The Potential Iatrogenic Effects of Formal vs. Informal Juvenile Justice System Processing: The Moderating Influence of Callous-Unemotional Traits

Previous research has indicated that adolescents who are formally processed by the juvenile justice system are at a higher risk of worse outcomes, most notably increased risk for subsequent offending and arrests. However, it is unclear whether this effect is due to the processing decision and subsequent involvement with the justice system or whether it is due to characteristics of the adolescents who are formally processed. Further, it is unclear whether formal processing increases the risk for future offending in all adolescents or whether its effects are more pronounced for certain adolescents. In the current study, we tested the predictions that formal processing upon first arrest would increase the risk for offending and rearrest and that this effect would remain even after accounting for key demographic and background variables. Further, we predicted that the adolescents’ level of CU traits would moderate this effect such that formal processing would only increase the risk of offending and rearrest among adolescents who had low CU traits. First-time male juvenile offenders (N = 1,216; M age = 15.12, SD = 1.29) across three geographically distinct sites were assessed at 6-month intervals for 36 months after their initial arrest. Inclusion was based on the adolescent’s offense characteristics, such that the offense resulted in significant discretion to either formally process the youth or divert the youth from the system. As predicted, formal processing increased risk of self-reported offending and official records of rearrests across the follow-up period. Importantly, this effect remained significant for rearrests, even after controlling for key demographic and background characteristics, such as the child’s self-reported lifetime history of delinquency provided at the time of arrest, neighborhood disorder, intelligence, ethnicity, impulse control, peer delinquency, parental education, and parental monitoring. Further, self-reported CU traits assessed immediately following arrest moderated this effect, such that formal processing increased the risk of offending, but only in adolescents low on CU traits. This latter finding has important policy implications in suggesting that the effects of formal processing may have been underestimated in past research for children lower on CU traits

Comparing the stress levels of inclusion teachers and non-inclusion teachers

The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not the practice of inclusion had a significant effect on the stress levels of inclusion teachers. Forty-seven elementary school teachers were compared across various teacher demographics. The hypothesis stated that the stress levels of inclusion teachers would be higher than the stress levels of regular education teachers based on the belief that inclusion teachers have a heavier workload. In previous studies, a heavier workload has been shown to be significantly related to higher stress levels. The Occupational Stress Inventory was administered in two schools in Southern New Jersey in January 1999. Scores were statistically analyzed using one way ANOVA\u27s and t tests. Results of this study indicated no significant differences when comparing the stress levels of inclusion teachers and non-inclusion teachers, however significant differences in stress levels were seen when teachers were compared by years of experience, age and level of education

Rhetorics of identity from Shakespeare to Milton

This thesis deals primarily with Renaissance tragedy and with Milton's Paradise Lost. It is structured around three main Sections each of which identifies a dominant theme in the drama/poetry of the period 1580-1670 and considers the way in which it is utilised in order to express or represent what was arguably the most pressing concern of the age - the concept of individual identity, or 'selfhood'. Section One takes as its theme 'death', or more specifically 'death scenes'. It considers the way in which the battle for what I have chosen to term 'directional control' in the death scenes of both playhouse and scaffold shapes the symbiotic relationship between the two, and can be viewed as a vital component in the rhetoric of identity which emerges from plays such as Shakespeare's Macbeth, Othello, Antony and Cleopatra, Webster's Duchess of Malfi, and scaffold texts of the period. Section Two deals with the remaining Shakespearean mature tragedies - Hamlet and King Lear - as well as with Marlowe's Dr Faustus. It takes as its focal point the viability - or otherwise - of the 'interiorised contexts' which such plays construct. This Section contends that these (relative) microcosmic interiors are, in fact, limited by the 'absolute' of death. The third and final Section of the thesis consequently addresses the implications, for the contextualised self, of removing this limiting factor. The text which lends itself most naturally to this is Paradise Lost, and Section Three concludes by placing Milton's epic alongside a small selection of contemporaneous poetry by Traherne

The Bidirectional Effects of Serious Conduct Problems, Anxiety, and Trauma Exposure: Implications for our Understanding of the Development of Callous-Unemotional Traits

