Suchergebnisse

The importance of parenting in shaping child development has been widely supported, with many researchers considering parenting to be one of the factors most predictive of child outcomes. Despite the importance of parenting behaviors, not enough is known about their antecedents. In this study, we examine the extent to which psychopathic personality traits relate to parenting behaviors by determining which aspects of parental competence mediate these associations in a community sample. Our analyses support the mediating role of one aspect of parental competence — parental satisfaction — in the relationship between several domains of psychopathic personality traits and parenting behaviors. The results suggest that the relationship between parental personality traits and parenting behaviors is nuanced and involves underlying mechanisms related to parental competence.

Purpose
Unconscious biases against certain groups aid in forming assumptions which may be promulgated in the USA via popular news media linking rare but memorable violent acts with specific groups. However, the relationship between marginalized group association, assumptions regarding the motive for violent acts and individual media consumption has never been directly examined. This study aims to directly examine this relationship.


Design/methodology/approach
In the present study, individuals read a vignette of a mass shooting in which the perpetrator's implied religion (i.e. Islam or unknown religion) was manipulated. Participants then indicated their assumptions regarding motive (i.e. terrorism or mental illness) and personal media consumption habits.


Findings
Contrary to hypotheses, differences in assumed motive based on implied religion were not found; participants were not more likely to associate an assumed Muslim perpetrator with terrorism as a motive or consider the assumed non-Muslim perpetrator to be mentally ill.


Originality/value
These unexpected findings are discussed in the context of the data-collection period, which coincidentally overlapped with a well-publicized act of domestic terrorism that led to a unique national debate regarding biased news coverage and associations between religion, ethnicity, terrorism and mental illness.