Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome Center for Life Nano-&Neuroscience, Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Rome, Italy.
IRCSS Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy.
PeerJ. 2023 Oct 24;11:e16120. doi: 10.7717/peerj.16120. eCollection 2023.
In two studies we aimed at developing the Attitude towards Italian Mafias Scale (AIMS). In study 1 ( = 292) we used an Exploratory Factor Analysis to reduce the number of the items and explore their latent constructs. In study 2 ( = 393) we performed a Confirmatory Factor Analysis on the resulting 18-item questionnaire, whose latent structure was best identified by a general factor Mafia Attitude and three specific factors related to Behaviors, Cognitions and Emotions-Cognitions towards mafias. Moreover, we showed that the AIMS has (i) discriminant validity compared to a measure of attitudes towards crime, (ii) predictive validity of donation behavior to an association against mafias, (iii) internal consistency, and (iv) invariance for people of the five deep-rooted mafia regions of Southern Italy and those from the rest of Italy. Finally, we observed a difference between the participants from the five deep-rooted mafia regions (, Apulia, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Sicily) and the rest of Italy, with the former having surprisingly more negative attitudes towards mafias compared to the latter. The AIMS might help to reliably survey people's sentiment towards Italian mafias and promote targeted and effective law-related education interventions.
在两项研究中，我们旨在开发对意大利黑手党态度量表（AIMS）。在研究 1（n=292）中，我们使用探索性因素分析来减少项目的数量，并探索其潜在结构。在研究 2（n=393）中，我们对得出的 18 项问卷进行了验证性因素分析，其潜在结构最好由黑手党态度的一般因素和与行为、认知和情感-认知有关的三个特定因素来识别。此外，我们表明 AIMS 具有（i）与犯罪态度衡量标准的区分效度，（ii）对反对黑手党的协会的捐赠行为的预测效度，（iii）内部一致性，以及（iv）对意大利南部五个根深蒂固的黑手党地区的人和意大利其他地区的人的不变性。最后，我们观察到来自五个根深蒂固的黑手党地区（普利亚、巴西利卡塔、卡拉布里亚、坎帕尼亚、西西里岛）和意大利其他地区的参与者之间存在差异，前者对黑手党的态度出人意料地比后者更负面。AIMS 可能有助于可靠地调查人们对意大利黑手党的看法，并促进有针对性和有效的与法律相关的教育干预。
