This study aims to find causal factors of aggression in a group of Latino adolescents to achieve a greater understanding of human nature, taking into account personal and contextual variables. The fundamental hypothesis is that moral disengagement, personality traits, self-esteem, values, parenting, sex, and socioeconomic situation can function as possible casual factors of aggression in adolescents. The study examined the variables using the structural equations model (SEM) to determine causal factors of aggression in a sample of 827 adolescents (54% men and 46% women) between 11 and 16 years of age. According to the scientific literature review, sociodemographic, personal, and familiar variables were included in the causal model. The influence of the variables occurred in two ways: one that inhibits aggression and the other that reinforces it. The results are discussed based on identifying protective and risk factors against aggression: biological sex and values of conformity and transcendence as aggression’s inhibitors and, on the other hand, openness, moral disengagement, and leadership values as the most important predictors of aggression.

(descriptivo): Las prácticas de crianza delimitan relaciones de influencia que pueden representar un riesgo para el desarrollo de conductas problemáticas en los infantes. Se realizó una investigación que correlacionó las prácticas de crianza de familias en una comunidad vulnerable de la ciudad de Barranquilla, con los mecanismos de desconexión moral que emplean sus hijos al afrontar conflictos. Se encontró un nivel favorable en las prácticas implementadas por las familias y una baja tendencia de los niños hacia el uso de la violencia. Se encontraron correlaciones positivas y negativas entre algunas prácticas de crianza y casos donde los niños se desconectaron moralmente. Cuando los padres instan a usar la violencia en el manejo de las relaciones interpersonales, los niños emplean formas menos empáticas de desconexión moral, como la deshumanización y la culpabilización de la víctima.

This work aims to reconstruct the historical memory of the armed conflict in the Montes de María coastline, province of Sucre, Colombia, in a moment of military confrontations and responses of defenseless civilians to the repertoire of violence caused by armed groups—specifically against the Unión Camilista–Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN), the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia-Ejército del Pueblo (FARC-EP), and the paramilitary groups present in the Gulf of Morrosquillo. The objective of this study was to determine the reasons that led the community of Libertad to rise in arms and repel the abuses of armed groups by testing two hypotheses: (1) the frequency of victimizing acts consisting of sexual violence against the women of the Libertad village provoked the community to take up arms; (2) the presence of social agents, here called provocateurs of the community response, motivated the community’s social cohesion and armed uprising. The research is developed using a qualitative methodology with a narrative approach that involved a sample of 49 informants, including two focus groups. We provide empirical findings which are pivotal to understanding the reasons why defenseless civilians made the decision to defend themselves with arms against illegal armed groups that invaded their territory and harassed their communities, especially when dealing with an ethnic minority such as Afro-descendants.

Intervention programs aimed at mitigating the effects of chronic noncommunicable disease (CNDs) focus on promoting healthy lifestyle habits (HLH), especially in the early stages of life. Because of this, different typologies of caregivers have been identified according to HLH during middle childhood and adolescence. However, the available studies have focused on aspects such as nutrition, physical activity, and rest, ignoring other HLHs that are equally important for children’s well-being. Likewise, few studies address HLH during the first five years of life and how caregivers affect children’s health. In a sample of 544 caregivers of children aged zero to five years from low-income Colombian communities, we established a typology of attitudes toward different HLHs. The results indicate the presence of three clusters that grouped caregivers with (1) positive attitudes toward all HLHs, (2) toward some HLHs, and (3) relatively low positive attitudes toward all HLHs. Membership in clusters with less positive attitudes toward HLHs was also found to be associated with low educational levels and living in rural areas. This study detected profiles of caregivers who may have unhealthy lifestyles, so the results would allow social workers to design differential interventions on HLHs in non-industrialized countries.

Este trabajo presenta una elaboración analítica de la dinámica de las familias de los menores que en su vida cotidiana vivencian problemas psicosociales, tales como la explotación sexual y la delincuencia. El resultado es un producto analítico d confrontación e integración, respecto a los procesos de investigación con las familias de dichos menores en la ciudad de Barranquilla, Colombia. Para contextualizar el objeto de estudio, se hace mención especial a la estructura familiar que, como marco de referencia, permite la comprensión de cómo se organizan las familias, cuáles son los papeles que desempeñan sus miembros, cómo se estructuran sus jerarquías, cómo definen sus límites y cómo conciben el manejo de su crecimiento tanto individual como familiar. Se señala como característica de estas familias su conformación monoparental y, al tiempo, numerosa; es decir, que se encuentran estructuradas sobre la base de la existencia de una sola figura parental, asumida por un adulto o, en ocasiones, por un menor que cumple sus funciones y, además, estas familias están conformadas por un grupo relativamente grande de individuos que incluye figuras tales como abuelos y abuelas, padres y madres, hijos, nietas y personas acogidas. Así, el sistema familiar es marcado por la descomposición y la desintegración que no facilitan el establecimiento de patrones de comunicación, de normas, de límites y de lazos afectivos adecuados. Esta forma de organización de la institución familiar obstaculiza la reconfiguración de las herramientas necesarias para que cualquier ser humano logre un desarrollo integral.

Caring for children is fundamental for their development. It can, however be hindered by the psychological, economic, and contextual conditions of caregivers. This study assessed caregivers’ profiles in a sample of low-income Colombians (n = 495) based on attitudes toward childcare, perceived behavioral control, subjective norm, self-efficacy in childcare, and sexist attitudes. Three profiles were identified: the first profile included caregivers with intermediate scores in attitudes towards childcare and self-efficacy, low sexist attitudes and low subjective norms; the second comprised caregivers with lower attitudes towards childcare, self-efficacy, and behavioral intention, with moderate scores in subjective norms and sexist attitudes; the third profile consisted of participants with the most positive attitudes toward childcare, and with the most sexist attitudes towards caregiving. This study shows caregiver profiles in terms of childcare self-perception, dimensions of the theory of planned behavior, and sexist attitudes toward childcare in a population underrepresented in the literature.