Purpose: Awaiting trial prisoners (ATPs) are represented in prisons globally, and may stay for long periods in detention. This group is however underrepresented in literature on incarcerated persons. We aim to explore the lived experiences of ATPs detained for prolonged years in a sub-Saharan country; examining what they make of their status and how their conditions have affected their wellbeing. Method: Eight inmates awaiting trial for armed robbery and murder offences, held for between 8 years and 15 years participated in a focus group discussion. Hermeneutic phenomenology guided the interpretation of transcripts. Result: ATPs recount disbelief and negative emotional experiences upon incarceration. Alienated and uncertain about their status, ATPs experience intensified distressful ruminations which impact wellbeing. ATPs re-rationalized incarceration and made social comparisons which breed poor perception of self. ATPs nonetheless recounted hopefulness, made favorable comparisons; and find consolation in religious beliefs. Conclusion: Prolonged years spent awaiting trial fuels a deterioration of wellbeing. Alternatives to incarceration are urgently needed for ATPs. Distressful experiences recalled by the inmates beg for the inclusiveness of ATPs in programs that promote wellbeing. The Good Lives Model holds potentials for building an inclusive framework to accommodate ATPs in prison interventions.

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Appetitive aggression, marked by the derivation of positive affect from harming others, has been observed mostly among youths in societies experiencing extreme violence. Perpetrators report craving violence, and find the process and actual infliction of harm relishing. Because this dimension of aggression is relatively new, studies have barely examined likely psychological correlates of this phenomenon. In this study, we considered the associations between callous-unemotional (CU) traits and violence cognition with appetitive aggression in young offenders. Male youth offenders (n = 188) from 2 youth detention facilities in Northern and Niger Delta regions of Nigeria completed measures of appetitive aggression, CU traits, and violence-supportive cognition of machismo and acceptance of violence. Demographic information regarding their offences were collected from official records and corroborated with self-reports. Results showed that CU traits were related to the perpetration of appetitive aggression. Offenders high in machismo beliefs, which portray aggression as a masculine characteristic and a fitting response to threats, were more likely to report the enjoyment of aggression. There was a mediation effect of machismo thinking on the relationship between CU traits and appetitive aggression. The study concludes that CU traits and machismo thinking are associated with appetitive aggression, and invites future studies to investigate other correlates of appetitive aggression.

Previous studies have linked anger to elevated blood pressure. However, the nature of the association between anger and elevated blood pressure is unclear. This study is aimed at investigating the moderating effect of distress tolerance on the relationship between anger experience and elevated blood pressure. A total of 310 patients drawn from a university teaching hospital in southeast Nigeria participated in this study. They comprised 156 men and 154 women who were aged between 20 and 80 years (mean age = 50.45). Participants responded to the measures of distress tolerance and Novaco Anger Inventory—Short Form. The blood pressures of the participants were obtained with sphygmomanometer and stethoscope. The results of the hierarchical multiple regression analysis indicated that anger experience significantly predicted both systolic and diastolic blood pressure. The results also showed that distress tolerance was a significant predictor of systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Distress tolerance moderated the relationship between anger experience and systolic and diastolic blood pressure. The relationships between anger and systolic and diastolic pressure were stronger for patients with low distress tolerance compared to patients with high distress tolerance. It is recommended that psychological interventions aimed at increasing people’s level of distress tolerance are emphasized in the management of elevated blood pressure.

One of the assumptions of the triadic reciprocal model is that the dynamic relationships between internal factors and environmental contexts may have a reciprocal influence on behaviour. Based on this assumption, this study examined whether callous-unemotional traits mediate the relationship between family competence and bullying among 256 selected senior secondary pupils (age = 14–16; M  = 15.5, SD  = 5.4; boys = 131 and girls = 125). Three self-report scales were used to collect data for bullying, family competence, and callous-unemotional traits. Mediated multiple regression was used to test the hypotheses. The result showed that callous-unemotional traits and family competence have a positive and negative linear relationship with bullying, respectively, B  = 0.13 and −0.20, p  < .01. Similarly, the indirect effect of family competence on bullying through callous-unemotional traits was significant, B = 0.04, p < .05. This indicated that callous-unemotional traits could regulate the effect of family competence on bullying. The results may have implications for understanding, planning, and designing programmes for preventing and intervention of school bullying.