TY  - JOUR
AU  - Vukčević Marković, Maša
AU  - Nicović, Aleksandra
AU  - Živanović, Marko
PY  - 2021
UR  - http://reff.f.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/3299
AB  - The present study aims to identify contextual and psychological factors of proneness to radicalization and violent extremism (RVE) operationalized through the Militant Extremist Mindset scale (MEM) consisting of three distinct aspects: Proviolence (PV), Vile World beliefs (VW), and trust in Divine Power (DP). A community sample of 271 high school students (72% females) from Belgrade and Sandzak regions in Serbia completed: (1) a 24-item MEM scale; (2) contextual measures including a 6-item scale of family dysfunction (FDys) and a 4-item composite measure capturing exposure to a harsh school environment and peer abuse (HSE); (3) psychological measures including the 9-item Right-Wing Authoritarianism scale (RWA), the 5-item Social Dominance Orientation scale (SDO), and the 20-item UCLA Loneliness scale (LON). A path analysis was conducted with contextual factors on the first and psychological factors on the second level of the model predicting the three factors of MEM. LON was positively predicted by FDys and HSE, SDO by HSE only, while RWA was positively predicted by FDys only. Contextual and psychological factors accounted for 27% of the variance in PV (LON, SDO), 15% of the variance in VW (FDys, SDO), and 31% of the variance in DP (RWA). Obtained findings reveal a complex interplay of contextual and psychological drivers in the prediction of different aspects of RVE and build upon existing knowledge on risk factors associated with RVE.
PB  - Frontiers Media Sa, Lausanne
T2  - Frontiers in Psychology
T1  - Contextual and Psychological Predictors of Militant Extremist Mindset in Youth
VL  - 12
DO  - 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.622571
ER  - 

@article{
author = "Vukčević Marković, Maša and Nicović, Aleksandra and Živanović, Marko",
year = "2021",
abstract = "The present study aims to identify contextual and psychological factors of proneness to radicalization and violent extremism (RVE) operationalized through the Militant Extremist Mindset scale (MEM) consisting of three distinct aspects: Proviolence (PV), Vile World beliefs (VW), and trust in Divine Power (DP). A community sample of 271 high school students (72% females) from Belgrade and Sandzak regions in Serbia completed: (1) a 24-item MEM scale; (2) contextual measures including a 6-item scale of family dysfunction (FDys) and a 4-item composite measure capturing exposure to a harsh school environment and peer abuse (HSE); (3) psychological measures including the 9-item Right-Wing Authoritarianism scale (RWA), the 5-item Social Dominance Orientation scale (SDO), and the 20-item UCLA Loneliness scale (LON). A path analysis was conducted with contextual factors on the first and psychological factors on the second level of the model predicting the three factors of MEM. LON was positively predicted by FDys and HSE, SDO by HSE only, while RWA was positively predicted by FDys only. Contextual and psychological factors accounted for 27% of the variance in PV (LON, SDO), 15% of the variance in VW (FDys, SDO), and 31% of the variance in DP (RWA). Obtained findings reveal a complex interplay of contextual and psychological drivers in the prediction of different aspects of RVE and build upon existing knowledge on risk factors associated with RVE.",
publisher = "Frontiers Media Sa, Lausanne",
journal = "Frontiers in Psychology",
title = "Contextual and Psychological Predictors of Militant Extremist Mindset in Youth",
volume = "12",
doi = "10.3389/fpsyg.2021.622571"
}

Vukčević Marković, M., Nicović, A.,& Živanović, M.. (2021). Contextual and Psychological Predictors of Militant Extremist Mindset in Youth. in Frontiers in Psychology
Frontiers Media Sa, Lausanne., 12.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.622571

Vukčević Marković M, Nicović A, Živanović M. Contextual and Psychological Predictors of Militant Extremist Mindset in Youth. in Frontiers in Psychology. 2021;12.
doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.622571 .

Vukčević Marković, Maša, Nicović, Aleksandra, Živanović, Marko, "Contextual and Psychological Predictors of Militant Extremist Mindset in Youth" in Frontiers in Psychology, 12 (2021),
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.622571 . .

