Driving attitudes, behaviours, risk perception and risk concern among young student car-drivers, motorcyclists and pedestrians in various EU countries

The number of car crashes has gradually reduced in the last decade across all European Countries, but the number of motorcycle crashes has remained nearly the same. In our research we investigate whether there are differences in attitudes towards road safety issues, driving behaviours in specific imagined situations, risk perception and risk concern, among young student drivers and riders. The study involved a large sample taken from across six European countries. The results reveal that although there are no differences between motorcyclists and car drivers in their attitudes toward road safety rules, differences do appear when the road rules compliance is assessed in specific imagined situations, with motorcyclists reporting to be more prone than car-drivers to violations of traffic rules. Moreover, despite the perceived risk during driving is the same for motorcyclists and car-drivers, differences do appear on their concern about this risk, with motorcyclists reporting to be less concerned than car-drivers about the risk of a road crash. This could lead to a high probability of risky driving behaviour in motorcyclists than in car-drivers. Present findings have important practical implications for road safety training courses

Lo stalking: percezione e rappresentazione sociale

Il termine stalking connota un insieme di comportamenti posti in essere da un persecutore nei confronti della propria vittima. Anche se rientra tra le condotte perseguite penalmente da numerose legislazioni in ambito internazionale, si tratta di un fenomeno ancora non sufficientemente indagato. Ci si è dunque chiesti quali siano le rappresentazioni sociali e le conoscenze rispetto a tale fenomeno. Metodo La ricerca è stata condotta attraverso la somministrazione di un questionario atto ad indagare le rappresentazioni sociali, alcune dimensioni psicologiche e le conoscenze sulla normativa vigente sullo stalking. Il questionario si compone di tre parti: dati demografici, item volti ad indagare le conoscenze sul reato, una scala di valutazione del bisogno di chiusura cognitiva (BCC; Webster & Kruglanski, 1994), la scala sui cosiddetti “miti dello stupro” (RMAS; Burt, 1980) e la scala di disimpegno morale (DMC; Caprara et al, 2006). In particolare, nella terza parte, volta ad indagare le rappresentazioni sociali, ci siamo serviti di quattro scenari composti facendo riferimento a situazioni descritte in alcune sentenze della Corte di Cassazione e riferite a casi realmente accaduti configuranti il reato di “atti persecutori” (Art.612 bis c.p.). Risultati Al questionario hanno risposto 175 partecipanti: il 56,6% è rappresentato dal genere femminile (n=99) e il 43,4% (n=76) dal genere maschile, di età tra i 18 e i 49 anni (età media 29,42 anni). L’analisi dei dati relativi alla scala dei miti sullo stupro ha evidenziato una differenza di genere statisticamente significativa: il genere maschile ha ottenuto punteggi superiori rispetto al genere femminile sulla maggior parte delle misurazioni effettuate, soprattutto nella terza sottoscala “Non era realmente uno stupro” (F(1,170) = 9,267; p = .003) e nella quarta sottoscala “Lei ha mentito” (F(1,173)=17,312; p < .000). È emersa un’alta correlazione con la scala del disimpegno morale, soprattutto rispetto alla dislocazione della responsabilità e all’attribuzione della colpa alla vittima (r = .705; p < 0,01). L’analisi delle risposte fornite ai quesiti, posti di seguito agli scenari, non ha evidenziato differenze statisticamente significative di genere riguardo le conoscenze e i possibili comportamenti da poter mettere in atto. La maggior parte del campione conosce lo stalking, un fenomeno che per il 77,7% non riguarda esclusivamente gli ex partner. Il 70% del campione è altamente favorevole a pene di reclusione e l’80% è favorevole alla riabilitazione del reo. Discussione La ricerca è stata condotta con l’obiettivo di indagare le conoscenze rispetto al fenomeno dello stalking e le rappresentazioni sociali sui reati persecutori. Le risposte fornite evidenziano alcune differenze statisticamente significative su alcune dimensioni psicologiche che sembrano influenzare le rappresentazioni sociali del fenomeno

Gender differences in solving moral dilemmas: emotional engagement, care and utilitarian orientation

Moral sense is important for determining human behaviour. Moral sense becomes crucial in operational environments in which choices must be made that have complex moral implications in highly stressful situations. Behavioural and neuroimaging findings have shown the existence of gender-related differences in moral reasoning. The present study aimed to investigate whether gender affects moral reasoning and emotional state. We also investigated whether empathy, decision-making and emotional regulation strategies had a role in determining gender differences in solving moral dilemmas. We found that moral judgements and emotional engagement were significantly different. Women were less prone than men to accept a moral violation, such as killing someone to save their own lives and the lives of others. Furthermore, women were more emotionally involved and experienced dysphoric emotions more often than men. Our results shed light upon the mechanisms that affect moral reasoning and determine gender differences in solving moral dilemmas

A cross-sectional study of gender role adherence, moral disengagement mechanisms and online vulnerability in adolescents

The wide availability of electronic devices accessible to teenagers has enabled them to use the internet to communicate, share, and obtain information. However, the use of the internet and social media has also increased the risk of vulnerability, exposing people, particularly adolescents, to several risks. We collected data from a sample of 366 adolescents (186 females and 180 males) aged 14–20 years (mean age = 17 ± 1.33 years) to investigate the mediating role of moral disengagement (MD) mechanisms in the relationship between gender and online vulnerability. Data were collected in both the inner-city and suburban high schools of Rome (Italy) using the Qualtrics Platform Online. The participants completed a demographic questionnaire, the Online Vulnerability Scale, and the Civic Moral Disengagement Scale. All participants declared that they accessed and used the internet frequently. Using SPSS, the data were checked for outliers, common method bias, and normal distribution; then, correlation and mediation analyses were performed. Based on the correlation results, a mediation analysis was performed using only the displacement of responsibility as a mediator of the gender-online vulnerability link. Age was entered in the mediation model as a covariate. The results showed that girls were more vulnerable online than boys, who in turn used more moral disengagement mechanisms. In addition, moral displacement showed a positive indirect effect on the relationship between gender and online vulnerability. This means that when including the moral displacement in the mediation model boys appeared more exposed to online vulnerability as they probably adopted more immoral behaviors. These results could help to develop interventions to sensitize adolescents on both taking responsibilities for their actions on the Internet. Limitations and future research directions are briefly discussed