Young peoples' opinions about the causes of, and solutions to, New Zealand's high youth suicide rate

In response to an open-ended question about the causes of New Zealand's high youth suicide rate, 384 young adults most commonly cited pressure to conform and perform, followed by financial worries, abuse and neglect, problems with alcohol or drugs, and boredom. Depression was cited by 5 percent and mental illness by only 1 percent. Recommended solutions included crisis support services located in schools and youth centers, youth activities, educational programs to assist young people to discuss feelings and to bolster self-esteem, and financial aid. Neither increasing mental health services, nor reducing media coverage of suicides, was considered to be a solution.     

UK and Spanish stranger sexual offenders crime scene behaviours and previous convictions: A cross-cultural comparison

International comparisons of previous convictions (PC) and crime scene behaviours (CSB) of stranger sexual offences can inform offender profiling strategies; especially the degree to which pragmatic models cross validate across countries. The present study compared PC and CSB of 474 UK and 418 Spanish cases. CSB and PC were analysed using Chi-square. UK stranger sexual offenders displayed a higher proportion of all CSB analysed. UK offenders also had a significantly higher proportion of PC with the exception of violence offences. There were no significant differences in sexual pre-convictions. In both the UK and Spain the CSB ‘reference to the police’ was significantly association with the PC ‘Criminal damage’ no other similar significant associations were found. Explanations for these findings include differences between the countries in regards to: legislation, crime recording processes, data coding processes, with additional consideration of any cultural, environmental and contextual factors.     

Career and Career-Related Educational Concerns of College Students With Disabilities

This article providas career counselors with an overview of career-related issues relevant to students with disabilities in postsecondary educational settings. Topics addressed include the impact of disability on career development, the impact of disability on postsecondary educational participation, and access and accommodation issues. The authors argue for an expanded role for career counselors who work with college students with disabilities. It is concluded that career counselors can play an important role in facilitating college students with disabilities in their adaptation to the college environment, their acquisition of appropriate accommodations, and their transition to employment.     

A comparison between strategies used on prisoners of war and battered wives

Comparisons were made between strategies used on prisoners of war (POWs) and battered wives to determine whether battering tactics are gender specific and thus a result of sexism, or whether battering is a reflection of societal violence. Similarities found between strategies used by captors and batterers were (a) psychological abuse within the context of violence; (b) the use of emotional dependency based on intermittent reinforcement; and (c) isolation from the victim's support system resulting in validation of assailant's beliefs and behavior. Both captors and batterers were successful in destroying the individual's self-identity, as well as eliciting and controlling certain kinds of behavior, when the victim remained isolated from a democratic setting. Differences in the experiences of POWs and battered wives center around the type of a hierarchical structure. In the case of battered wives, a patriarchal family legitimates male domination over women; therefore, the violence occurs within a sexist context.     

Disfluencies of 3- and 5-year old Spanish-speaking children

This study examined the disfluent speech of 32 normally fluent monolingual, Spanish-speaking children from Puerto Rico. The total frequencies and types of speech disfluencies were examined in 15 children (8 girls and 7 boys) aged 3;5-4;0 years (M=3.76) and 17 children (8 girls and 9 boys) aged 5;0-5;5 years (M=5.18). When examining the total frequencies of speech disfluencies, results revealed no main effects for age or gender as well as no interactions. Moreover, no differences were observed between the age groups in most of the disfluency types, including the rank orders of the types. Revisions, interjections, and single-syllable word repetitions were the most frequently observed speech disfluencies for both age groups. Broken words, blocks, and repetitions of more than one syllable were the least frequent. Overall, results revealed both similarities and differences when compared with the reported speech behaviors of English-speaking children. EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES: The reader will learn about and be able to describe: (1). the influence of age and gender on the total frequencies of speech disfluencies in 3- and 5-year old Spanish-speaking children from Puerto Rico; (2). the amount and type of difluencies in these young children; and (3). how the speech disfluencies of these Spanish-speaking children are similar to and different from those reported in the speech of English-speaking children.     

Studies of the Startle Pattern: IV. Infants

Individual versus group risk taking was examined by using a novel set of industrial product purchasing situations as stimuli. The set incorporated situations that varied along a dimension called “normative risk.” Situations represented either low-normative risk, medium-normative risk, or high-normative risk. Normative risk was defined in a decision theoretical context. The set was administered to introductory business students at a large university in the United States. The results of the study showed that groups were not invariably riskier than individuals; rather the amount of risky shift following group discussion was negatively related to the level of normative risk. This overall conclusion held true also in relation to the degree of perceived riskiness of the situations, since a positive relationship between normative risk and perceived risk was established. The theoretical implications of the results are discussed.     

Treating PTSD in suicidal and self-injuring women with borderline personality disorder: development and preliminary evaluation of a Dialectical Behavior Therapy Prolonged Exposure Protocol

This study focused on the development and pilot testing of a protocol based on Prolonged Exposure (PE) that can be added to Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) to treat PTSD in suicidal and self-injuring individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD). Women with BPD, PTSD, and recent and/or imminent serious intentional self-injury (n = 13) received one year of DBT with the DBT PE Protocol, plus three months of follow-up assessment. The treatment was associated with significant reductions in PTSD, with the majority of patients no longer meeting criteria for PTSD at post-treatment (71.4% of DBT PE Protocol completers, 60.0% of the intent-to-treat sample). A minority of patients (27.3%) engaged in intentional self-injury during the study. Improvements were also found for suicidal ideation, dissociation, trauma-related guilt cognitions, shame, anxiety, depression, and social adjustment. There was no evidence that the DBT PE Protocol led to exacerbations of intentional self-injury urges or behaviors, PTSD, treatment dropout, or crisis service use. Overall, the results indicate that this integrated BPD and PTSD treatment is feasible to implement within one year of treatment, highly acceptable to patients and therapists, safe to administer, and shows promise as an effective intervention for PTSD in this complex and high-risk patient population.