Effcacy of Williams LifeSkills Training in improving psychological health of Chinese male juvenile violent offenders: a randomized controlled study.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Zhang S
PROVIDER: S-EPMC5562643 | biostudies-other | 2015 Feb
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other
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Project description:BackgroundPrevious studies reported that reduced gray matter volume (GMV) was associated with violent-related behaviors. However, the previous studies were conducted on adults and no study has studied the association between GMV and violent behaviors on adolescents. The purpose of the study was to investigate GMV's effects in adolescent violent offenders based on a Chinese Han population, which can address the problem of possible confounding factors in adult studies.MethodsWe recruited 30 male adolescent violent offenders and 29 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (HCs). Differences in both whole-brain and GMV were evaluated using voxel-based morphometry (VBM). We assessed the accuracy of VBM using the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) and discriminant analysis.ResultsCompared with HCs, the male adolescent offenders showed significantly reduced GMV in five cortical and subcortical brain regions, including the olfactory cortex, amygdala, middle temporal gyrus and inferior parietal lobe in the left hemisphere, as well as the right superior temporal gyrus. Both ROC curve and discriminate analyses showed that these regions had relatively high sensitivities (58.6%-89.7%) and specificities (58.1%-74.2%) with 76.7% classification accuracy.ConclusionsOur results indicated that reduced volume in the frontal-temporal-parietal-subcortical circuit may be closely related to violent behaviors in male adolescents, which might be an important biomarker for detecting violent behaviors in male adolescents.
| S-EPMC6730529 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundViolent criminal offenders with personality disorders (PD's) can cause immense harm, but are often deemed untreatable. This study aimed to conduct a randomized clinical trial to test the effectiveness of long-term psychotherapy for rehabilitating offenders with PDs.MethodsWe compared schema therapy (ST), an evidence-based psychotherapy for PDs, to treatment-as-usual (TAU) at eight high-security forensic hospitals in the Netherlands. Patients in both conditions received multiple treatment modalities and differed only in the individual, study-specific therapy they received. One-hundred-three male offenders with antisocial, narcissistic, borderline, or paranoid PDs, or Cluster B PD-not-otherwise-specified, were assigned to 3 years of ST or TAU and assessed every 6 months. Primary outcomes were rehabilitation, involving gradual reintegration into the community, and PD symptoms.ResultsPatients in both conditions showed moderate to large improvements in outcomes. ST was superior to TAU on both primary outcomes - rehabilitation (i.e. attaining supervised and unsupervised leave) and PD symptoms - and six of nine secondary outcomes, with small to moderate advantages over TAU. ST patients moved more rapidly through rehabilitation (supervised leave, treatment*time: F(5308) = 9.40, p < 0.001; unsupervised leave, treatment*time: F(5472) = 3.45, p = 0.004), and showed faster improvements on PD scales (treatment*time: t(1387) = -2.85, p = 0.005).ConclusionsThese findings contradict pessimistic views on the treatability of violent offenders with PDs, and support the effectiveness of long-term psychotherapy for rehabilitating these patients, facilitating their re-entry into the community.
| S-EPMC9874993 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ObjectiveTo examine several risk and protective factors as predictors of future gun violence among male juvenile offenders.MethodData came from a longitudinal cohort of 1,170 male juvenile offenders (42.1% Black; 34.0% Latino; 19.2% White) ages 14-19 who were adjudicated for a serious offense. Interviews were conducted with participants every 6 months for 3 years and then annually for 4 years. The outcome was self-reported gun violence assessed at each follow-up. The time-lagged predictors included several self-reported risk factors (i.e., gun carrying, non-gun violence, drug dealing, heavy drinking, poor impulse control, rewards for crime, peer gun carrying, peer non-gun delinquency, gang membership) and protective factors (i.e., concern for others, expectations, and aspirations for work/family, religious beliefs, adult social supports). The data were analyzed using generalized estimating equation models.ResultsThere were 266 participants who reported engaging in gun violence at one or more assessments. Gun carrying was a significant predictor of future gun violence; however, nearly half (49%) of the juveniles who reported gun carrying across the repeated assessments did not report engaging in gun violence. Besides gun carrying, several risk (i.e., drug dealing, heavy drinking, rewards for crime, gang membership, peer gun carrying) and protective (i.e., concern for others, aspirations for work/family, religious beliefs, adult social supports) factors significantly predicted gun violence, after controlling for their co-occurrence (Risk factor odds ratios = 1.18-1.50; Protective factor odds ratios =.44-.87; ps<.05).ConclusionsInterventions designed to prevent gun violence among juvenile offenders should reduce targeted risk factors, while strengthening protective factors that may offset these risks.
