| Title: |
Relationship between emotion regulation and aggression mediated by criminal thinking in women convicted of violent offenses |
| Authors: |
Zeyrek-Rios, EY; Çetinöz, E; Erten, İ; Gürsoy, A; Gönültaş, MB |
| Publisher Information: |
Elsevier BV |
| Publication Year: |
2025 |
| Collection: |
Leeds Beckett University Repository |
| Description: |
The pathways to violence in women—especially in non-Western contexts—remain underexplored. This study examines the relationship between emotion regulation difficulties, criminal thinking, and aggression among 114 incarcerated Turkish women convicted of violent offenses (i.e., assault, murder/manslaughter, bodily harm, etc.). The mean age of the sample is 35.67 (SD = 9.66). Half of the sample (50 %, N = 58) has a maximum educational level of primary school qualification, and 30 % are unemployed. Drawing on the General Aggression Model and criminal thinking framework, the participants were administered the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), the Buss–Perry Aggression Questionnaire (BPAQ), and the Criminal Thinking Scale (CTS). Results revealed significant positive associations between emotion regulation difficulties and all subtypes of aggression, yielding correlation coefficients ranging from 0.25 to 0.62. Furthermore, while offenders scored lower than university students on emotion dysregulation and aggression, they scored higher compared to age-matched community samples—highlighting the importance of contextual comparison. Mediation analysis demonstrated that criminal thinking partially mediated the relationship between emotion regulation difficulties and aggression, suggesting that cognitive distortions amplify the effect of affective dysregulation on violent behaviour. These findings underscore the interplay between affective dysregulation and cognitive distortions in female violence and suggest that gender-responsive, trauma-informed interventions must integrate cognitive restructuring alongside emotional regulation skills to effectively reduce female violent offending. The current study advances our understanding of female violence by integrating emotional, cognitive, and sociocultural perspectives within a non-Western context. |
| Document Type: |
article in journal/newspaper |
| File Description: |
text |
| Language: |
English |
| ISSN: |
0277-5395 |
| Relation: |
https://eprints.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/id/eprint/12432/1/RelationshipBetweenEmotionRegulationAndAggressionMediatedByCriminalThinkingInWomenConvictedOfViolentOffensesPV-ZEYREKRIOS.pdf; Zeyrek-Rios, EY and Çetinöz, E and Erten, İ and Gürsoy, A and Gönültaş, MB (2025) Relationship between emotion regulation and aggression mediated by criminal thinking in women convicted of violent offenses. Women's Studies International Forum, 113. pp. 1-9. ISSN 0277-5395 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2025.103179 |
| DOI: |
10.1016/j.wsif.2025.103179 |
| Availability: |
https://eprints.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/id/eprint/12432/; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2025.103179 |
| Rights: |
cc_by_4 |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.B6026B42 |
| Database: |
BASE |