Do the Components of Attenuated Positive Symptoms Truly Represent One Construct?

BACKGROUND AND HYPOTHESES

Psychosis-risk inventories, like the Structured Interview for Psychosis-Risk Syndromes (SIPS), utilize symptom components and coalesce the information into a single-severity rating. These components include frequency, duration, in-the-moment conviction, retrospective insight, distress, and effect on social/role functioning. While combining components distills a great deal of important information into one practical symptom rating, this approach may mask important details of the greater clinical picture.

STUDY DESIGN

Individuals at clinical high risk for psychosis (n = 115) were assessed with the SIPS Score Separable Components (SSSC) scale, created to accompany the SIPS positive items by dividing each item into the 7 components identified above. The latent structure of the SSSC was identified with an exploratory factor analysis (EFA). The factors were followed up with validation analyses including hypothesized cognitive, functioning, and symptom measures. Finally, clinical utility analyses were conducted to understand relationships between psychosis risk and common comorbidities.

STUDY RESULTS

EFA revealed that the SSSC had 3 interpretable factors with the appropriate fit (rmsr = 0.018, TLI = 0.921): Conviction (in-the-moment conviction, retrospective insight), Distress-Impairment (distress, social/role functioning), and Frequency/Duration (frequency, duration). Conviction was minimally valid, Distress-Impairment had excellent validity, and Frequency/Duration was not related to any of the candidate validators. Conviction significantly predicted elevated psychosis risk. Distress-Impairment was related to common comorbid symptoms. Notably, the factors associated more strongly with clinical features than the traditional SIPS scores.

CONCLUSIONS

The SSSC offers a supplemental approach to single-severity ratings, providing useful clinical insight, mechanistic understanding, and the potential for better capturing heterogeneity in this population.

Mild traumatic brain injury increases engagement in criminal behaviour 10 years later: a case-control study

Introduction

Sustaining a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) has been linked to increased criminal behaviour in later life. However, previous studies have not controlled for the number of injuries, gender, social deprivation, impact of past behaviour, or link to offence type. This study aims to determine if people who experienced a single or multiple mTBI have increased risk of criminal behaviour 10 years post-injury than matched orthopaedic controls.

Methods

This was a case control study of adults (aged >16 years) who experienced a medically diagnosed mTBI and controls who experienced a lower limb fracture (with no TBI) over a 12-month period (01/01/2003-31/12/2003). Participants were identified within Stats New Zealand's Integrated Data Infrastructure (national database including health and justice records). Participants who experienced a subsequent TBI (post-2003), who were not resident in New Zealand, and who died by 2013 were excluded. Case and controls were matched by age, sex, ethnicity, deprivation index and pre-injury criminal history.

Results

The study included N = 6,606 mTBI cases and N = 15,771 matched trauma controls. In the 10 years after injury, people experiencing a single mTBI had significantly higher numbers of violent charges (0.26 versus 0.21, p < 0.01) and violent convictions (0.16 versus 0.13, p < 0.05) but not for all court charges and convictions. Analysis of those with a history of prior mTBIs yielded larger effects, with significantly higher numbers of violent charges (0.57 versus 0.24, p < 0.05) and violent convictions (0.34 versus 0.14, p < 0.05). For males, the single mTBI case group had a significantly higher number of violent charges (0.40 versus 0.31, p < 0.05) and violent convictions (0.24 versus 0.20, p < 0.05) but this was not observed for females or all offence types.

Discussion

Experiencing multiple mTBIs over the lifetime increases the number of subsequent violence-related charges and convictions but not for all offence types in males but not for females. These findings highlight the need for improved recognition and treatment of mTBI to prevent future engagement in antisocial behaviour.

The Longitudinal Impact of Arrest, Criminal Conviction, and Incarceration on Smoking Classes

Background

Previous research identifies three to six smoking classes over the life course. This study expands on earlier work about the impact of getting arrested in early adulthood on individuals' smoking classes, by including additional, more serious measures of justice system involvement (JSI), specifically criminal conviction and incarceration. Family processes were examined as secondary outcomes.

