Recrafting Youth Risk Assessment: Developing the Modified Positive Achievement Change Tool for Iowa

ABSTRACT

Risk assessments have become prevalent in the juvenile justice field. Many of these tools are adopted off-the-shelf and not adapted to fit the characteristics of a jurisdiction’s justice-involved youth. We examined the Positive Achievement Change Tool (PACT) in Iowa. Although used widely, the PACT is relatively unmodified. We updated the tool via item selection and weighting, gender-specific models and multiple outcomes, developing the Modified Positive Achievement Change Tool (M-PACT) for Iowa. We identified an average predictive accuracy increase of 7%. Evidence of reduced racial disparity was also observed, and research implications outline the need to customize assessments to improve predictive accuracy.     

Nomogram for the tetrachoric correlation coefficient

This article offers a new nomogram for the tetrachoric correlation coefficient, together with a correcting table. The development of the nomogram is described and directions for its use are included.     

Food, mood, and attitude: reducing risk for eating disorders in college women.

Food, Mood, and Attitude (FMA) is a CD-ROM prevention program developed to decrease risk for eating disorders in college women. Female 1st-year students (N = 240) were randomly assigned to the intervention (FMA) or control group. Equal numbers of students at risk and of low risk for developing an eating disorder were assigned to each condition. Participants in the FMA condition improved on all measures relative to controls. Significant 3-way interactions (Time x Condition x Risk Status) were found on measures of internalization of sociocultural attitudes about thinness, shape concerns, and weight concerns, indicating that at-risk participants in the intervention group improved to a greater extent than did low-risk participants. At follow-up, significantly fewer women in the FMA group reported overeating and excessive exercise relative to controls.     

Coaches Who Care: Moral Exemplars in Collegiate Athletics

This study examines moral exemplar coaches to better understand how they are able to maintain integrity in the high-stakes environment of NCAA Division-I college sport. In-depth interviews based on moral exemplar and moral identity development theories were conducted with peer-nominated, “moral exemplar” Division-I collegiate head coaches (n?=?12). Interviews elicited themes of moral exemplarity, including, for example, having an internalized moral compass and engaging in ongoing personal and professional growth. Illuminating themes and mechanisms by which these coaches develop and sustain moral identity can inform applied work with coach education efforts for current and future members of the profession.

Lay Summary:

This study looks at coaches who are known by their peers and athletic directors as having strong morals and integrity despite the challenges they face balancing the competing values of fostering athlete well-being with winning while working in the highly competitive environment of National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I athletics.