Semester

Spring

Date of Graduation

2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Type

PhD

College

Eberly College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Psychology

Committee Chair

Barry Edelstein

Committee Co-Chair

Shari Steinman

Committee Member

Amy Gentzler

Committee Member

Merideth Smith

Abstract

In recent years, violence has risen to record-high numbers in communities and correctional facilities, with men perpetrating the vast majority of violent crimes. Hypermasculine values (e.g., power, aggression, and domination) have been linked to aggressive and violent behavior. Hostile attribution bias, which leads individuals to attribute hostile intent to neutral or ambiguous stimuli, has also been linked to aggression.

The current study used structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine hypermasculinity and hostile attribution bias as predictors of proclivity for violence, comprised of aggression and historical violence. The model was iteratively modified to assess changes in model fit and constructs. Male inmates (N = 156) were recruited from two West Virginia state prisons. Study measures were delivered in paper format, and demographic and background data were gathered from institutional records. It was hypothesized that hypermasculinity and hostile attribution bias would covary and account for significant variance in the proclivity for violence latent construct. Results indicated excellent model fit across all iterations, confirming a significant correlation between hypermasculinity and hostile attribution bias. After model modifications, hypermasculinity was found to account for significant variance in measures of aggression but not in violent criminal charges. Conversely, hostile attribution bias accounted for significant variance in violent criminal charges but not in the measures of aggression. Neither construct accounted for a large proportion of variance in violent disciplinary infractions. Overall, findings suggest that hostile attribution bias and hypermasculinity make unique contributions to aggression and violence, bearing important theoretical and clinical implications.

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