{Reference Type}: Journal Article
{Title}: Understanding the moral cognition of aggression: Longitudinal serial effects of personal relative deprivation and hostility on within-person changes in civic moral disengagement.
{Author}: Li X;Li ZS;Xia LX;
{Journal}: Aggress Behav
{Volume}: 50
{Issue}: 4
{Year}: 2024 Jun
{Factor}: 3.047
{DOI}: 10.1002/ab.22164
{Abstract}: Moral disengagement is an important aggressive and moral cognition. The mechanisms of changes in moral disengagement remain unclear, especially at the within-person level. We attempted to clarify this by exploring the serial effects of personal relative deprivation and hostility on civic moral disengagement. We conducted a three-wave longitudinal survey with 1058 undergraduates (63.61% women; mean age = 20.97). The results of the random intercept cross-lagged panel model showed that personal relative deprivation at Wave 1 and hostility at Wave 2 formed a serial effect on the within-person changes in civic moral disengagement at Wave 3, and the longitudinal indirect effect test showed that the within-person dynamics in hostility at Wave 2 acted as a mediator. The results of multiple group analysis across genders further showed that the longitudinal indirect role of hostility at Wave 2 was only observed for men, but not for women, which indicates the moderating effect of gender. These findings facilitate an understanding of the mechanisms of aggressive cognitions at the within-person level and offer implications for the prevention and intervention of aggression from the perspective of moral cognition.