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Is the Implicit Association Test for Aggressive Attitudes a Measure for Attraction to Violence or Traumatization?
[journal article]
Abstract Traumatic exposure is particularly devastating for those who, at a young age, have become combatants or experienced massive adversity after abduction by armed movements. We investigated the impact of traumatic stressors on psychopathology among war-affected young men of Northern Uganda, including fo... view more
Traumatic exposure is particularly devastating for those who, at a young age, have become combatants or experienced massive adversity after abduction by armed movements. We investigated the impact of traumatic stressors on psychopathology among war-affected young men of Northern Uganda, including former child soldiers. Adaptation to violent environments and coping with trauma-related symptoms often result in an increasing appetite for violence. We analyze implicit attitudes toward violence, assessed by an Implicit Association Test (IAT), among 64 male participants. Implicit attitudes varied as a function of the number of experienced traumatic event types and committed offense types. As the number of traumatic experiences and violence exposure increased, more appetitive aggression was reported, whereas the IAT indicated increasingly negative implicit attitudes toward aggression. The IAT was also the strongest predictor of cortisol levels. Diffusion-model analysis was the best way to demonstrate IAT validity. Implicit measures revealed the trauma-related changes of cognitive structures.... view less
Keywords
Uganda; propensity to violence; aggression research; trauma; health consequences; psychopathology; test; measurement; war; mental disorder; mental health; psychophysical stress; child; adolescent; behavior; aggression; depression; psychological intervention
Classification
Psychological Testing, Psychological Counseling, Psychological Methodology
Free Keywords
posttraumatic stress disorder; appetitive aggression; Implicit Association Test; IAT; combatants
Document language
English
Publication Year
2017
Page/Pages
p. 54-63
Journal
Zeitschrift für Psychologie, 225 (2017) 1
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1027/2151-2604/a000281
ISSN
2151-2604
Status
Postprint; peer reviewed
Licence
Deposit Licence - No Redistribution, No Modifications