Certifying Juveniles for Adult Court: An Attribution Analysis1

Certification is the process whereby older juveniles who have committed felony offenses are transferred from juvenile courts to adult courts. The present study examined the variables that influence decisions in these cases and used attribution theory to conceptualize the process. Data were obtained from files of 150 youths on whom certification petitions had been filed from January 1981 to October 1984. Of these, 125 had been certified and 25 had not. The sample comprised 148 males and 2 females. Data included seriousness of the offense, previous offenses, potential for aggressiveness, level of involvement in the offense, age, court in which the case was heard, year in which the case was heard, IQ, family income and sex. Level of involvement, seriousness of the offense and potential for aggressiveness had the strongest association with certification outcomes, with those high on these measures significantly more likely to be certified. The cluster that predicted outcomes best included level of involvement, seriousness of the offense, potential for aggressiveness, IQ, year in which the case was heard, court in which the case was heard, sex and previous offenses. The most explicitly behavioral variable—how actively the child participated in the offense—was the best single predictor of outcomes.     

PROMOTING AUTOMOBILE SAFETY BELT USE BY YOUNG CHILDREN

A program using behavioral practice, assertiveness training, and social and contrived reinforcers was developed to establish and maintain automobile safety belt use by young children. Sixteen children (ages 4.8 to 7 years) who never used their safety belts during a 5-day preexperimental observation period were randomly assigned to two groups of eight each. A multiple baseline design across groups was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the training program. During the 8-day baseline period for Group 1, no children used their safety belts when unobtrusively observed while being driven from school. During the 26-day intervention period, the children were buckled up on 96% of the observations. Follow-up probes conducted 2–3 months after program discontinuance found safety belt use to range from 86% to 100%. For Group 2, the 14-day baseline safety belt use averaged 6% and increased to a mean of 81% during the 20-day training and maintenance program. Follow-up probes 2–3 months later found safety belt use to occur during 75% to 96% of the observations. Parent questionnaires indicated the generalizability and social validity of the program.     

A NEUROBIOLOGICAL ALTERNATIVE TO THE PERCEPTUAL REINFORCEMENT HYPOTHESIS OF STEREOTYPED BEHAVIOR: A COMMENTARY ON “SELF-STIMULATORY BEHAVIOR AND PERCEPTUAL REINFORCEMENT”

A perceptual reinforcement theory of stereotyped movements is advanced by Lovaas, Newsom, and Hickman (1987) in an effort to integrate a number of diverse observations about the origins and maintenance of this behavior. We, in turn, argue that the theory, as presented, is logically flawed and fails to take into account important biological findings and theory concerning pathological stereotyped acts. An alternative theory, derived primarily from neurological concepts, is briefly described.     

Unprogrammed effects of training high-status peers to interact with severely handicapped children.

We examined the effects of a peer initiation intervention with high- and low-status nonhandicapped students on the behavior of untrained peers toward handicapped students. In the context of a counterbalanced withdrawal design, high- and low-status nonhandicapped students were taught to direct social initiations to eight severely handicapped students during recess activities. The interactions of the high-status students resulted in higher levels of initiations by untrained peers toward the handicapped students than did the interactions of the low-status students. Social response levels were also differentially affected by the status of the peer initiator.     

Saying and doing: A contingency-space analysis

Correspondences between verbal responding (saying) and nonverbal responding (doing) may be organized in terms of the classes of verbal/nonverbal relations into which particular instances of verbal/nonverbal response sequences can enter. Contingency spaces, which display relations among events in terms of the probability of one event given or not given another, have been useful in analyses of nonverbal behavior. We derive a taxonomy of verbal/nonverbal behavior relations from a contingency space that takes into account two conditional probabilities: the probability of a nonverbal response given a verbal response and that probability given the absence of the verbal response. For example, positive correspondence may be said to exist as a response class when the probability of doing is high given saying but is otherwise low. Criteria for other generalized classes, including negative correspondence, follow from this analysis.     

The fundamental rule: a study of current usage

Members of the editorial boards of the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, Psychoanalytic Quarterly, and Psychoanalytic Inquiry, plus selected analysts from Canada, France, and England, were asked how they presented the fundamental rule to their analysands and what considerations led to their choice of initial guidelines. Forty-nine of eight-three analysts responded to the survey. The respondents described diversity in phrasing of the fundamental rule, the time in analysis when the guidelines are given, and the reasons for the practice they follow. The method each chose appears to reflect the differing conceptions analysts have of the analytic process. Two major trends emerged: either our respondents emphasized delineating a work or functional framework or contract, or they emphasized establishing an attitude or spirit of cooperation, mutuality and work sharing. In each group respondents differed as to whether they favored minimal or more lengthy instructions. They also differed as to whether they followed a consistent approach or one tailored to the needs of the individual analysand. A source of tension lay in an inclination either to remain in the tradition set by Freud or to experiment with different phrasings and timings. The authors give their reasons for choosing to give explicit instructions, requesting associational material beyond thoughts and feelings, and describing resistance as inevitable and a potential source of insight.     

Changes in the level and quality of object relations in psychoanalysis: followup of a longitudinal, prospective study

As part of a prospective, longitudinal study of suitability for and outcome of psychoanalysis, 22 patients were evaluated for changes in the level and quality of their object relations. These patients had been accepted for supervised analysis with candidates in training by senior analysts who had diagnosed them as neurotic. The majority of these patients reported difficulties in relationships as at least one of their reasons for originally seeking psychoanalytic treatment. Prior to beginning analysis, each patient was given a battery of psychological tests. One year after the termination of analysis, the test battery was readministered and a followup interview was conducted separately with each patient and analyst. Ratings of change based on patient and analyst interviews and comparisons of psychological tests before and after treatment all showed statistically significant improvement in the level and quality of object relations for this patient group. The results of this study support what is often observed in clinical practice, that psychoanalysis has a positive effect on the level and quality of a patient's object relations.     

Violent crime, sociopathy and love deprivation among adolescent delinquents

Ever since Wechsler observed that the adolescent sociopath characteristically scored higher on the performance section of the Wechsler IQ scale relative to the verbal section, psychologists have been debating its meaning. This study examines the relationships between P-V discrepancy scores, love deprivation, and juvenile delinquency among a sample of juvenile probationers. P greater than V scores were significantly related to love deprivation and violent crimes. It was determined that much of the explanatory power of P greater than V with regard to violent delinquent behavior was mediated by love deprivation. We also found that P greater than V scores could not be explained away by social class, low verbal scores, or lower full-scale scores. Only love deprivation was found to be significantly related to P greater than V scores in our path model, thus offering some support to the assertions of some authors that early emotional stresses affect subsequent autonomic nervous system function.     

Histories of sexual abuse in adolescent male runaways

In this study, data on sexual victimization in the histories of 89 Canadian male runaways as well as information on physical victimization, family structure, family financial stability, delinquent and criminal activities, and reasons for running away from home were evaluated. The population of male runaways evidenced dramatically higher rates of sexual and physical abuse than did randomly sampled populations. Sexually abused and nonsexually abused male runaways shared characteristics noted in the literature as common to runaways: problem families, high rates of delinquency, depression, tension, low self-image, and history of physical abuse. Sexually abused male runaways differed from nonsexually abused runaways in their reactions to their runaway event, with sexually abused male runaways responding in highly avoidant patterns coupled with extreme withdrawal from all types of interpersonal relationships. These differences are explained as consistent with known sequelae of sexual abuse, and the implications for treatment by runaway shelters and for further research are suggested.