Psychopathic traits in adolescent offenders: an evaluation of criminal history, clinical, and psychosocial correlates

Although a large body of research has established the relevance of psychopathy to adult offenders, its relevance to adolescent offenders is far less clear. The current study evaluated the clinical, psychosocial and criminal correlates of psychopathic traits in a sample of 226 male and female incarcerated adolescent offenders. According to an 18-item version of the Psychopathy Checklist-Youth Version (PCL-YV; Forth, Kosson, & Hare, 2003), only 9.4% exhibited a high level of psychopathic traits (PCL-YV>/=25). Consistent with past research, higher PCL-YV scores were positively associated with self-reported delinquency and aggressive behavior and were unrelated to emotional difficulties. Although higher PCL-YV scores were associated with the experience of physical abuse, the only psychosocial factor to predict PCL-YV scores was a history of non-parental living arrangements (e.g. foster care). In terms of criminality, a violent/versatile criminal history was positively associated with psychopathic traits. However, PCL-YV scores were unrelated to participants' official criminal records for total, non-violent, violent, and technical violation convictions. In conclusion, the data partially support the construct validity of psychopathy with adolescent offenders, but some inconsistencies with prior adult and adolescent psychopathy research were evident. These issues are discussed.     

Men's and Women's Perceptions of the Gender Typing of Management Subroles

The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which subroles inherent in managerial positions are gender-typed and whether men or women engage in relatively more gender typing of managerial roles. We obtained perceptions of 19 management subroles from 263 business students in the United States Results confirmed predictions that some subroles are viewed as more feminine in nature whereas other subroles are perceived as more masculine. Male respondents saw most subroles as more masculine in nature than did female respondents. Results are discussed in terms of implications for researchers studying management, as well as for managers in the workplace.     

Ethnic differences in battered women's formal help-seeking strategies: a focus on health, mental health, and spirituality

The primary goal of this study was to identify ethnic differences in battered women's use of health, mental health, and spiritual coping strategies, as well as differences in the perceived helpfulness of each strategy. The authors recruited a sample of 376 African American and Caucasian victims of interpersonal violence from various sites. In comparison with Caucasian women in the sample, African American women were significantly more likely to report using prayer as a coping strategy and significantly less likely to seek help from mental health counselors. The 2 groups did not significantly differ in terms of the extent to which they sought help from clergy or medical professionals. African American women found prayer to be more helpful than did Caucasian women.     

Development of attention and distractibility in the first 4 years of life

This observational study describes the early development of attention and discractibility. Under several conditions of distraction, 172 children at 10, 26, and 42 months of age played with toys. Attention to the toys was coded as casual, settled, or focused. All 3 levels of attention changed with age, withcasual attention decreasing and focused attention increasing. The 10-month-olds were more distractible than the other children, even during focused attention. The infants were most distracted by the auditory-visual distractor, whereas the oldest children were most distracted by the visual distractor. Some 42-month-olds showed evidence of being more focused in the presence of distractors. Overall, the results point to a developmental transition in the processes underlying attention during play.     

The open dialogue approach to acute psychosis: its poetics and micropolitics

In Finland, a network-based, language approach to psychiatric care has emerged, called "Open Dialogue." It draws on Bakhtin's dialogical principles ( Bakhtin, 1984 ) and is rooted in a Batesonian tradition. Two levels of analysis, the poetics and the micropolitics, are presented. The poetics include three principles: "tolerance of uncertainly,""dialogism," and "polyphony in social networks." A treatment meeting shows how these poetics operate to generate a therapeutic a therapeutic dialogue. The micropolitics are the larger institutional practices that support this way of working and are part of Finnish Need-Adapted Treatment, Recent research suggests that Open Dialogue has improved outcomes for young people in a variety of acute, severe psychiatric crises, such as psychosis, as compared to treatment as-usual settings. In a nonrandomized, 2-year follow up of first-episode schizophrenia, hospitalization decreased to approximately 19 days; neuroleptic medication was needed in 35% of cases; 82% had no, or only mild psychotic symptoms remaining; and only 23% were on disability allowance.     

