Jugendmaßregelvollzugspatienten – eine übersehene Hochrisikogruppe

The organizational structures for treatment and care of youth and adolescents in forensic commitment in Germany still differ immensely from state to state. The working group for adolescent forensic commitment “Arbeitskreis Jugendmaßregelvollzug” has been trying to introduce uniform treatment standards since 2003. In connection with this data have been collected since 2004 which describe the population in core variables (e.g. demographic variables, delinquency, diagnoses and discharge). Advanced data on biographic development psychopathology, delinquency development, course of treatment and criminal prognoses have been collected from 2008 to 2011 on a group of patients in forensic commitment in Berlin and Rostock. It was shown that these patients were a high risk group. They proved to have a burdened history and were well known to the social aid system before the offence for which they were committed. To avoid a permanent growth of delinquency and a chronification of mental illness it is necessary to have specific forms of treatment which are separate from adult forensic commitment, which recognize and take into account the special conditions and the development potential of youth and adolescents and which form the basis of upbringing concepts.     

Is Milkman a superhero like Batman? Constituent morphological priming in compound words

In the present study, we examined morphological decomposition of Basque compound words in a series of masked priming lexical decision experiments. In Experiment 1, Basque compound words could be briefly preceded by other compounds that shared either the first or second constituent, or by unrelated noncompound words. Results showed a significant priming effect for words that shared a constituent, independently of its position. In Experiment 2, compound words were preceded by other compound words that shared one of their constituents, but in a different lexeme position (e.g., the first constituent of the compound that acted as a prime was the second constituent of the compound that acted as a target). Results again showed a constituent priming effect (i.e., location in the string is not necessary for priming to occur). In Experiment 3, we demonstrated that these priming effects were not due to mere form overlap: pairs of noncompound words that shared either the beginning or the ending chunk did not produce a priming effect. Taken together, the present results converge with previous data on orthographic/morphological priming and provide evidence favouring early morphological decomposition.     

Reporting a program evaluation: Needs,program plan,intervention, and decisions

The approach to intervention programs varies depending on the methodological perspective adopted. This means that health professionals lack clear guidelines regarding how best to proceed, and it hinders the accumulation of knowledge. The aim of this paper is to set out the essential and common aspects that should be included in any program evaluation report, thereby providing a useful guide for the professional regardless of the procedural approach used. Furthermore, the paper seeks to integrate the different methodologies and illustrate their complementarity, this being a key aspect in terms of real intervention contexts, which are constantly changing. The aspects to be included are presented in relation to the main stages of the evaluation process: needs, objectives and design (prior to the intervention), implementation (during the intervention), and outcomes (after the intervention). For each of these stages the paper describes the elements on which decisions should be based, highlighting the role of empirical evidence gathered through the application of instruments to defined samples and according to a given procedure.     

Maladaptive personality traits in adolescence: Psychometric properties of the Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire-4+

The Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire-4+ (PDQ-4+) is a self-report used for the assessment of personality disorder traits, however, its psychometric characteristics have yet to be tested in community samples of adolescents. The main goal was to analyze the psychometric properties of the PDQ-4+ scores in a large sample of non-clinical adolescents (N = 1,443; M = 15.9 years; SD = 1.2). The PDQ-4+ scores showed adequate psychometric properties. Reliability of the subscales, incorporating a Likert-type 5-point response format, ranged from .62 to .85. The study of the internal structure at item level revealed that the PDQ-4+ subscales were essentially one-dimensional. Analysis of the internal structure at the subscale level by means of exploratory factor analysis and exploratory structural equation modeling yielded a possible three-dimensional solution. The PDQ-4+ subscales correlated moderately with emotional and behavioural variables measured by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. The results have clear implications for the understanding of maladaptive personality traits in adolescents.     

Feasibility,Acceptability, and Preliminary Outcomes of the Fortalezas Familiares Intervention for Latino Families Facing Maternal Depression

This pilot study examined the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary outcomes of a linguistically and culturally adapted intervention for immigrant Latina mothers with depression and their families. Fortalezas Familiares (Family Strengths) is a community‐based, 12‐week, multifamily group intervention that aims to increase communication about family processes leading up to and affected by the mother's depression, build child coping and efficacy, enhance parenting competence and skills, and promote cultural and social assets within the family. In terms of feasibility, of 16 families who enrolled and participated in the intervention, 13 families attended more than 90% of meetings and completed the intervention. Posttests reported positive changes following the intervention, including improved psychological functioning, increased family and marital support, and enhanced family functioning, as reported by mothers and other caregivers. Mothers also reported decreased conduct and hyperactivity problems among their children. Children reported positive changes in their psychological functioning and coping, parenting warmth and acceptance, and overall family functioning. Postintervention focus groups and surveys measuring acceptability revealed families' satisfaction with the intervention and suggested areas of improvement. We discuss similarities and differences in outcomes between the adapted intervention, Fortalezas Familiares, and the original intervention, Keeping Families Strong, and propose future areas of intervention adaptation and development.     

