Gender differences and correlates of extreme dieting behaviours in US adolescents.

This article examined correlates of and gender differences in extreme dieting behaviours among 15,425 US adolescents from the 2011 Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Suicidal thoughts and plans and binge drinking were related to extreme dieting behaviours in females, but not in males. Suicide attempts, daily smoking and marijuana use were related to extreme dieting behaviours in males, but not females. Results suggest extreme dieting behaviours are associated with a range of negative psychosocial factors and substance use behaviours, and that these differ for boys and girls. Additional research is required to elucidate these relationships, and these results provide a focus for future research, prevention and intervention efforts

Criminal social identity and suicide ideation among Pakistani young prisoners.

© Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Purpose: Suicidal behaviour is a common in prisoners, yet little is known about the factors that may protect against thoughts of ending one's life. The purpose of this paper is to specify and test a structural model to examine the relationship between three criminal social identity (CSI) dimensions (in-group affect, in-group ties, and cognitive centrality) and suicide ideation while controlling for period of confinement, age, criminal friends, and offense type (violent vs non-violent). Design/methodology/approach: Participants were 415 male juvenile offenders incarcerated in prisons in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pakistan. A structural model was specified and tested using Mplus to examine the relationships between the three factors of CSI and suicidal thoughts, while controlling for age, offender type, period of confinement, and substance dependence. Findings: The model provided an adequate fit for the data, explaining 22 per cent of variance in suicidal thoughts. In-group affect (the level of personal bonding with other criminals) was found to exert a strong protective effect against suicide ideation. Originality/value: The research contributes important information on suicide ideation in Pakistan, an Islamic country in which suicide is considered a sin and subsequently a criminal offence. Results indicate that Juvenile offenders' sense of shared identity may help to prevent the development of thoughts of death by suicide. Consequently, separating and isolating young prisoners may be ill advised

Latent classes of delinquent behaviour associated with criminal social identity among juvenile offenders in Pakistan

© Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the number and nature of latent classes of delinquency that exist among male juvenile offenders incarcerated in prisons in Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach – The sample consisted of 415 young male offenders incarcerated in prisons in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) Pakistan. Latent class analysis was employed to determine the number and nature of delinquency latent classes. Multinomial logistic regression was used to estimate the associations between latent classes and the three factors of criminal social identity (cognitive centrality, in-group affect, and in-group ties) whilst controlling for criminal friends, period of confinement, addiction, age, and location. Findings – The best fitting latent class model was a three-class solution. The classes were labelled: “minor delinquents” (the baseline/normative class; Class 3), “major delinquents” (Class 1), and “moderate delinquents” (Class 2). Class membership was predicted by differing external variables. Specifically, Class 1 membership was related to having more criminal friends; while Class 2 membership was related to lower levels of in-group affect and higher levels of in-group ties. Practical implications – Findings are discussed in relation to refining current taxonomic arguments regarding the structure of delinquency and implications for prevention of juvenile delinquent behaviour. Originality/value – First, most previous studies have focused on school children, whereas, this paper focuses on incarcerated juvenile offenders. Second, this research includes delinquents from Pakistan, whereas, most previous research has examined delinquent behaviour in western cultures

Psychopathy, Gang membership, And moral disengagement among juvenile offenders

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of psychopathy factors and gang membership on moral disengagement while controlling for age, ethnicity, having run away from home, family member and/or friend arrests, substance misuse, parental physical fights, violence exposure (victimization and witnessing), and maternal warmth and hostility. Design/methodology/approach – The research is based on data collected from serious juvenile offenders (n=769) as part of the Pathways to Desistance Study. Findings – Six independent variables made a unique statistically significant contribution to the model: gang membership, age, gender, violence exposure, and psychopathy Factors 1 and 2. Psychopathy Factor 1 was the strongest predictor of moral disengagement. Originality/value – Results indicate that youth with heightened psychopathic traits make greater use of strategies to rationalize and justify their harmful behaviour against others. Implications in relation to theory and previous studies are discussed

Validation of the Urdu version of the Measure of Criminal Social Identity within a sample of Pakistani incarcerated delinquents

Purpose: The aim was to examine the dimensionality, composite reliability, and incremental validity of the Measure of Criminal Social Identity (MCSI) in a sample of Pakistani incarcerated delinquents (N = 315) following translation of the measure into Urdu. Design/methodology/approach: Four alternative factor models, with uncorrelated measurement error terms, were specified and tested using confirmatory factor analysis and bifactor modelling techniques. Findings: Results indicated that a three factor model provided a better fit to the data than the alternative models tested. The reliability of the scale was established using composite reliability. Furthermore, structural equation modelling revealed that the three MCSI factors were differentially related with external variables, indicating that the MCSI measures substantially different domains. Implications: Implications for theory and future research are discussed. Originality/Value: The results add valuable evidence as to the cross-cultural applicability of the MCSI

Therapeutic targeting of cathepsin C::from pathophysiology to treatment

Cathepsin C (CatC) is a highly conserved tetrameric lysosomal cysteine dipeptidyl aminopeptidase. The best characterized physiological function of CatC is the activation of pro-inflammatory granule-associated serine proteases. These proteases are synthesized as inactive zymogens containing an N-terminal pro-dipeptide, which maintains the zymogen in its inactive conformation and prevents premature activation, which is potentially toxic to the cell. The activation of serine protease zymogens occurs through cleavage of the N-terminal dipeptide by CatC during cell maturation in the bone marrow. In vivo data suggest that pharmacological inhibition of pro-inflammatory serine proteases would suppress or attenuate deleterious effects of inflammatory/auto-immune disorders mediated by these proteases. The pathological deficiency in CatC is associated with Papillon-Lefèvre syndrome. The patients however do not present marked immunodeficiency despite the absence of active serine proteases in immune defense cells. Hence, the transitory pharmacological blockade of CatC activity in the precursor cells of the bone marrow may represent an attractive therapeutic strategy to regulate activity of serine proteases in inflammatory and immunologic conditions. A variety of CatC inhibitors have been developed both by pharmaceutical companies and academic investigators, some of which are currently being employed and evaluated in preclinical/clinical trials