Method

Data from seventeen waves (1997-2015) of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth were analyzed via group-based trajectory modeling (GBTM), multinomial logistic regression, and latent transition analyses (LTA). Smoking behavior through age 36 is examined. Marital status, parenthood, juvenile smoking, juvenile arrest, and prior crime victimization experiences were also included in the models.

Results

Seven smoking classes were revealed: two low- or non-smoking classes; two decreasing classes; and three "problem" smoking (e.g., increasing, or chronic) classes. All JSI types increased the likelihood of being in a smoking class rather than a non-smoking class. Arrest and conviction had larger odds ratios than the most severe form of JSI-incarceration-with respect to respondents' likelihood of being in an increasing or chronic smoking class. Juvenile smoking was the most robust predictor of smoking in adulthood.

Conclusion

Involvement with the justice system in all forms remains a negative health factor that increases smoking. While not typically a goal of criminal justice officials, attention should be paid to this unintended consequence of involvement with the justice system-increased smoking-given smoking's connection to serious illnesses such as cancer. As juvenile smoking is a strong risk factor for adult smoking, smoking prevention and cessation programs should start with youth; and be part of the offerings to individuals ensnared in the justice system at all levels.

The sense of the past: Theoretical and clinical aspects of deferred action

Psychoanalysis has made a singular contribution to our understanding of how we live with the past; most importantly, the concept of "deferred action" (it will become clear why I wish to retain the English translation) challenges the association of causality with a particular temporal direction, that is, the earlier-to-later direction of causal efficacy. The purpose of this paper is to explore the implications of "backwards causation" (as it were) based on an application of the theory of object-use to the problem of memory. I begin with some introductory comments on Winnicott's theory of object-use, before presenting clinical observations on a patient's emerging sense of the past. In the theoretical discussion that follows, I consider the problem of memory in light of the clinical example. A discussion of the continued importance of "deferred action" is presented together with the introduction of the concept of "reclamation" as a type of re-descriptive memory.

Prevalence of probable attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in inmates and its relationship with recidivism

The aim of the current study was to determine the prevalence of probable attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in prisoners and to assess the relationship between ADHD and recidivism. We studied 356 inmates, who were evaluated using the Wender Utah Rating Scale and Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale. Type of crime and other crime-related data were compared between inmates with and without ADHD. The group with probable ADHD had a higher average number of convictions compared to the group without ADHD. The probable ADHD group also demonstrated higher incidence of extortion crime, drug trade, disciplinary action at school, and military service than the group without ADHD. Linear regression analysis revealed that the presence of probable ADHD was effective on the number of convictions. The findings of our study support that the presence of probable ADHD carries a potential risk of being prone to certain crimes and demonstrate a correlation between the presence of probable ADHD and early involvement in crime and the number of convictions.

Vocabularies of social influence: Managing the moral accountability of influencing another

While there are many definitions and conceptual accounts of 'persuasion' and other forms of social influence, social scientists lack empirical insight into how and when people actually use terms like 'persuade', 'convince', 'change somebody's mind' - what we call the vocabularies of social influence - in actual social interaction. We collected instances of the spontaneous use of these and other social influence terms (such as 'schmoozing' and 'hoodwinking') in face-to-face and telephone conversations across multiple domestic and institutional settings. The recorded data were transcribed and analysed using discursive psychology and conversation analysis with a focus on the actions accomplished in and through the use of social influence terms. We found that when speakers use 'persuading' - but not 'convincing' or 'changing somebody's mind' - it is in the service of orienting to the moral accountability of influencing others. The specificity with which social actors deploy these terms demonstrates the continued importance of developing our understandings of the meaning of words - especially psychological ones - via their vernacular use by ordinary people in the first instance, rather than have psychologists reify, operationalize, and build an architecture for social psychology without paying attention to what people actually do with the 'psychological thesaurus'.