Psychophysiological responses to cooperation: The role of outcome and gender

Instances of sustained cooperative behaviour in humans can be considered as an adaptive strategy that enhances the probability of reaching a goal. This study investigates psychophysiological responses to cooperation in healthy subjects, while considering outcome and gender as potential moderators of these responses. Salivary cortisol levels (Csal), heart rate (HR), skin conductance level (SCL), nonspecific skin conductance responses (NSRs), and mood states were measured at different points before, during and after a Lego house‐building task in undergraduate men (n = 22) and women (n = 20). Once the task was finished, the experimenter informed the participants about the outcome obtained (positive or negative). Cooperation produces an increase in HR, SCL, and NSR responses. When the outcome is positive it produces a gradual diminution in Csal levels, but when the outcome is negative there is a significant increase in Csal levels after the task followed by a progressive decrease. Men with positive outcomes showed a lower area under curve (AUC) in Csal than women with a negative outcome. Men had more NSR responses in all periods other than the rest period. Several mood states are differently affected by the combined effect of outcome and gender. Our laboratory results can be generalized to other situations in which negotiation, mediation, and cooperative strategies are relevant for taking decisions and/or solving problems.     

The Influence of Approach and Avoidance Behavior on Visual Selective Attention

Recent findings indicate that enactment of approach behavior broadens the focus of perceptual attention. The aim of the present study was to examine how approach and avoidance behavior influence visual selective attention. To achieve this, the authors combined approach and avoidance manipulations with a visual precueing task (local vs. global cues preceding either local or global targets). The authors hypothesized that participants with an enactment of approach behavior would show faster attentional orienting with compatible cue-target-relations than in incompatible trials. The results support that enactment of approach behavior leads to faster attentional orienting in compatible trials compared with incompatible trials. Although participants showed significant attentional learning effects across blocks, learning was not enhanced by approach and avoidance manipulations.     

Extracting Intrinsic Functional Networks with Feature-Based Group Independent Component Analysis

There is increasing use of functional imaging data to understand the macro-connectome of the human brain. Of particular interest is the structure and function of intrinsic networks (regions exhibiting temporally coherent activity both at rest and while a task is being performed), which account for a significant portion of the variance in functional MRI data. While networks are typically estimated based on the temporal similarity between regions (based on temporal correlation, clustering methods, or independent component analysis [ICA]), some recent work has suggested that these intrinsic networks can be extracted from the inter-subject covariation among highly distilled features, such as amplitude maps reflecting regions modulated by a task or even coordinates extracted from large meta analytic studies. In this paper our goal was to explicitly compare the networks obtained from a first-level ICA (ICA on the spatio-temporal functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data) to those from a second-level ICA (i.e., ICA on computed features rather than on the first-level fMRI data). Convergent results from simulations, task-fMRI data, and rest-fMRI data show that the second-level analysis is slightly noisier than the first-level analysis but yields strikingly similar patterns of intrinsic networks (spatial correlations as high as 0.85 for task data and 0.65 for rest data, well above the empirical null) and also preserves the relationship of these networks with other variables such as age (for example, default mode network regions tended to show decreased low frequency power for first-level analyses and decreased loading parameters for second-level analyses). In addition, the best-estimated second-level results are those which are the most strongly reflected in the input feature. In summary, the use of feature-based ICA appears to be a valid tool for extracting intrinsic networks. We believe it will become a useful and important approach in the study of the macro-connectome, particularly in the context of data fusion.     

Struggling with reason

The purpose of this article is to suggest an interpretation of Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov as an advanced theological critique of practical reason. Dostoevsky deals with Kant's understanding of the relation between will and reason within morality already in his Notes from underground. He criticises Kant indirectly by proposing an alternative kind of imperative for human action where the will is regarded to be free in another sense than within Kantian theory. Dostoevsky develops this approach further in The Brothers Karamazov. The author of this article argues that Dostoevsky's critique of rationalism can be described as three different models of a struggle with reason. These three models are represented by the figures of the three brothers Karamazov and are analysed in relation to the question of the existence of God as it is dealt with in the novel.