Continuity and Discontinuity of Violent and Nonviolent Behavior: Toward a Classification of Male Adolescent Immigrants from the Former Soviet Union in Israel

Abstract

This article examines the perceptions of male adolescent immigrants to Israel from the former Soviet Union (FSU) and what accounts for their using or refraining from violence. A grounded theoretical classification of four groups relating to continuity and discontinuity of violent and nonviolent behavior is presented and reasons provided for these behaviors in the host country, compared with the country of origin. Each group is described and analyzed by inductive parameters relating to self-perception, immigration, attitudes toward violence, and identification and acceptance of norm differences. Findings are based on semistructured interviews with 40 male adolescents who immigrated from the FSU to Israel. Youth who have immigrated due to ideological reasons, had control over the decision to emigrate, or were able to identify norm differences between the two countries adjusted well and were nonviolent in the receiving country. Youth whose families immigrated due to pragmatic considerations, who had little or no control over the decision to emigrate, had difficulty adjusting, or preferred to live by the norms they were used to in the FSU tended to be involved in violent behavior. The findings are presented in a grounded theoretical model and discussed in the context of theoretical concepts of “uprooting of meaning” for the youth in each of the four groups.     

Female Juvenile Violent Behavior: Bonding Systems and Other Mediating Constructs

The purpose of this research was to examine a conceptual/theoretical model with negative (substance use) and positive (extracurricular activities) mediating factors between several bonding systems and violent behavior among female youth. Since much of the prior researches have focused on both males and females therefore this study is focusing on females only. Data from the 2011 National Survey on Drug Use and Health was used for this study. For the purpose of this study female research participants between the age of 12–17 were selected (N = 9383). At the stage of bivariate analysis, parental bonding system was omitted from a model before moving onto a structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis as most of the correlations between indicators of parental bonding systems and dependent variables were not significant. Revised model with two bonding systems on violent behavior through two mediating constructs, extracurricular activities and substance use were tested through the SEM and Sobel test analyses. This structural model specifies a satisfactory fit with the sample. Several mediating effects within this model, which help lower the occurrence of violent behavior, were also validated.     

Perceptions of Partners' Attributions for Depression in Relation to Perceptions of Support and Conflict in Romantic Relationships

People's attributions for their own psychological problems are linked to their interpersonal behaviors and attitudes. However, depressed individuals' inferences about their romantic partners' attributions for their depressive symptoms have yet to be studied in relation to their perceptions of relationship quality. This study examined perceived support from and conflict with partners in relation to perceptions of partners' attributions for depression in 165 individuals experiencing at least mild depressive symptoms. After controlling for relevant demographic characteristics, perceived internal/controllable psychological attributions were related to greater perceived conflict and lower perceived support, and perceived controllable biological attributions were related to greater perceived conflict. Perceived external/uncontrollable psychological and uncontrollable biological attributions were unrelated to perceived support and conflict. Findings suggest that perceived attributions may help explain the link between depression, support, and conflict in romantic relationships.     

Brain Abnormalities and Violent Behavior

Abstract

Introduction: It is difficult to rationally discuss the question of whether violent behaviour is a disorder because violent actions engender very strong emotional reactions in the public. But there are good reasons to believe that a variety of social and biological factors predispose the individual toward criminal behaviour. This study concerns the question, whether there is an association between violent behaviour and brain abnormalities.

Method: Ninety-six mentally ill offenders of a high security prison consecutively underwent magnetic resonance imaging of the brain (MRI). The number of sex offenders was 62.5%. Fourteen offenders were excluded because they had a neurological disease, a psychotic disorder, a severe organic mental disorder or they were older than 60 years. All scan reports were in narrative format, and they were reviewed and coded according to presence or absence of brain abnormality. Neuroradiologists were blind to clinical diagnoses and offence history. Offenders were distributed either to a “high violent group” or to a “no or low violent group.” There was no significant difference in age between both groups.

Results: In the included sample (n = 82; 50 sex offenders) 48.8% had MRI abnormalities. In the high violent group 65.5% showed MRI abnormalities. In the low violent group 16.6% had MRI abnormalities. This difference is significant (p = 0.001). The high violent sex offender group showed a MRI abnormality rate of 59.4%, and the low violent sex offender group 22.2%. The difference is significant (p = 0.011). There is no significant difference in MRI abnormality rate between the sex offender and the “non sex offender.”

