Findings on Disruptive Behavior Disorders from the First Decade of the Developmental Trends Study

The paper summarizes the first decade of the Developmental Trends Study, a prospective longitudinal study of 177 boys. Initially, they were referred to mental health clinics in Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh), and Georgia (Athens and Atlanta). Since 1987, the boys, their parents, and their teachers have been followed up almost annually. The study is unique because the cooperation rate of participants has remained very high over the years, psychiatric diagnoses were derived from structured interviews (especially disruptive behavior disorders), and many risk factors were measured over the years. The present paper summarizes key findings on the development of disruptive behavior, especially Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Conduct Disorder, and Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder. The paper also highlights results on risk factors and comorbid conditions of disruptive behaviors.     

A video multitracking system for quantification of individual behavior in a large fish shoal: Advantages and limits

The capability of a new multitracking system to track a large number of unmarked fish (up to 100) is evaluated. This system extrapolates a trajectory from each individual and analyzes recorded sequences that are several minutes long. This system is very efficient in statistical individual tracking, where the individual’s identity is important for a short period of time in comparison with the duration of the track. Individual identification is typically greater than 99%. Identification is largely efficient (more than 99%) when the fish images do not cross the image of a neighbor fish. When the images of two fish merge (occlusion), we consider that the spot on the screen has a double identity. Consequently, there are no identification errors during occlusions, even though the measurement of the positions of each individual is imprecise. When the images of these two merged fish separate (separation), individual identification errors are more frequent, but their effect is very low in statistical individual tracking. On the other hand, in complete individual tracking, where individual fish identity is important for the entire trajectory, each identification error invalidates the results. In such cases, the experimenter must observe whether the program assigns the correct identification, and, when an error is made, must edit the results. This work is not too costly in time because it is limited to the separation events, accounting for fewer than 0.1% of individual identifications. Consequently, in both statistical and rigorous individual tracking, this system allows the experimenter to gain time by measuring the individual position automatically. It can also analyze the structural and dynamic properties of an animal group with a very large sample, with precision and sampling that are impossible to obtain with manual measures.     

Religious Values in Clinical Practice are Here to Stay

Research to date has shown that health professionals often practice according to personal values, including values based on faith, and that these values impact medicine in multiple ways. While some influence of personal values are inevitable, awareness of values is important so as to sustain beneficial practice without conflicting with the values of the patient. Detecting when own personal values, whether based on a theistic or atheistic worldview, are at work, is a daily challenge in clinical practice. Simultaneously ethical guidelines of tone-setting medical associations like American Medical Association, the British General Medical Council and Australian Medical Association have been updated to encompass physicians’ right to practice medicine in accord with deeply held beliefs. Framed by this context, we discuss the concept of value-neutrality and value-based medical practice of physicians from both a cultural and ethical perspective, and reach the conclusion that the concept of a completely value-neutral physician, free from influence of personal values and filtering out value-laden information when talking to patients, is simply an unrealistic ideal in light of existing evidence. Still we have no reason to suspect that personal values, whether religious, spiritual, atheistic or agnostic, should hinder physicians from delivering professional and patient-centered care.

     

Using dynamic risk and protective factors to predict inpatient aggression: Reliability and validity of START assessments

The Short-Term Assessment of Risk and Treatability (START; C. D. Webster, M. L. Martin, J. Brink, T. L. Nicholls, & S. L. Desmarais, 2009; C. D. Webster, M. L. Martin, J. Brink, T. L. Nicholls, & C. Middleton, 2004) is a relatively new structured professional judgment guide for the assessment and management of short-term risks associated with mental, substance use, and personality disorders. The scheme may be distinguished from other violence risk assessment instruments because of its inclusion of 20 dynamic factors that are rated in terms of both vulnerability and strength. This study examined the reliability and validity of START assessments in predicting inpatient aggression. Research assistants completed START assessments for 120 male forensic psychiatric patients through review of hospital files. They also completed Historical-Clinical-Risk Management-20 (HCR-20; C. D. Webster, K. S. Douglas, D. Eaves, & S. D. Hart, 1997) and Hare Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version (PCL:SV; S. D. Hart, D. N. Cox, & R. D. Hare, 1995) assessments. Outcome data were coded from hospital files for a 12-month follow-up period using the Overt Aggression Scale (OAS; S. C. Yudofsky, J. M. Silver, W. Jackson, J. Endicott, & D. W. Williams, 1986). START assessments evidenced excellent interrater reliability and demonstrated both predictive and incremental validity over the HCR-20 Historical subscale scores and PCL:SV total scores. Overall, results support the reliability and validity of START assessments and use of the structured professional judgment approach more broadly, as well as the value of using dynamic risk and protective factors to assess violence risk. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Culture,Institutions, and Morally Dubious Behaviors: Testing Some Core Propositions of the Institutional-Anomie Theory

This study draws on self-report data on the prevalence of morally dubious behaviors in Europe to examine Messner and Rosenfeld's institutional-anomie theory. Institutional-anomie theory tries to explain cross-national differences in crime rates through the interplay between the cultural commitments and the institutional arrangements characterizing a society. The relevant state of research is unsatisfactory and full of gaps. Deficiencies exist, especially with regard to the postulated cultural dynamics. Findings from a series of multilevel models testing the combined effects of cultural forces and social institutions on respondents’ engagements in morally dubious behaviors that are committed in pursuit of self-interest—thereby controlling for differences in sociodemographic composition—shed doubt on the theory's explanatory power. Neither the cultural imperatives of the “American Dream” nor the extent of anomic orientations are linked in the expected manner to the observed cross-national variation in rates of moral misconduct across Europe.