The effect of religiosity and ethnic origin on direct and indirect aggression among males and females: Some Israeli findings

Abstract

Israeli society is characterized by significant internal divisions. Two of the most salient of these divisions within the Jewish population relate to (1) religiosity (religious vs. secular Jews) and (2) ethnic origin (Eastern [Asian and North African] vs. Western [European and American]). The aim of this study was to assess the effects of these social divisions on aggressive behavior and victimization to aggression among Israeli children. Three types of aggressive behavior (physical, verbal, and indirect) were investigated by means of peer estimation. The sample (N = 630) was composed of three age groups (8-, 11-, and 15-year-olds). The findings indicate that in general, secular respondents scored higher on aggressive behavior and victimization than their religious counterparts, and respondents of Eastern origin scored higher than those of Israeli or Western origin. The effect of both religiosity and ethnic origin was stronger among girls than among boys. Ethnic origin had no effect on any of the boys' measures but did affect these measures among girls. Among boys, religiosity affected verbal and indirect aggression and victimization. Among girls, indirect aggression and victimization, as well as victimization to physical aggression, were affected by religiosity. As to the effect of age, similar to previous studies, in all types of aggression and victimization, the 11-year-olds scored highest and the 15-year-olds scored lowest. Differences between the three types of aggression and victimization, as well as various interactions between the variables, are reported. The results are discussed within the wider context of the role of religiosity and ethnic origin in Israeli society. Aggr. Behav. 28:281-298, 2002.

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Appetitive Aggression in Rwandan Genocide Perpetrators

“…The participants with the highest levels of appetitive aggression were those who had high scores of negative religious coping and low scores of positive religious coping. That religiosity has a positive impact on aggression was stressed by Landau et al (2002), who reported that secular respondents scored higher on aggressive behavior than their religious counterparts. There are several possible explanations for this relationship.…”

“…Hence, adherence to religious principles might be expected to be negatively related to aggression and violent behavior. A large number of studies have found that religiosity might inhibit aggressive behavior (Hardy, Walker, Rackham, & Olsen, 2012;Landau, Björkqvist, Lagerspetz, Österman, & Gideon, 2002;Leach, Berman, & Eubanks, 2008). However, the association between appetitive aggression and religiosity has received no attention to date.…”

Why Social Networks Matter: A Structural Approach to the Study of Relational Aggression in Middle Childhood and Adolescence

“…Other studies indicated that the relationship between age and relational aggression is moderated by sex (Cairns et al 1989;Owens and MacMullin 1995;Peets and Kikas 2006). Finally, several additional cross-sectional studies that examined a wider age range demonstrated a curvilinear relationship where relational aggression peaked in early adolescence before declining in later adolescence (Bjorkqvist et al 1992a;Landau et al 2002;Tiet et al 2001). To date, only a handful of longitudinal studies have examined the effects of development on relational aggression, and while they have yielded only limited support for Bjorkqvist et al's (1992a) theory, they have involved limited age ranges and/or problematic methodologies (e.g., maternal report) (Cillessen and Mayeux 2004;Vaillancourt et al 2003).…”

“…Indeed, it is likely that changes in network features affect the display of relational aggression across developmental periods. Here, attention is given to network features in early adolescence, as there is evidence that relationally aggressive behavior diversifies and potentially peaks during this developmental period (Bjorkqvist et al 1992a;Landau et al 2002;Tiet et al 2001).…”

Positive and Negative Effects of Long-Term Bombardment Among Israeli Adolescents: The Role of Gender and Social Environment

“…The Direct and Indirect Aggression Scale (DIAS, Björkqvist et al 1992) which was translated into Hebrew by Landau et al (2002) was used to measure student's violent behavior in school. Three different forms of violence were assessed: physical aggression such as kicking and hitting others (7 items), verbal aggression such as teasing or insulting others (5 items) and indirect aggression such as ignoring others or saying bad things behind other's backs (12 items).…”