Female Fire-Setters: Gender-Associated Psychological and Psychopathological Features

'Interesting' or 'boring': Modifying the implicit association task to measure implicit fire interest in an adolescent community sample

The efficacy of explicit measures in assessing fire interest is often compromised by social desirability biases, presenting a challenge for early intervention programs aimed at preventing firesetting behaviour. The current study aimed to validate a novel fire interest Implicit Association Task (IAT), as a more reliable measure of implicit fire interest in adolescents. An Australian community adolescent sample of 85 participants, aged 10-17 (M = 13.65, SD = 1.81), completed a series of questionnaires, and the novel fire interest IAT. Based on self-reports, participants were classified as firelighters (n = 52) or non-firelighters (n = 33). IAT outcomes revealed an inclination towards associating "fire" with "interesting." Notably, firelighters, compared to non-firelighters, performed significantly quicker during hypothesis-consistent trials of the IAT where fire-images were paired with interesting-words. Moreover, a weak correlation emerged between the speed of responses in these hypothesis-consistent IAT trials and self-reported fire interest. This investigation is one of the few that examined the efficacy of implicit measures of fire interest and is the first to do so using a modified IAT. With continued refinement, the fire interest IAT could be successfully used to assist with early intervention programs aimed at preventing child firesetting behaviour. PsychINFO Code: 3230.

Bringing Light Into the Dark: Associations of Fire Interest and Fire Setting With the Dark Tetrad

Fire setting is a significant problem for society, costing many human lives and causing great property damage. One important risk factor of fire setting observed in forensic samples is fire interest. However, less is known about the relationship of fire interest and fire setting to other variables such as personality traits in subclinical samples. In this study, we observed the relationship of potentially important personality traits with fire interest and fire setting in a sample of N = 222 students. In addition to zero-order correlations, we calculated path models and a logistic regression including all predictor variables. From the Dark Tetrad, consisting of psychopathy, narcissism, Machiavellianism, and three facets of sadism, psychopathy, and physical sadism were found to be associated with fire interest and fire setting. Furthermore, vicarious sadism was associated with fire interest. The other Dark Tetrad traits and four sensation seeking facets did not substantially add to the predictions. This confirms the results of previous studies with clinical and forensic samples with psychopathy and sadism as relevant predictors for fire interest and fire setting. Our results also provide evidence for viewing sadism as the multidimensional construct discriminating between vicarious and other forms of sadism, for the distinction of psychopathy and Machiavellianism, and for the Dark Tetrad being linked to object related violence.

Identification of 'Voodoo': an emerging substance of abuse in Egypt

BACKGROUND

'Voodoo' is a new substance of abuse that recently spread among youth in Egypt. It has numerous potentially dangerous effects on humans. However, to date the composition of the main constituents of this compound is unknown.

PURPOSE

We sought to identify the active components of this unknown substance"voodoo".

METHODS

Three samples were collected and analysed by high-performance liquid chromatography with photodiode array detector (HPLC-PAD), gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS), and ultra-performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) using targeted multiple reaction monitoring (MRM).

RESULTS

HPLC-PAD analysis showed that samples 1 and 2 had some common major peaks, the same retention time, and similar spectra, whereas sample 3 showed different peaks. GC/MS analysis revealed the presence of various putatively identified bioactive compounds, including quinazolines, morphinan alkaloid, cannabinoids, penitrem A, and the well-known synthetic cannabinoid FUB-AMB (methyl(2S)-2-{[1-[(4-fluorophenyl)methyl]indazole-3-carbonyl]amino}-3 methylbutanoate). UPLC-MS/MS analysis revealed the presence of common compounds such as tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), amphetamine, 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine, tramadol, and oxazepam.

CONCLUSION

We concluded that Voodoo is a mixture of substances of abuse at varying concentrations.