Different Measures of Violent Attitudes May Not Be So Different After All

• In Event: Methodological Issues in the Study of Violence

Abstract

Previous research has produced mixed evidence regarding the distinctiveness of different measures of violent attitudes (Nunes et al., 2015, 2023). In two studies, we examined this issue further with different approaches. In Study 1, 97 participants were randomly assigned to a message to reduce violent attitudes or to a control condition and then responded to three self-report measures of violent attitudes (Evaluation of Violence Questionnaire, Violence Scale of the Revised Measures of Criminal Attitudes and Associates, and the Criminal Attitudes to Violence Scale). Though the effects of the experimental manipulation ranged from negligible to small (Cohen’s d = -0.03, -0.21, -0.33), there were no significant differences between the effect sizes for the three measures. Further, the three measures were highly intercorrelated (r > .70). In Study 2, 164 participants were presented with a uniform set of violent behaviors paired with various response scales drawn from different violent attitude measures (e.g., bad vs. good, understandable vs. not understandable, acceptable vs. unacceptable). The different response scales were highly intercorrelated, with most correlations greater than .70. Taken together, the results of the current studies suggest that some different measures of violent attitudes may not be practically or meaningfully distinct from one another.

Authors

• Kevin Nunes, Carleton University

• Cassidy E. Hatton, Carleton University

• Shavon D. Stafford, Carleton University

• Isabella K. Mallon, Carleton University