Offenders convicted of child sexual exploitation material offences: characteristics of offenders and an exploration of judicial censure

Research on the discernments of child sexual exploitation material (CSEM), particularly delivered by judicial officers, is limited. Sentencing remarks can disseminate formal messages about the offender's character while censuring crime. This study aimed to: obtain a deeper understanding on the characteristics of CSEM offenders and explore the censure sentencing judiciary impart. An exploratory content analysis conducted on sentencing remarks of 29 offenders across a 10-year period in Australia found all offenders were male, mostly middle-aged, with diverse employment and education. Most possessed and/or accessed CSEM involving: children under three and the most severe category (sadism/bestiality). Characteristics and censure involved: offender's motivations and explanations for offending (sub-themes included poor mental health and substance abuse, downplay or denial, and addiction); CSEM offences are not victimless crimes; and disparities in the offender's public versus private life. This study's findings are valuable for law, psychology and social work disciplines across Australia and internationally.

[Depression and associated factors: case of Cotonou civil prison]

INTRODUCTION

Living conditions in detention are particularly hard in sub-Saharan African countries. These conditions cause psychiatric illnesses, including depression. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of major depressive disorders and to identify the associated factors in a sample of the prison population in the city of Cotonou.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study in a penitentiary institution was conducted with 208 inmates. The data were collected during individual interviews conducted using a structured questionnaire. Depression was assessed using the Hamilton scale.

RESULTS

The detainees interviewed were mostly men (86.5%) and in pre-trial detention (64.4%). The prevalence of depression was 32.2%. Depression was more prevalent among males, those with low education, those who had previously been convicted, and inmates who reported experiencing abuse within the prison.

CONCLUSION

More attention should be given to the screening and management of inmate mental health issues.

Factors Predicting Conviction in Stranger Rape Cases

Background: Despite there being no legal distinction between different types of rapes (e.g., those committed by strangers to the victim versus those committed by perpetrators known to the victim), stereotypical beliefs about rape have meant that these can be treated differently by the justice system. The aim is to explore the factors that predict juries' decisions to convict or acquit in stranger rape cases. Methods: We measured the importance of a range of 20 perpetrator-, victim-, and offense-related factors in predicting outcomes for 394 stranger rape cases tried by a jury. A four-stage analytic process was employed: (a) Kendall's tau-b measured intercorrelations among the factors (predictors); (b) Chi-square and Welch t-tests measured associations between factors and verdicts; (c) binary logistic regression measured the power of factors in predicting verdicts; and (d) Stein's formula was used to cross-validate the model. Results: Jury verdicts were predicted by five offense-related factors and one victim-related factor. None of the perpetrator-related factors were significant predictors of convictions for stranger rape. Conclusion: The findings have potential implications for victims of stranger rape, as well as prosecution and courtroom policy. We show that if a perpetrator is identified and charged, the likelihood of securing a conviction by a jury is high for victims of stranger rape. We suggest that prosecutors could gather as much information as possible from victims about the factors found to be of importance to juries, and judges could instruct juries on assumptions about the characteristics of the offense in order to challenge incorrect beliefs and stereotypes. Ultimately, this could be used to encourage victims of stranger rape to report and testify in court.

The role of conviction and narrative in decision-making under radical uncertainty

We propose conviction narrative theory (CNT) to broaden decision-making theory in order to better understand and analyse how subjectively means-end rational actors cope in contexts in which the traditional assumptions in decision-making models fail to hold. Conviction narratives enable actors to draw on their beliefs, causal models, and rules of thumb to identify opportunities worth acting on, to simulate the future outcome of their actions, and to feel sufficiently convinced to act. The framework focuses on how narrative and emotion combine to allow actors to deliberate and to select actions that they think will produce the outcomes they desire. It specifies connections between particular emotions and deliberative thought, hypothesising that approach and avoidance emotions evoked during narrative simulation play a crucial role. Two mental states, Divided and Integrated, in which narratives can be formed or updated, are introduced and used to explain some familiar problems that traditional models cannot.

The influence of medical and behavioral evidence on conviction rates in cases of child sexual abuse

Child sexual abuse cases have one of the lowest conviction rates across all charges. While research has investigated the impact of attitudes and beliefs in judicial decision makers, little is known about the influence of medical evidence. The aim of this study was to examine how the presence or absence of evidence impacts on conviction. A sample of 113 child sexual abuse cases from Australia were coded for the types of evidence that were presented as well as other relevant descriptive data. The most significant predictor of verdict was the behavior of the child rather than the presence of medical evidence. This finding suggests that greater attention might be given to the collection and reporting of this evidence in future trials.