAbuse SPA 19-21 Adolescence 3,6,9,12,15,18,21,24,27,30,33,36

IntimatePartnerViolence IPV 28-30 PeerBullying BULL 31-33 Total 1-36PeerTeasing TEAS 34-36

70

AppendixBAttributionBiasQuestionnaire(ABQ)

1. 1.Imaginethatyouareatworkandlosesomeimportantequipment.You

lookforitbutcannotfinditanywhere.Ifyoudonotfindit,youwillnotbe

abletofinishyourwork.Justwhenyouthinkitislostforgood,younotice

thatoneofyourco-workershasyourequipmentandhasnottoldyou.

a. Whydoyoubelievethisexchangeoccurred?

b. Howwouldyourespondinthissituation?

2. Imagineyouareseatedatabarinarestaurant.Thepeoplenexttoyouare

laughingandtalking.Oneofthembrushesagainstyou.Youdonotpayany

attentiontothis.Thissamepersonthenbumpsintoyou,causingyoutospill

yourdrink.Youlookoveratthepersonands/heislaughing.

a. Whydoyoubelievethisexchangeoccurred?

b. Howwouldyourespondinthissituation?

3. Imaginethatyouarewithagroupoffriendsandacquaintances.Oneofyour

friendstellsastoryaboutyouwhichisfunnybutitpresentsyouinareally

badlight.

a. Whydoyoubelievethisexchangeoccurred?

b. Howwouldyourespondinthissituation?

4. Imaginethatyouareinthebathroomatwork.Youheartwoofyourco-

workerstalkingaboutapartythatisgoingonthisweekend.Theymention

whoiscoming,andallyourfriendsareinvited.Youhavenotgottenan

invitation.

a. Whydoyoubelievethisexchangeoccurred?

b. Howwouldyourespondinthissituation?

5. Imaginethatyouaregoingtothemalltodosomeshoppingwithafriend.You

aresupposedtomeetnearthefoodplacewhereyouandyourfriendalways

eattogether.Justasyouarewalkingtowardtheplacewhereyouare

supposedtomeet,youseeyourfriendcomingoutofanotherstorewitha

personthatyoureallydon’tlike.Theylookliketheyhavebeenshoppingfor

71

awhilebecausetheyhaveabunchofbagswiththem.Note:Thisitemwas

omittedduetoinvestigatorerrorandwasnotincludedinthecurrentstudy.

a. Whydoyoubelievethisexchangeoccurred?

b. Howwouldyourespondinthissituation?

6. Imaginethatyouaretakingawalktothestoreoneday.Afteryouwalka

blockortwo,youseetwopeopleyouknow.Asyoupassbythem,yousay

“hi.”Theyactasifyouarenotthere—theydon’tsayanythingtoyou.Then

theysaysomethingtoeachotherthatyoucan’thearandtheykeepon

walkingtheotherway.

a. Whydoyoubelievethisexchangeoccurred?

b. Howwouldyourespondinthissituation?

*reprintedwithpermission

72

AppendixCHonorIdeologyforManhoodScale(HIM)

Pleaserateyourlevelofagreementwiththefollowingstatements: Strongly

Disagree Strongly

Agree1.Amanhastherighttoactwithphysicalaggressiontowardanothermanwhocallshimaninsultingname.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

2.Arealmandoesn’tletotherpeoplepushhimaround.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

3.Amanhastherighttoactwithphysicalaggressiontowardanothermanwhoslandershisfamily.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

4.Arealmancanalwaystakecareofhimself.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

5.Amanhastherighttoactwithphysicalaggression.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

6.Arealmanneverletshimselfbea“doormat”tootherpeople.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

7.Amanhastherighttoactwithphysicalaggressiontowardanothermanwhotrespassesonhispersonalproperty.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

8.Arealmancan“pullhimselfupbyhisbootstraps”whenthegoinggetstough.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

9.Amanhastherighttoactwithphysicalaggressiontowardanothermanwhomistreatshischildren.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10.Arealmanwillneverbackdownfromafight.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

73

StronglyDisagree

StronglyAgree

11.Amanhastherighttoactwithphysicalaggressiontowardanothermanwhostealsfromhim.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

12.Arealmanneverleavesascoreunsettled.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

13.Amanhastherighttoactwithphysicalaggressiontowardanothermanwhovandalizeshishome.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

14.Arealmandoesn’ttakeanycrapfromanybody.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

15.Amanhastherighttoactwithphysicalaggressiontowardanothermanwhoinsultshismother.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

16.Arealmanisseenastoughintheeyesofhispeers.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

*reprintedwithpermission

74

AppendixDLifetimeAssessmentofViolentActs(LAVA)

Howmanytimesinyourlifehaveyouactedaggressively?012345678910

Pleaseidentifyinjuriesoroutcomesthatyoupersonallyexperiencedfromtheseacts

(leaveblankifno)?

MostRecentAct

2ndMostRecent

3rdMostRecent

4thMostRecent

5thMostRecent

brokenbone O O O O O

bruise O O O O O

blackeye O O O O O

headorfacialinjury O O O O O

braininjury O O O O O

superficialcut O O O O O

deepcut O O O O O

internalinjury O O O O O

lossofconsciousness O O O O O

ambulancecall O O O O O

ERtreatment O O O O O

hospitalization O O O O O

policearrest O O O O O

extended(>1week)jailtime O O O O O

felonyconviction O O O O O

Identifyanyofthesefactorsthatcontributedtoyouraggression:Ifeltthreatenedwithphysicalharmtoselforothers

O O O O O

Ifeltthreatenedwithlossofpersonalproperty O O O O O

Ifeltthreatenedbythelossofarelationship O O O O O

Ifeltthreatenedbyalossofprideinaconflict O O O O O

Ifeltverballyorphysicallyharassed O O O O OIfeltpersonallyinsulted O O O O OIfeltbetrayedbysomeone O O O O OIwasinvolvedincompetitionandlostmytemper O O O O O

Thetargetoftheactwasnottryingtoprovokeme O O O O O

Thetargetoftheactwasaromanticpartner O O O O O

Thetargetofmyactwasdrinkingalcohol O O O O O

Iwasundertheinfluenceofalcohol(probablylessthanthelegallimit)

O O O O O

Iwasundertheinfluenceofalcohol(probablyoverthanthelegallimit)

O O O O O

Iwasundertheinfluenceofalcohol(definitelyoverthanthelegallimit)

O O O O O

Ithreatenedtokillsomeoneinvolvedinthisact O O O O O

Iusedaweapontothreatensomeoneinthisact O O O O O

Iusedaweaponagainstsomeone O O O O O

75

AppendixEGunEnthusiasmQuestionnaire(GEQ)

Pleasedescribeforusyourcurrentinterestsandexperiencesinvolving

guns.

FirearmBeliefs&Behavior

VerySimilartoMe

VeryDissimilartoMe

1 2 3 4 5Ienjoyhuntingsmallgamesuchasfowlandrabbits.

O

O

O

O

O

Ihavebeenshootingfirearmssincechildhood.

O

O

O

O

O

Ibelievethatgunsdonotbelonginindividualhomes.

O

O

O

O

O

Ibelievethatgunlawsneedtobemorerestrictive.

O

O

O

O

O

Ihavelittleornoexperiencewithguns. O O O O O

Ienjoycollectingassaultrifles. O O O O O

Ienjoyattendinggunshows. O O O O O

IbelievethattheSecondAmendmentaffordsthebestprotectionagainst

atyrannicalgovernment.

O

O

O

O

O

76

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