TY  - CONF
AU  - Nicović, Aleksandra
AU  - Živanović, Marko
AU  - Vukčević Marković, Maša
AU  - Žeželj, Iris
PY  - 2020
UR  - http://reff.f.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/4862
AB  - Radicalization and violent extremism have been operationalized through three-dimensional Militant-Extremist Mindset (MEM), including Pro-violence (PV) – acceptance, justification, and advocacy of the use of violence, Vile World (VW) – the belief there is something wrong with the world we live in, and that the present-day world is vile and miserable, and Divine Power (DP) – beliefs in heaven and God, the role of martyrdom, and afterlife. This construct proved to be predictive for a variety of socially relevant outcomes. The present study explores the predictive power of MEM for social distance toward four ethnic groups – Bosniaks, Croats, Albanians, and Roma - the groups with which Serbs share difficult history or are stigmatized in Serbian society. A total of 173 Belgrade high schoolers between 15 and 18 years of age (M=16.54, SD=0.63; 70.5% females) completed a 24-item version of the MEM scale along with the adapted four-item measure of social distance for each of the groups. We observed the most pronounced social distance toward Albanians and Roma (p<.001), followed by Croats (p<.001), while the lowest social distance was observed for Bosniaks (p<.001) [F(3,516)=88.65, p<.001, ηp2=.34]. Social distance measures toward four ethnic groups showed to be moderately to highly correlated (r=.518–.718, p<.001). Regression analyses showed that three factors of MEM accounted for 15.3% of the variance of social distance toward Bosniaks [F(3,169)=10.19, p<.001; significant predictors PV (β=.314, p<.001), DP (β=.200, p=.006)], 20.8% of the variance of social distance toward Albanians [F(3,169)=14.77, p<.001; significant predictors PV (β=.268, p<.001), DP (β=.339, p<.001)], 21.4% for Croats [F(3,169)=15.38, p<.001; significant predictors PV (β=.329, p<.001), DP (β=.325, p<.001)], and 15.7% of the variance of social distance toward Roma [F(3,169)=10.48, p<.001; significant predictors PV (β=.250, p=.001), DP (β=.279, p<.001)]. In sum, two out of three factors of militant extremist mindset – apologetic attitude towards violent acts and trust in divine power – proved to be significantly related to more distance towards adversarial ethnic groups, whilst, somewhat unexpectedly, belief in vile world was unrelated to it. If MEM is seen as a more dispositional measure, these findings go to show its’ usefulness in predicting very specific intergroup outcomes.
C3  - Book of abstracts - 22. Psychology Days in Zadar
T1  - Militant extremist mindset predicts higher social distance towards adversarial ethnic groups
EP  - 129
SP  - 129
UR  - https://hdl.handle.net/21.15107/rcub_reff_4862
ER  - 

@conference{
author = "Nicović, Aleksandra and Živanović, Marko and Vukčević Marković, Maša and Žeželj, Iris",
year = "2020",
abstract = "Radicalization and violent extremism have been operationalized through three-dimensional Militant-Extremist Mindset (MEM), including Pro-violence (PV) – acceptance, justification, and advocacy of the use of violence, Vile World (VW) – the belief there is something wrong with the world we live in, and that the present-day world is vile and miserable, and Divine Power (DP) – beliefs in heaven and God, the role of martyrdom, and afterlife. This construct proved to be predictive for a variety of socially relevant outcomes. The present study explores the predictive power of MEM for social distance toward four ethnic groups – Bosniaks, Croats, Albanians, and Roma - the groups with which Serbs share difficult history or are stigmatized in Serbian society. A total of 173 Belgrade high schoolers between 15 and 18 years of age (M=16.54, SD=0.63; 70.5% females) completed a 24-item version of the MEM scale along with the adapted four-item measure of social distance for each of the groups. We observed the most pronounced social distance toward Albanians and Roma (p<.001), followed by Croats (p<.001), while the lowest social distance was observed for Bosniaks (p<.001) [F(3,516)=88.65, p<.001, ηp2=.34]. Social distance measures toward four ethnic groups showed to be moderately to highly correlated (r=.518–.718, p<.001). Regression analyses showed that three factors of MEM accounted for 15.3% of the variance of social distance toward Bosniaks [F(3,169)=10.19, p<.001; significant predictors PV (β=.314, p<.001), DP (β=.200, p=.006)], 20.8% of the variance of social distance toward Albanians [F(3,169)=14.77, p<.001; significant predictors PV (β=.268, p<.001), DP (β=.339, p<.001)], 21.4% for Croats [F(3,169)=15.38, p<.001; significant predictors PV (β=.329, p<.001), DP (β=.325, p<.001)], and 15.7% of the variance of social distance toward Roma [F(3,169)=10.48, p<.001; significant predictors PV (β=.250, p=.001), DP (β=.279, p<.001)]. In sum, two out of three factors of militant extremist mindset – apologetic attitude towards violent acts and trust in divine power – proved to be significantly related to more distance towards adversarial ethnic groups, whilst, somewhat unexpectedly, belief in vile world was unrelated to it. If MEM is seen as a more dispositional measure, these findings go to show its’ usefulness in predicting very specific intergroup outcomes.",
journal = "Book of abstracts - 22. Psychology Days in Zadar",
title = "Militant extremist mindset predicts higher social distance towards adversarial ethnic groups",
pages = "129-129",
url = "https://hdl.handle.net/21.15107/rcub_reff_4862"
}

