Comparative analysis of perceived violent group behavior among young offenders and innocents living in Madrid Region, Spain

The study analyzes the differences in the way violent behavior is perceived by young offenders and innocents. The sample includes 418 teenagers between the ages of 13 and 17 who live in Madrid: 57.4% had "in the last 12 months attacked one or more individuals from another group" (dependent variable). The independent variables measured four factors related to group violent behavior: general assessment, consequences, the degree to which the individual is affected, and perception of the main endogroup. Seven main hypotheses were proposed that were compared with empirical data through the Student's t-test for differences in means. The results could facilitate the development of preventative programs based on the evidence of risk factors and protective factors.(C) 2016 Colegio Oficial de Psicologos de Madrid. Published by Elsevier Espafia, S.L.U. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license