Conclusions: The results indicate that there is an association between unspecified brain anomalies and high violent behaviour in the whole sample as well as in the sex offender group. There is no association between sexual offence and unspecified brain abnormalities. Modern brain imaging techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging should be included in the diagnostic procedure of mentally ill offenders.     

How School Environments Contribute to Violent Behavior in Youth

Abstract

Schools are not perceived as safe havens. Students, school administrators, teachers, and parents recognize the school environment as a place where victimization occurs-often. This perception elicits fear and the devastating consequences of withdrawal, defending, and the stress/trauma response in students and school staff. Schools must understand the association between victimization and violent behaviors relating to the perceived stress/trauma response. Schools must also understand that reactive and punitive responses do not eliminate the common forms of victimization that erode the school's milieu and function. Schools must maintain self-examination regarding their contribution to their violent environments and engage in active efforts of reorganization and definition of purpose.     

Cultural Alignment African American Male Youths and Violent Crime

Abstract

Four theories-racial inferiority, culture of poverty, racial discrimination, and political economy-are usually advanced to explain violence among African Americans. These theories, however, fail to underscore the deleterious influence that cultural oppression and cultural alienation have on African Americans generally and African American male youths specifically. To examine the role both cultural oppression and cultural alienation play in the lives of African American male youths, this article presents a Cultural Alignment Framework. The basic assumption of the framework is that African American male youth violence is a function of these males' internalization of alien concepts of manhood that reflect the impositions of European American culture and the nefarious legacy of slavery.     

Humility,Forgiveness, and Emerging Adult Female Romantic Relationships

Among a sample of emerging adult females (N = 152) we empirically examined the role of humility and forgiveness in romantic relationships. We specifically tested a model linking perceived humility to relationship satisfaction with self‐forgiveness and partner‐forgiveness. Participants in a romantic relationship completed measures of self‐reported humility, self‐forgiveness, partner‐forgiveness, and relationship satisfaction. Serial mediation analyses were conducted using path analysis to test the following sequence, humility self‐forgiveness partner‐forgiveness relationship satisfaction. Findings indicate that humility was related to relationship satisfaction via a serially mediated path of self‐forgiveness and partner‐forgiveness, which was not reducible to impression management. We consider implications for research and clinical practice.     

Social Control and Delinquent Behavior: An Examination of the Elements of the Social Bond

This research examines the overall and relative effects of the elements of Hirschi's Social Bonding Theory on four separate measures of deviance using data drawn from a sample of 3065 adolescents. The magnitude and direction of the observed relationships moderately support the theory for all four deviant behavior scales; the elements of the bond are more predictive of the less serious forms of deviance than they are of the more serious forms. The element of commitment is more strongly related to deviant behavior than either the element of belief or attachment. A comparison of the theory for males and females demonstrates that the overall model consistently explains more variation in the dependent variables for females than it does for males. The commitment and belief variables are more strongly related to deviant behavior for females than for males while attachment is more important for males. These findings are discussed in relation to the overall viability of social bonding theory.     

Male and Female Sexuality During Pregnancy:

We studied male and female sexual behavior and satisfaction during pregnancy. Expectant fathers were less emotionally satisfied than their wives through the pregnancy. Relative to their husbands, women experienced more conflict and guilt, but reported feeling peaceful and fulfilled in pregnancy, more self-accepting sexually, and derived more pleasure from sex. Both women and men underestimated how attractive their partner found the woman's pregnant body, with men finding their wives more attractive. There were no significant differences in level of sexual desire or sexual satisfaction between men and women. A series of multiple regressions identified a number of variables as predictive of male and female sexual satisfaction. Comparing pregnant couples expecting their first child with normative da:a, we found that expectant couples were less satisfied with the frequency of sex and also derived less sexual pleasure than nonpregnant couples.     

The Differential Perceptions of Male and Female Deviants

Abstract

Hepburn (1975) stated that the definition of the audience determines whether deviance exists so that societal reaction can take place. However, the audience has not received systematic attention in the literature of the sociology of deviance. The existing literature examines mostly the reactions of official social control agents. Consequently, the purpose of this research is to determine the stereotypes held by a group besides social control agents. Further, the research explores whether the sex of the deviant affects the stereotypes associated with deviant behaviors. The data were gathered from a sample of college students attending a small liberal arts college. Twelve types of deviants representing a wide variety of behavior patterns were evaluated using an Osgood semantic differential scale. The data show that the respondents perceived each type of deviant as having a different stereotype and that the stereotypes did not overlap. Furthermore, the stereotypes were not complex ones, nor all negative. The data further indicate that the sex of the deviant was influential in how people responded to that deviant.     

