Gv. Caprara et al., Facing guilt: Role of negative affectivity, need for reparation, and fear of punishment in leading to prosocial behaviour and aggression, EUR J PERS, 15(3), 2001, pp. 219-237
The present study aims to further corroborate and to extend the scope of pr
evious findings regarding the path of influence between negative affectivit
y, need for reparation and fear of punishment when examining the determinan
ts and the motivational components of guilt. Data were collected from three
different European countries (i.e. Italy, Hungary, and the Czech Republic)
. About 1100 young adolescents were involved in the research. The generaliz
ability of a nomological network linking individual differences in Negative
Affectivity to Need for Reparation, Fear of Punishment, Prosocial Behaviou
r, and Aggression has been investigated across countries and gender, by mea
ns of structural equation modelling. Need for Reparation turns out to be po
sitively related to Prosocial Behaviour and negatively related to Aggressio
n. Fear for Punishment turns out to be positively related to Aggression and
negatively related to Prosocial Behaviour, with the exception of Hungary.
Alternative paths of influence among considered variables have been examine
d. Practical implications for prevention and education are underlined. Copy
right (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.