Treatment retention of dually diagnosed offenders in an institutional therapeutic community

This study investigated treatment retention in an institutional therapeutic community (ITC) for dually diagnosed male inmates. Twenty-five percent of admissions successfully completed the residential substance abuse treatment program. Graduates participated for an average of 9 months, while terminations participated for nearly 4 months. One-third of the terminations participated for at least 3 months and 15% participated for 6 months or more. A striking result was the relationship between retention and risk ratings and psychopathy scores. Both measures assess behavior and interaction styles over a range of situations. The presence of a single type of negative behavior (i.e. the nature of the committing offense) did not predict completion, but a rating based on multiple samples of behavior was a significant predictor of retention.     

A Model of Contagion Through Competition in the Aggressive Behaviors of Elementary School Students

This article extends the work of Kellam, Ling, Merisca, Brown and Ialongo (1998) by applying a mathematical model of competition between children to peer contagion in the aggressive behaviors of elementary school students. Nonlinearity in the relationship between group aggression and individual aggression at 2-year follow-up is present. Consistent with the findings of Kellam et al. (1998), hierarchical linear modeling indicates that the relationship is statistically significant for those students whose initial parental ratings of aggressive behavior were above the sample median. In the context of competition between students, the behavior of initially aggressive students may be negatively reinforced. Lowering aggression in the school environment may therefore be the most effective way to lower the level of these students aggressive behavior.