| S-EPMC8925316 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Background: Psychological recidivism-reducing interventions with serious, young violent offenders in residential care have unsatisfactory effects. We tested if a complementary individual cognitive behavioral therapy (iCBT) intervention focusing problem-solving, cognitive self-control, and relapse prevention reduces criminal recidivism beyond usual institutional care encompassing interventions such as social skills training and prosocial modeling (treatment-as-usual; TAU). Method: We consecutively approached 115 eligible serious, male violent crime offenders in five residential treatment homes run by the Swedish National Board of Institutional Care. Eighty-one (70%) 16 to 21-year-old youth at medium-high violent recidivism risk were included and randomized to an individualized 15 to 20-session CBT intervention plus TAU (n = 38) or to TAU-only (n = 43), 4-6 months before release to the community. Participants were assessed pre- and post-treatment, at 12 months (self-reported aggressive behavior, reconvictions) and 24 months (reconvictions) after release. Intent-to-treat analyses were applied. Results: The violent reconviction rate was slightly higher for iCBT+TAU vs. TAU-only youth at 12 months (34 vs. 23%, d = 0.30, 95% CI: -0.24 to 0.84) and 24 months following release (50 vs. 40%, d = 0.23, 95% CI: -0.25 to 0.72), but neither of these differences were significant. Cox regression modeling also suggested non-significantly, negligibly to slightly more violent, and any criminal recidivism in iCBT+TAU vs. TAU-only youth during the entire follow-up. Further, we found no significant between-group differences in conduct problems, aggression, and antisocial cognitions, although both iCBT+TAU and TAU-only participants reported small to large within-group reductions across outcome measures at post-treatment. Finally, the 12-month follow-up suggested marginally more DSM-5 Conduct Disorder (CD) symptoms of "aggression to people and animals" in iCBT+TAU vs. TAU-only youth (d = 0.10, 95% CI: -0.40 to 0.60) although this difference was not significant. Conclusion: We found no additive effect of individual CBT beyond group-based TAU in residential psychological treatment for serious, young male violent offenders. Limited sample size and substantial treatment dropout reduced the robustness of intent-to-treat effect estimates. We discuss the possible impact of treatment dose and integrity, participant retention, and TAU quality.
| S-EPMC8365084 | biostudies-literature
Project description:IntroductionResearch has identified simulation-based training with chatbots and virtual avatars as an effective educational strategy in some domains, such as medicine and mental health disciplines. Several studies on interactive systems have also suggested that user experience is decisive for adoption. As interest increases, it becomes important to examine the factors influencing user acceptance and trust in simulation-based training systems, and to validate applicability to specific learning tasks. The aim of this research is twofold: (1) to examine the perceived acceptance and trust in a risk assessment training chatbot developed to help students assess risk and needs of juvenile offenders, and (2) to examine the factors influencing students' perceptions of acceptance and trust.MethodsParticipants were 112 criminology students in an undergraduate course in a Canadian university. Participants were directed to use a custom-designed chatbot with a virtual 3D avatar for juvenile offenders' risk assessment training, to complete online questionnaires and a risk assessment exercise.ResultsResults show satisfactory levels of acceptance and trust in the chatbot. Concerning acceptance, more than half appeared to be satisfied or very satisfied with the chatbot, while most participants appeared to be neutral or satisfied with the benevolence and credibility of the chatbot.DiscussionResults suggest that acceptance and trust do not only depend on the design of the chatbot software, but also on the characteristics of the user, and most prominently on self-efficacy, state anxiety, learning styles and neuroticism personality traits. As trust and acceptance play a vital role in determining technology success, these results are encouraging.
