Growing up uncertain: Perceived childhood unpredictability and spitefulness in adulthood
JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN PERSONALITY, cilt.125, ss.1-10, 2026 (SSCI, Scopus)
- Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
- Cilt numarası: 125
- Basım Tarihi: 2026
- Doi Numarası: 10.1016/j.jrp.2026.104774
- Dergi Adı: JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN PERSONALITY
- Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: EBSCO Communication Source, Academic Search Ultimate (EBSCO), Communication Source (EBSCO), Scopus, Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), IBZ Online, Criminal Justice Abstracts, Psycinfo, DIALNET, Criminal Justice Periodical Index
- Sayfa Sayıları: ss.1-10
- Ondokuz Mayıs Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
Spitefulness reflects a willingness to incur personal costs to harm others, yet little is known about its childhood correlates. Across two U.S. samples (900 community adults, 1988 students), participants reported perceived childhood harshness, perceived childhood unpredictability, and spitefulness. Unpredictability was consistently associated with greater spitefulness after accounting for harshness, with stronger associations for men than women. Harshness had a small negative unique association with spitefulness. Exploratory analyses indicated that the positive unpredictability–spitefulness association was smaller at higher levels of harshness. However, this interaction was not hypothesized, so it should be interpreted cautiously. These findings identify perceived childhood unpredictability as a consistent correlate of spitefulness and underscore the importance of distinguishing between dimensions of childhood socioecological experience.