TY - JOUR PY - 2015// TI - Thinking clearly about violent cognitions: attitudes may be distinct from other cognitions JO - Journal of interpersonal violence A1 - Nunes, Kevin L. A1 - Hermann, Chantal A. A1 - Maimone, Sacha A1 - Woods, Mandie SP - 1322 EP - 1347 VL - 30 IS - 8 N2 - The purpose of the current study was to explore whether measures such as the Violence Scale of the Revised Measures of Criminal Attitudes and Associates (MCAA-R-V) and the Criminal Attitudes to Violence Scale (CAVS) assess attitudes toward violence (i.e., evaluation of violence) and whether attitudes and the cognitions assessed by the MCAA-R-V and CAVS are independently associated with violent behavior. Participants (568 undergraduate students) completed the MCAA-R-V and the CAVS, as well as measures of evaluation of violence, evaluation of violent people, identification of self as violent, and past violent behavior. Exploratory factor analyses revealed that the MCAA-R-V and CAVS items formed correlated but distinct factors from the items of the evaluation of violence, evaluation of violent people, and identification of self as violent scales. Regression analyses indicated that evaluation of violence and identification of self as violent correlated with violent behavior independently of the MCAA-R-V and CAVS. Our results suggest that attitudes toward violence may be distinct from other cognitions often referred to as "attitudes" in the criminological literature, and both attitudes and these other cognitions may be relevant for understanding violent behavior.

Language: en

LA - en SN - 0886-2605 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0886260514540329 ID - ref1 ER -