Current Sex-Role Attitudes of Male and Female Students

Abstract

Sex-role attitudes of both male and female university students were considered in relation to two current issues: 1) Changing female roles and 2) The Women's Liberation Movement. While uncertainty characterized many responses, the majority of students were accepting of role change. Respondents differed little according to gender, but demonstrated considerable variation upon analysis of age and martial status. Approval of role change was primarily associated with experiential factors, rather than those associated with basic socialization. Women's Liberation was also accepted, although to a lesser degree than was normative change.     

Group Work Practice with Transgendered Male to Female Sex Workers

Abstract

Group work is frequently the method of choice for working with adolescents. This paper focuses on group work with transgend-ered youth who engage in sex work. Utilizing case examples, this paper provides an overview of the role that sex work plays in the lives of some transgendered youth and offers guidance for those interested in utilizing group work approaches with transgendered adolescents.     

Fear Attenuated and Affection Augmented: Male Self-Presentation in a Romantic Context

We investigated whether males use facial behavior strategically in order to increase their desirability as romantic partners. Participants were led to believe that a female research assistant who was either attractive or unattractive was observing them. Their task was to watch three short films: an excerpt from a horror film, a video of infants, and a neutral film. Males who thought they were being observed by the attractive assistant frowned less (AU4) while watching the horror film and smiled more (AU12, with and without AU6) while watching the infant film. Assistant attractiveness did not affect males’ facial behavior while they were watching the neutral film.     

Affairs of the Heart: Qualities of Adolescent Romantic Relationships and Sexual Behavior

We know more about parent and peer influences than about the ways in which specific qualities of adolescent romantic relationships may influence sexual decision‐making. Using data from the Toledo Adolescent Relationships Study, we focus on communication processes and emotional feelings, as well as more basic contours of adolescent romantic relationships, including power and influence dynamics. Controlling for traditional predictors and duration of the relationship, results suggest that subjectively experienced relationship qualities matter for understanding teens' sexual behavior choices. Further, findings indicate a similar effect of most relationship qualities on male and female reports of sexual behavior. However, influence and power dynamics within the relationship were not related to the likelihood that boys reported sexual intercourse in a focal relationship. In contrast, girls who perceived a more favorable power balance were less likely to report sexual intercourse than their female counterparts who perceived a less favorable power balance. Recognizing that the results capture reciprocal influence processes, longitudinal and qualitative data are used to further explore the complex nature of these associations.     

Male and Female Civility: Toward Gender Justice

This article examines the concept of civility in American society taking into consideration the influence of gender and gender roles, especially that of women in 20th–century America. This was a century in which social roles, especially those of women, changed or expanded dramatically, influencing not only individual rights and relationships but also the structure of almost every organization from the family to the classroom, from corporations to statehouses. As women have transformed themselves and their presence in our culture, men have also been forced to examine their relationships with women and, more subtly, the role of men in our society. A study of male and female civility must take into consideration the history of relationships between the genders at the both the micro level (i.e., interpersonal relationships) as well as the macro level (organizational behavior). As we move forward into the 21st century, we must not only reflect on the progress made during the last several decades but also continue to explore strategies that will continue to advance a climate where gender civility becomes more entrenched in our cultural values. Some of the issues and possible solutions that must continue to be explored in terms of creating a more civil society for gender relations are discussed.     

Developmental Shifts in Parent and Peer Influences on Boys' Beliefs About Delinquent Behavior

This paper examines the relative shifts in parent and peer influences on the development of boys' beliefs regarding delinquency from early to middle adolescence. The paper also explores the influence that beliefs about delinquency have on subsequent changes in these social relationships. Structural equation modeling is used to analyze six annual waves of data for 481 boys from the youngest sample of the Pittsburgh Youth Study. Increased parent–adolescent conflict only predicted changes in beliefs about delinquency in early adolescence, while increases in peer delinquency was associated with adopting more tolerant beliefs about delinquent acts from early to middle adolescence. Changes in boys' delinquent peer group association were initially influenced by increased family conflict. However, in middle adolescence increasingly tolerant beliefs about delinquency were related to subsequent increases in delinquent peers. The potential implications for preventing the formation of beliefs favoring delinquency during adolescence are discussed.