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Hating among adolescents: Common contributions of cognitive distortions and maladaptive personality traits

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Abstract

The phenomenon of hating is becoming common in adolescence, but it has been rarely investigated. The study aimed to examine the relationships between hating behaviors, maladaptive personality traits, and cognitive distortions, and to explore whether cognitive distortions might intervene in the relationship between personality traits and hating. Method: Participants (200 boys and 202 girls) completed the Hating Adolescents Test (HAT), the Personality Inventory for DSM-5-Brief Form-Children (PID-5), and the How I Think Questionnaire (HITQ). Results: Preliminary results showed significant gender differences in the study’s variables: boys reported higher scores than girls on hating and on cognitive distortion minimizing, whereas no significant differences emerged on maladaptive personality traits. The mediation model showed that the cognitive distortion blaming others mediated the relationship between psychoticism and hating. Conclusions: Data suggested a mediating role of cognitive distortion blaming others in the relationship between psychoticism trait and hating behaviors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kore University of Enna, Cittadella Universitaria, 94100, Enna, Italy

    Ugo Pace & Giulio D’Urso

  2. University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy

    Carla Zappulla

Authors
  1. Ugo Pace
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  2. Giulio D’Urso
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  3. Carla Zappulla
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Correspondence to Ugo Pace.

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Conflict of Interest

Ugo Pace declares that he has not any conflict of interest and that the study was not funded. Giulio D'Urso declares that he has not any conflict of interest and that the study was not funded. Carla Zappulla declares that she has not any conflict of interest and that the study was not funded.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Pace, U., D’Urso, G. & Zappulla, C. Hating among adolescents: Common contributions of cognitive distortions and maladaptive personality traits. Curr Psychol 40, 3326–3331 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-019-00278-x

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