Nicović, A., Živanović, M., Vukčević Marković, M.,& Žeželj, I.. (2020). Militant extremist mindset predicts higher social distance towards adversarial ethnic groups. in Book of abstracts - 22. Psychology Days in Zadar, 129-129.
https://hdl.handle.net/21.15107/rcub_reff_4862

Nicović A, Živanović M, Vukčević Marković M, Žeželj I. Militant extremist mindset predicts higher social distance towards adversarial ethnic groups. in Book of abstracts - 22. Psychology Days in Zadar. 2020;:129-129.
https://hdl.handle.net/21.15107/rcub_reff_4862 .

Nicović, Aleksandra, Živanović, Marko, Vukčević Marković, Maša, Žeželj, Iris, "Militant extremist mindset predicts higher social distance towards adversarial ethnic groups" in Book of abstracts - 22. Psychology Days in Zadar (2020):129-129,
https://hdl.handle.net/21.15107/rcub_reff_4862 .

TY  - CONF
AU  - Nicović, Aleksandra
AU  - Živanović, Marko
AU  - Vukčević Marković, Maša
PY  - 2020
UR  - http://reff.f.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/4863
AB  - Due to its wider social impact, there is a growing interest in the study of radicalization and violent extremism. Radicalization and violent extremism can be operationalized through three-dimensional Militant-Extremist Mindset (MEM), including Pro-violence (PV) – acceptance, justification, and advocacy of the use of violence, Divine Power (DP) – beliefs in heaven and God, the role of martyrdom, and afterlife pleasures, and Vile World (VW) – the belief there is something wrong with the world we live in, and that the present-day world is vile and miserable. Despite the growing support of three-dimensional structure of the construct in adults, there is a lack of studies assessing the MEM among the youth, which may be particularly susceptible to radicalization and violent extremism. This study explored the latent structure and psychometric properties of the MEM scale on a sample of 283 high school students from Belgrade and Sandžak aged between 15 and 18 (M = 16.30, SD = 0.71;71.7% females). They completed a 24-item version of the MEM scale. The results of confirmatory factor analysis (Maximum Likelihood) of MEM demonstrated insufficiently good fit [χ2(249) = 543.06, p < .001, CFI = .86, TLI = .83, RMSEA = .06, 90%CI: .06 - .07] for initial three-factor model of correlated dimensions of PV, VW, and DP, with a single
significant latent correlation of .32 between PV and VW factors. All three subscales [PV KMO = .96, α = .83, H2 = .89; VW KMO = .95, α = .84, H2 = .90; DP KMO = .92, α = .74, H2 = .84] exhibited high indices of item sample adequacy, internal consistency, and homogeneity. The model was modified by exclusion of three items from PV and two items from DP subscales from the final version due to their poor psychometric properties and low primary or relatively high secondary factor loadings. The resulting set of 19 items demonstrated a satisfactory fit to the three-factor model of MEM [χ2(151) = 302.11, p < .001, CFI = .92, TLI = .90, RMSEA = .06, 90%CI: .05 - .07]. Psychometric properties of the shorter versions of PV [KMO = .97, α = .86, H2 = .95] and VW scales [KMO = .94, α = .82, H2 = .91] proved to be markedly higher after the exclusion of the problematic items. Results on the MEM’s latent structure are in line with studies using adult samples. Results indicate that the adapted, shorter version of MEM can be used for assessing radicalization and violent extremism among youth.
C3  - Book of abstracts - XXVI Empirical studies in psychology
T1  - Psychometric evaluation of the Militant Extremist Mindset Scale
EP  - 53
SP  - 52
UR  - https://hdl.handle.net/21.15107/rcub_reff_4863
ER  - 