The association of anxiety and trauma with childhood conduct problems has long been the focus of research, and more recently this area of research has become critical to understanding the development of callous-unemotional (CU) traits. Research in samples of children and adolescents has indicated that those elevated on both CU traits and anxiety seem to show more severe externalizing behaviors and are more likely to show histories of trauma. These findings have typically been interpreted as being indicative of a unique casual pathway to CU traits in those high on anxiety. However, an alternative explanation is that the higher rates of anxiety and trauma exposure in some youth with elevated CU traits is largely due to their higher levels of conduct problems. The current study recruited a sample of 1,216 justice-involved adolescents (M age = 15.28, SD = 1.28) from three distinct regions of the United States and were assessed at 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, 24 months, 30 months, 36 months, 48 months, and 60 months. Using multi-panel cross-lagged and longitudinal mediation analyses, we find evidence that anxiety and victimization are largely the consequence of an adolescent’s antisocial and aggressive behavior and that these externalizing problems explain the link between CU traits and increases in future anxiety and victimization. These results are consistent with a model suggesting that higher levels of externalizing behaviors result in higher levels of anxiety and victimization. Rather than being an indicator of etiological differences between primary and secondary CU variants, the presence of anxiety appears to be a marker of the severity of conduct problems in youth with CU traits. The outcomes of this study inform both theoretical work regarding the development of CU traits and applied work, such as interventions for children with serious conduct problems and CU traits

Basal Cell Carcinoma in Type 2 Segmental Darier's Disease

Background. Darier's disease (DD), also known as Keratosis Follicularis or Darier-White disease, is a rare disorder of keratinization. DD can present as a generalized autosomal dominant condition as well as a localized or segmental postzygotic condition (Vázquez et al., 2002). Clinical features of DD include greasy, warty papules and plaques on seborrheic areas, dystrophic nails, palmo-plantar pits, and papules on the dorsum of the hands and feet. Objective. We report a case of basal cell carcinoma developing in a patient with type 2 segmental DD. Conclusion. According to the current literature, Type 2 segmental disease is a rare presentation of Darier's disease with only 8 previous cases reported to date. In addition, nonmelanoma skin cancer (NMSC) arising from DD is rarely reported; however, there may be an association between DD and risk of carcinogenesis

Behavioural responses to automatic enrolment in workplace pension schemes

In October 2012, the United Kingdom adopted nation-wide automatic enrolment into workplace pension schemes. Automatic enrolment on the current scale is a major undertaking but it is also an untested policy and it is important that we understand how individuals are adapting to these radical changes in pension provision. There is currently a lack of research into the dynamic decision-making processes that lie behind some individuals’ deviation from workplace pension scheme default settings. This exploratory study investigates the importance of financial planning, social relations, and the role of the employer to default adherence and deviation. The embedded case study comprises qualitative interviews with 25 middle-income employees of a large UK utility company. Participants were selected on the basis of socio-economic similarity but had variable behavioural responses to the default settings of their workplace pension scheme. The study uncovered different motives underpinning individuals’ reaction to membership defaults, contribution defaults, and investment fund defaults. Continued membership following automatic enrolment was driven by social pressures. Subsequent to enrolment, individuals tried to achieve a balance between current expenditure and saving for retirement. Property ownership and mortgage debt redemption were prioritised over additional pension scheme investment. The life-stage of the individual influenced how they reacted to the contribution default settings - default adherence appeared to be linked to unsettled personal lives and career insecurity. Motives for increasing contributions were household formation, parental ageing, and relationship breakdown. Saving strategies were influenced by parental accumulation of retirement assets and parental financial literacy. Employer-matching contributions were implicated in participants’ willingness to increase pension contributions beyond the minimum default; investment in share option schemes was offered as justification for limiting contributions to the maximum match. Employer endorsement effects, driven by trust in the employer’s intentions, were strongly implicated in fund default adherence and in investment diversification strategies: participants pointed to the employer’s promotion of the pension scheme and employer-provided financial seminars. Advice from older colleagues was also cited as influential in directing retirement savings behaviour. The research concludes that the employment context is crucial to understanding how middle-income employees react to the default settings in their workplace pension scheme

An Examination of the Evidence Base for Function-Based Interventions for Students with Emotional and/or Behavioral Disorders Attending Middle and High Schools

This is the publisher's version, also found here: http://cec.metapress.com/content/1148w42712524u44/?p=f5b6879fc6f54654a233e1f54366335f&pi=3The authors field-tested the core quality indicators and standards for evidence-based practices for single-case design studies developed by Homer and colleagues (2005) by applying them to the literature exploring functional assessment-based interventions conducted with secondary-age students with emotional and/or behavioral disorders (EBD). First, we evaluated this knowledge base by applying the indicators to determine if the studies identified (n = 12) were of acceptable methodological quality. Second, we analyzed studies meeting the recommended quality indicators to determine whether function-based interventions with students with EBD might be considered an evidence-based practice. Results reveal that only 1 study addressed all proposed quality indicators, suggesting that function-based interventions are not yet an evidence-based practice for this population per these indicators and standards. Limitations and recommendations are posed