THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN MORAL APPROVAL OF AGGRESSION, AGGRESSIVE PROBLEM-SOLVING STRATEGIES, AND AGGRESSIVE-BEHAVIOR IN 14-YEAR-OLD ADOLESCENTS

This study examined the relationships between moral approval of aggres sion aggressive problem-solving strategies and aggressive behavior. Th e respondents were 780 14-year-old adolescents (382 girls and 398 boys ). They completed questionnaires measuring social problem-solving stra tegies and moral approval or disapproval aggression. Assessments of ag gressive behavior were obtained by peer nominations. Dimensions reflec ting moral approval or disapproval of aggression were relativism (the need to consider different aspects when judging aggression), legitimiz ation (the approval of aggression as a way of coping with social probl ems because of existing ''excuses''), absolutism (completely negative attitudes towards aggression), and everyday morality (aggression as an unacceptable way of coping with social conflict situations). The resu lts showed that relativism was not associated with aggressive behavior , but that absolutism and everyday morality correlated negatively, and legitimization positively, with aggressive behavior. Together with ag gressive problem-solving strategies, absolutism and legitimization wer e able to explain even more of the variance in aggressive behavior. Ge nder differences showed that boys scored higher on relativism and legi timization while girls scored higher on absolutism and everyday morali ty.