Attitudes towards war, killing, and punishment of children among young people in Estonia, Finland, Romania, the Russian Federation, and the USA.

OBJECTIVE: To study the cultural differences in moral disengagement, which lends support to attitudes used to justify violence. METHODS: We carried out classroom surveys of a total of 3122 students in the USA (Houston, TX, and Washington, DC) and in four European countries--Estonia (Tartu), Finland (Helsinki), Romania (Satu Mare) and the Russian Federation (St Petersburg). Data were also taken from a random sample telephone survey of 341 young adults (aged 18-35 years) in Texas, USA. Ten distinct groups were studied. Seven questions were common to all the surveys, using identical statements about the participants' agreement with attitudes relating to war, diplomacy, killing, and the punishment of children. FINDINGS: The US students were more likely than those in Europe to agree with the following statements: "War is necessary" (20% vs 9%), "A person has the right to kill to defend property" (54% vs 17%), and "Physical punishment is necessary for children" (27% vs 10%). Justification of war and killing was less common among females than males in all groups; other differences within the US groups and the European groups were smaller than the differences between the US and European groups. CONCLUSION: The results confirm the gap between the US and European groups in moral disengagement attitudes and tendencies that could lead to deadly violence.

Neuropeptide Y Y(5) receptor antagonist CGP71683A: the effects on food intake and anxiety-related behavior in the rat.

The effects of neuropeptide Y Y(5) receptor antagonist (trans-naphtalene-1-sulphonic acid [4-[(4-amino-quinazolin-2-ylamino)-methyl]-cyclohexylmethyl]-amide hydrochloride; CGP71683A), on food intake, anxiety and locomotor activity were studied. CGP71683A (1-10 mg/kg, i.p.) dose-dependently decreased nocturnal and fasting-induced food intake. CGP71683A did not have an anxiogenic-like effect in the rat social interaction test. In the elevated plus-maze test, where novel neuropeptide Y Y(1) receptor antagonist (2R)-5-([amino(imino)methyl)amino)-2-[(2.2-diphenylacetyl)-amino]-N-[(1R)-1-(4-hydroxyphenyl)ethyl-pentanamide (H 409/22) had anxiogenic-like effect, CGP71683A was inactive. In the open-field test, carried out immediately after the elevated plus-maze test, CGP71683A inhibited horizontal and vertical activity. CGP71683A did modify the habituation of locomotor response in novel environment. These data show that the inhibition of food intake induced by CGP71683A could not be explained by increased fearfulness, a state that is induced by neuropeptide Y Y(1) receptor antagonists. Thus, our data, obtained with first neuropeptide Y Y(5) receptor antagonist CGP71683A, suggest that in contrast to the neuropeptide Y Y(1) receptor, Y(5) receptor is not involved in tonic neuropeptide Y-induced anxiolysis.