The relationship of punishment- and victim-based moral orientation to prosocial, externalizing, and norm trespassing behaviour in delinquent and non-delinquent adolescents:a validation study of the Moral Orientation Measure

This study examined the reliability and validity of the Moral Orientation Measure (MOM), which was administered to 75 juvenile delinquents and 579 non-delinquent adolescents from lower socio-economic and educational backgrounds. Confirmatory factor analysis of a two-factor model, with punishment- and victim-based moral orientation as factors, showed an adequate fit to the data, indicating construct validity of the MOM. Moderate associations between moral orientation and sociomoral reasoning, as well as empathy, were also considered indicative of construct validity. Additional evidence for construct validity was found in only small associations between moral orientation and social desirability and verbal intelligence. Stronger victim-based orientation proved to be associated with less norm trespassing behaviour in non-delinquent adolescents and more prosocial behaviour in juvenile delinquents, which was considered indicative of concurrent validity. The results of this study strengthen the case for the MOM as a reliable and valid instrument to assess moral development in adolescents at risk of behavioural maladjustment, showing that moral orientation is differently associated with morally relevant behaviour in delinquent and non-delinquent adolescents

Ophthalmology

OBJECTIVE: In the current study we aimed to identify metabolites associated with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) by performing the largest metabolome association analysis in AMD to date. In addition, we aimed to determine the effect of AMD-associated genetic variants on metabolite levels, and aimed to investigate associations between the identified metabolites and activity of the complement system, one of the main AMD-associated disease pathways. DESIGN: Case-control assocation analysis of metabolomics data. SUBJECTS: 2,267 AMD cases and 4,266 controls from five European cohorts. METHODS: Metabolomics was performed using a high-throughput H-NMR metabolomics platform, which allows the quantification of 146 metabolite measurements and 79 derivative values. Metabolome-AMD associations were studied using univariate logistic regression analyses. The effect of 52 AMD-associated genetic variants on the identified metabolites was investigated using linear regression. In addition, associations between the identified metabolites and activity of the complement pathway (defined by the C3d/C3 ratio) were investigated using linear regression. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Metabolites associated with AMD RESULTS: We identified 60 metabolites that were significantly associated with AMD, including increased levels of large and extra-large HDL subclasses and decreased levels of VLDL, amino acids and citrate. Out of 52 AMD-associated genetic variants, seven variants were significantly associated with 34 of the identified metabolites. The strongest associations were identified for genetic variants located in or near genes involved in lipid metabolism (ABCA1, CETP, APOE, LIPC) with metabolites belonging to the large and extra-large HDL subclasses. In addition, 57 out of 60 metabolites were significantly associated with complement activation levels, and these associations were independent of AMD status. Increased large and extra-large HDL levels and decreased VLDL and amino acid levels were associated with increased complement activation. CONCLUSIONS: Lipoprotein levels were associated with AMD-associated genetic variants, while decreased essential amino acids may point to nutritional deficiencies in AMD. We observed strong associations between the vast majority of the AMD-associated metabolites and systemic complement activation levels, independent of AMD status. This may indicate biological interactions between the main AMD disease pathways, and suggests that multiple pathways may need to be targeted simultaneously for successful treatment of AMD

Determinants of parental participation in Family-centered Care in Juvenile Justice Institutions

New methods for child psychiatric diagnosis and treatment outcome evaluatio

Family-centered care in juvenile justice institutions: a mixed-methods study protocol

BACKGROUND: Treatment and rehabilitation interventions in juvenile justice institutions aim to prevent criminal reoffending by adolescents and to enhance their prospects of successful social reintegration. There is evidence that these goals are best achieved when the institution adopts a family-centered approach, involving the parents of the adolescents. The Academic Workplace Forensic Care for Youth has developed two programs for family-centered care for youth detained in groups for short-term and long-term stay, respectively. OBJECTIVE: The overall aim of our study is to evaluate the family-centered care program in the first two years after the first steps of its implementation in short-term stay groups of two juvenile justice institutions in the Netherlands. The current paper discusses our study design. METHODS: Based on a quantitative pilot study, we opted for a study with an explanatory sequential mixed methods design. This pilot is considered the first stage of our study. The second stage of our study includes concurrent quantitative and qualitative approaches. The quantitative part of our study is a pre-post quasi-experimental comparison of family-centered care with usual care in short-term stay groups. The qualitative part of our study involves in-depth interviews with adolescents, parents, and group workers to elaborate on the preceding quantitative pilot study and to help interpret the outcomes of the quasi-experimental quantitative part of the study. RESULTS: We believe that our study will result in the following findings. In the quantitative comparison of usual care with family-centered care, we assume that in the latter group, parents will be more involved with their child and with the institution, and that parents and adolescents will be more motivated to take part in therapy. In addition, we expect family-centered care to improve family interactions, to decrease parenting stress, and to reduce problem behavior among the adolescents. Finally, we assume that adolescents, parents, and the staff of the institutions will be more satisfied with family-centered care than with usual care. In the qualitative part of our study, we will identify the needs and expectations in family-centered care as well as factors influencing parental participation. Insight in these factors will help to further improve our program of family-centered care and its implementation in practice. Our study results will be published over the coming years. CONCLUSIONS: A juvenile justice institution is a difficult setting to evaluate care programs. A combination of practice-based research methods is needed to address all major implementation issues. The study described here takes on the challenge by means of practice-based research. We expect the results of our study to contribute to the improvement of care for adolescents detained in juvenile justice institutions, and for their families

Parental Participation in Juvenile Justice Institutions: Parents' Perspectives on Facilitating and Hindering Factors

Background: Participation of parents during their adolescent's detention is important for achieving positive treatment outcomes for youths and their families. To improve parental participation, insight in facilitating or hindering factors is necessary. To this end, we studied the perspectives of parents of adolescents detained in two juvenile justice institutions in the Netherlands.Methods: Data were collected from 19 purposefully selected parents through semi-structured interviewing. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and imported into ATLAS.ti where data were coded and analyzed.Results: Parental participation is influenced by a variety of factors that could be categorized based on the following themes: (1) practical facilitating or obstructing factors; (2) parentrelated emotional and mental factors; and (3) factors concerning issues of the parentadolescent relationship.Discussion: Insight into the factors which facilitate and obstruct participation might help JJI staff understand differences in parental participation. This may enable them to tailor solutions which would improve parental participation during their adolescent's detention.New methods for child psychiatric diagnosis and treatment outcome evaluatio