Risk factors for dating violence versus cohabiting violence : results from the third generation of the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development

BACKGROUND: Dating violence is an important problem. Evidence suggests that women are more likely to perpetrate dating violence. AIMS: The present study investigates the prevalence of dating violence compared with cohabiting violence in a community sample of men and women and assesses to what extent child and adolescent explanatory factors predict this behaviour. A secondary aim is to construct a risk score for dating violence based on the strongest risk factors. METHODS: The Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development is a prospective longitudinal survey of 411 men (generation 2) born in the 1950s in an inner London area. Most recently, their sons and daughters [generation 3 (G3)] have been interviewed regarding their perpetration of dating and cohabiting violence, utilising the Conflict Tactics Scale. Risk factors were measured in four domains (family, parental, socio-economic and individual). RESULTS: A larger proportion of women than men perpetrated at least one act of violence towards their dating partner (36.4 vs 21.7%). There was a similar pattern for cohabiting violence (39.6 vs 21.4%). A number of risk factors were significantly associated with the perpetration of dating violence. For G3 women, these included a convicted father, parental conflict, large family size and poor housing. For G3 men, these included having a young father or mother, separation from the father before age 16, early school leaving, frequent truancy and having a criminal conviction. A risk score for both men and women, based on 10 risk factors, significantly predicted dating violence. CONCLUSION: Risk factors from four domains were important in predicting dating violence, but they were different for G3 men and women. It may be important to consider different risk factors and different risk assessments for male compared with female perpetration of dating violence. Early identification and interventions are recommended

School bullying and drug use later in life: A meta-analytic investigation.

The main aim of this article is to investigate whether there is a significant long-term association between bullying at school and drug use later in life. A meta-analysis is presented based on results from major prospective longitudinal studies with available unadjusted and adjusted effect sizes. Results are based on thorough systematic searches of the literature across 19 databases and 63 journals. The unadjusted summary effect size suggests that youth who bully are at least twice as likely compared with noninvolved students to use drugs later in life (OR = 2.22, 95% CI: 1.60-3.07). The adjusted summary effect size is markedly reduced to an OR of 1.41 (95% CI: 1.20-1.66) suggesting that a lot of variation in the final model is explained by other contributing factors, while bullying has a significant yet small effect over and above the contribution of these factors. Contributing factors include childhood risks falling within the individual, family, and school domains that are significantly associated with both the predictor and the outcome. It is concluded that school bullying, drug use, and other problem behaviors are intercorrelated; thus, highlighting the need to create a meaningful holistic framework for the prevention of drug problems and other associated mental, emotional, and behavioral maladies. Implications for policy and practice arising from these findings are discussed.This study was supported by the British Academy and the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention. The authors declare no conflict of interest with these funding bodies. No contractual constraints on publishing have been imposed by the funders. The authors have no connection with the tobacco, alcohol, pharmaceutical or gaming industries and none of the above industries have been involved in funding of this study.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the APA via http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/spq000012

Physical aggression and attentional bias to angry faces: An event related potential study

This study aimed to identify the neural correlates of aggression-related attentional selectivity to angry faces in physical aggression. Physical aggression in a non-clinical sample of young men (N = 36) was measured using an aggression questionnaire. Visual attentional bias to angry faces was assessed using a dot-probe task during which angry and neutral faces were presented simultaneously, and EEG was recorded. Median split and correlational analyses were conducted to assess the relationship between physical aggression and attentional bias. Behavioural results indicated that higher levels of physical aggression were associated with greater attentional bias to angry faces. ERP results revealed an interaction where males with higher physical aggression had undifferentiated P3 amplitudes to angry and neutral trials, whereas low physical aggression males exhibited greater P3 amplitude to angry than to neutral trials (effect of probe congruency). Increased levels of physical aggression were also significantly correlated with increased P3 amplitude to probes replacing neutral faces, relative to angry faces. It was concluded that the aggressive males selectively attend to angry faces, and that attentional bias is characterized by undifferentiated P3 amplitude. We propose that this results from an inferior ability to downregulate competing angry face distractors when responding to probes replacing neutral faces (as reflected by the P3 response). These findings indicate that attentional bias to angry faces in individuals with higher physical aggression is characterized by a distinctive ERP signature; this could inform the development of therapeutic interventions seeking to reduce aggression

The intersections of drug use continuity with nonviolent offending and involvement in violence over the life course : findings from the Cambridge study in delinquent development

While there is much research on the continuity of drug use over the life course, these studies tend not to consider the intersections of drug use continuity with offending in general and violence in particular. The current study uses data from 411 South London males who were participants in the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development to investigate these associations from adolescence to age 50. Results suggest that the prevalence of drug use continuity (e.g., drug use in adolescence and adulthood) is rather high (45.4%) and that variability in drug use is differentially related to nonviolent offending and involvement in violence specifically. In this vein, the most pronounced relationship surrounding differential involvement in drug use is the association between drug use continuity and nonviolent offending and violence. Individual and environmental risk factors are also relevant predictors of nonviolent offending and violence. Study limitations and directions for future research are also discussed