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The Contribution of Moral Disengagement to Dating Violence and General Aggression: The Gender and Age Moderating Effects

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2019

Fernando Rubio-Garay ,
Pedro J. Amor  and
Miguel A. Carrasco
Fernando Rubio-Garay*
Affiliation:
Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED) (Spain)
Pedro J. Amor
Affiliation:
Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED) (Spain)
Miguel A. Carrasco
Affiliation:
Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED) (Spain)
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Fernando Rubio-Garay. Facultad de Psicología de la UNED. E-mail: frubiogaray@cop.es
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Abstract

The main aims of this study were, first to analyze the partial effects of specific mechanisms of moral disengagement (MMD) on different manifestations of general aggression and dating violence (DV) in adolescents and youths; second, to explore the moderating effects of gender and age on these relations. Moral disengagement, and different forms of aggression and DV, were evaluated in a sample of 424 participants (61.1% women) aged 15 to 25 years (M = 18.80; SD = 2.69). Pearson correlations and different hierarchical multiple linear regression analyses were conducted. All regressions were controlled by social desirability. MMD contributed to physical aggression with a medium effect size (R2 = .22) and verbal aggression with a small effect size (R2 = .10). Conversely, MMD did not appear to clearly contribute to DV. In conclusion, depersonalization and rationalization were the most important MMD for physical aggression, rationalization for verbal aggression, and irresponsibility for verbal-emotional violence in dating relationships. Moreover, the relationships between physical aggression and rationalization mechanism were significantly moderated by gender: there appears to be a stronger relationship between rationalization and physical aggression in boys than in girls. Moderating effects of age on these relations were not found.

Keywords

adolescentsaggressiondating violenceintimate partner violencemoral disengagement
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 22 , 2019 , E59
Copyright
Copyright © Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid 2019 

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Footnotes

How to cite this article:

Rubio-Garay, F., Amor, P. J., & Carrasco, M. A. (2019). The contribution of moral disengagement to dating violence and general aggression: the gender and age moderating effects. The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 22. e59. Doi:10.1017/sjp.2019.57

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