@conference{
author = "Nicović, Aleksandra and Živanović, Marko and Vukčević Marković, Maša",
year = "2020",
abstract = "Due to its wider social impact, there is a growing interest in the study of radicalization and violent extremism. Radicalization and violent extremism can be operationalized through three-dimensional Militant-Extremist Mindset (MEM), including Pro-violence (PV) – acceptance, justification, and advocacy of the use of violence, Divine Power (DP) – beliefs in heaven and God, the role of martyrdom, and afterlife pleasures, and Vile World (VW) – the belief there is something wrong with the world we live in, and that the present-day world is vile and miserable. Despite the growing support of three-dimensional structure of the construct in adults, there is a lack of studies assessing the MEM among the youth, which may be particularly susceptible to radicalization and violent extremism. This study explored the latent structure and psychometric properties of the MEM scale on a sample of 283 high school students from Belgrade and Sandžak aged between 15 and 18 (M = 16.30, SD = 0.71;71.7% females). They completed a 24-item version of the MEM scale. The results of confirmatory factor analysis (Maximum Likelihood) of MEM demonstrated insufficiently good fit [χ2(249) = 543.06, p < .001, CFI = .86, TLI = .83, RMSEA = .06, 90%CI: .06 - .07] for initial three-factor model of correlated dimensions of PV, VW, and DP, with a single
significant latent correlation of .32 between PV and VW factors. All three subscales [PV KMO = .96, α = .83, H2 = .89; VW KMO = .95, α = .84, H2 = .90; DP KMO = .92, α = .74, H2 = .84] exhibited high indices of item sample adequacy, internal consistency, and homogeneity. The model was modified by exclusion of three items from PV and two items from DP subscales from the final version due to their poor psychometric properties and low primary or relatively high secondary factor loadings. The resulting set of 19 items demonstrated a satisfactory fit to the three-factor model of MEM [χ2(151) = 302.11, p < .001, CFI = .92, TLI = .90, RMSEA = .06, 90%CI: .05 - .07]. Psychometric properties of the shorter versions of PV [KMO = .97, α = .86, H2 = .95] and VW scales [KMO = .94, α = .82, H2 = .91] proved to be markedly higher after the exclusion of the problematic items. Results on the MEM’s latent structure are in line with studies using adult samples. Results indicate that the adapted, shorter version of MEM can be used for assessing radicalization and violent extremism among youth.",
journal = "Book of abstracts - XXVI Empirical studies in psychology",
title = "Psychometric evaluation of the Militant Extremist Mindset Scale",
pages = "53-52",
url = "https://hdl.handle.net/21.15107/rcub_reff_4863"
}

Nicović, A., Živanović, M.,& Vukčević Marković, M.. (2020). Psychometric evaluation of the Militant Extremist Mindset Scale. in Book of abstracts - XXVI Empirical studies in psychology, 52-53.
https://hdl.handle.net/21.15107/rcub_reff_4863

Nicović A, Živanović M, Vukčević Marković M. Psychometric evaluation of the Militant Extremist Mindset Scale. in Book of abstracts - XXVI Empirical studies in psychology. 2020;:52-53.
https://hdl.handle.net/21.15107/rcub_reff_4863 .

Nicović, Aleksandra, Živanović, Marko, Vukčević Marković, Maša, "Psychometric evaluation of the Militant Extremist Mindset Scale" in Book of abstracts - XXVI Empirical studies in psychology (2020):52-53,
https://hdl.handle.net/21.15107/rcub_reff_4863 .