Attributional biases in aggressive children and their mothers

To investigate if mothers and their aggressive children share the tendency to infer hostile motives from others' behavior in ambiguous social situations, 100 pairs of mothers and their clinic-referred or comparison children (50 boys and 50 girls) were asked to interpret hypothetical situations involving both overtly and relationally provocative scenarios. Results replicated previous findings of studies on social information processing of aggressive children and extended the findings to mothers of aggressive children. Findings were generally consistent with the hypothesis that mothers of aggressive children tend to view others' ambiguous actions as hostile, increasing the probability of responding with aggression and, in effect, modeling a hostile attributional bias for their children. Examinations of mothers' and their children's attributional and behavioral intentions suggested that mothers' and daughters' attributions and behavioral intentions were significantly correlated, whereas mothers' and sons' were not. Gender effects with regard to provocation type are also discussed.     

Axis I and axis II disorders as predictors of prospective suicide attempts: findings from the collaborative longitudinal personality disorders study

This study examined diagnostic predictors of prospectively observed suicide attempts in a personality disorder (PD) sample. During 2 years of follow-up, 58 participants (9%) reported at least 1 definitive suicide attempt. Predictors that were examined include 4 PD diagnoses and selected Axis I diagnoses (baseline and course). Multivariate logistic regression analyses indicated that baseline borderline personality disorder (BPD) and drug use disorders significantly predicted prospective suicide attempts. Controlling for baseline BPD diagnosis, proportional hazards analyses showed that worsening in the course of major depressive disorder (MDD) and of substance use disorders in the month preceding the attempt were also significant predictors. Therefore, among individuals diagnosed with PDs. exacerbation of Axis I conditions, particularly MDD and substance use, heightens risk for a suicide attempt.     

Gender,Race, and Speech Style Stereotypes

Considerable research has shown that people have stereotypical beliefs about the speech and communication style of women and men. There is less research about stereotypes of Black people's speech, and none that jointly or comparably investigates communication stereotypes as a function of both gender and race. In this study, White college students (n = 111) rated a fictional character's speech on 36 pairs of words characteristic of communication style (e.g., emotional–unemotional) and also generated dialogue for the character. Targets' race and sex were varied. Results showed that beliefs about speech style were stronger for race than gender. Black speakers, both women and men, were rated as more direct and emotional, and less socially appropriate and playful, than White speakers. The dialogue generated by participants for Black speakers was less grammatical and more profane than for White speakers. Gender effects were consistent with earlier research but suggest a weakening of stereotypes; women's speech was seen as somewhat less direct and more emotional than men's speech. Beliefs about speech and communication style are important because they may function not only to describe what is but to prescribe what should be in social interaction.     

Loneliness in everyday life: cardiovascular activity,psychosocial context,and health behaviors

Prior lab research revealed higher basal total peripheral resistance (TPR) and lower cardiac output (CO) in lonely than in nonlonely young adults. In this study, experience sampling was used to obtain ambulatory blood pressure; impedance cardiography: and reports of activities, appraisals, interactions, and health behaviors. Results confirmed that loneliness predicted higher TPR and lower CO during a normal day. Loneliness did not predict differences in time spent alone, daily activities, or health behaviors but did predict higher stress appraisals and poorer social interactions. Independent of loneliness, interaction quality contributed to TPR. Loneliness differences were not mediated by depressed affect or neuroticism. Social support mediated loneliness differences in stress and threat. Concomitants of loneliness were comparable for men and women.     

The relation between attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and substance abuse: what role does conduct disorder play?

This paper presents a comprehensive review of the literature examining the relation between childhood attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and substance abuse. A number of researchers have statistically controlled for conduct disorder (CD) when examining the ADHD—substance-abuse relation. These studies have generally found that the ADHD—substance-abuse relation disappears when the high overlap between ADHD and CD is taken into account. On this basis, one may conclude that ADHD is unimportant to substance abuse. However, there is some evidence from both empirical studies and related fields that ADHD and CD may interact to afford a higher risk for substance abuse than may either disorder alone. Thus, ADHD appears to be important to substance abuse in that it interacts with CD to increase the risk. This paper calls for more research that directly examines the joint effects of ADHD and CD on risk for substance abuse. There is also a need for more research that examines gender differences, and mechanisms of the relations among ADHD, CD, and substance abuse.