| S-EPMC10312240 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Aggression and violent behavior are widespread in the world and cause serious threats to public safety. Violent criminal recidivism rates remain very high among certain groups of offenders. In India, the quantum of total violent crimes is continuously increasing from 2009 to 2019. Adverse childhood experiences can affect the development of a child in many ways, leading to highly maladaptive behaviors, such as serious, violent, and chronic (SVC) delinquency. This study was done as a case-control method among recidivist violent offenders and controls to examine the effects of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on violent criminality. The questionnaire included the World Health Organization Adverse Childhood Experiences International Questionnaire (ACE- IQ) and standardized measures of Health Risk Behaviors (HRBs). Thirteen categories of adverse childhood experiences of the recidivist violent offenders and controls were measured. Bivariate analysis showed that there was a significant relation (p < 0.001) between ACEs and violent criminality in cases (M = 72.14, SD = 6.80, N = 35) and controls (M = 44.91, SD = 5.39, N = 32). The largest correlation was found between collective violence and household violence (r = 0.813). Bivariate correlation analyses were highly significant between total ACE score and criminality (r (35) = 0.927, p < 0.001). The results reveal that household violence, community violence and collective violence experienced by recidivist violent offenders were nearly double the rate of the control group. Findings emphasize the need for evaluations of ACEs in recidivist offenders for better rehabilitation strategies and also the necessity for preventive efforts at all levels.Supplementary informationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40653-021-00434-1.
| S-EPMC9360396 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Personal space (PS) is defined as the imagery region immediately surrounding our body, which acts as safety zone. It has been suggested that PS is enlarged in violent offenders and that this group shows an enhanced sensitivity to the reduction of interpersonal distance. In the present fMRI study high-risk violent offenders and noncriminal controls were presented with photos of neutral facial expressions by men and women. All images were shown twice, as static photos, and animated (i.e., appearing to approach the subject) in order to simulate PS intrusion. Approaching faces generally provoked activation of a fronto-parietal network and the insula. Offenders responded with greater insula activation to approaching faces, especially when the person was male. Insular activation has been recognized before as a neuronal correlate of potential threat and harm detection in PS. The increased reactivity of violent offenders is possibly a result of their hostile attribution bias.
| S-EPMC5408037 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Anger and anger regulation problems that result in aggressive behaviour pose a serious problem for society. In this study we investigated differences in brain responses during anger provocation or anger engagement, as well as anger regulation or distraction from anger, and compared 16 male violent offenders to 18 non-offender controls. During an fMRI adapted provocation and regulation task participants were presented with angry, happy and neutral scenarios. Prior research on violent offenders indicates that a combination of increased limbic activity (involved in emotion), along with decreased prefrontal activity (involved in emotion regulation), is associated with reactive aggression. We found increased ventrolateral prefrontal activity during anger engagement in violent offenders, while decreased dorsolateral and ventrolateral prefrontal activity was found during anger distraction. This activity pattern was specific for anger. We found no exclusive pattern for happiness. In violent offenders, this suggests an increased need to regulate specifically during anger engagement and regulation difficulties when explicitly instructed to distract. The constant effort required for violent offenders to regulate anger might exhaust the necessary cognitive resources, resulting in a risk for self-control failure. Consequently, continuous provocation might ultimately contribute to reactive aggression.
| S-EPMC5472615 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Antisocial youth with callous-unemotional (CU) traits exhibit a pattern of severe and persistent conduct problems and deficits in emotional processing that parallels adults with psychopathy. Aberrant emotional attention, particularly among individuals high on aggression, constitutes one such deficit; however, its robustness across race/ethnicity requires further investigation given findings that the psychopathy construct manifests differently across race (Sullivan and Kosson 2006), and emotional attention is susceptible to the influence of adverse environmental factors such as violence exposure that is more common among ethnic minority youth (Kimonis et al. in Development and Psychopathology, 20, 569-589, 2008b). Also, the development of a comprehensive measure of CU traits, the Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits (ICU), has identified specific CU dimensions (Uncaring, Callous, Unemotional) that are yet to be investigated in relation to emotional attention deficits. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to examine whether aggressive boys high on total CU traits and specific ICU dimensions show deficits in attentional orienting to negative stimuli on a dot-probe task that are consistent across race/ethnicity. Results from a predominately Latino sample of incarcerated male adolescents (N = 156) showed that aggression moderated the association between CU traits and facilitation to distress stimuli. That is, aggressive boys high on CU traits or the Uncaring dimension showed deficient attentional orienting; a finding that was consistent across racial/ethnic minority groups. Results are consistent with prior research suggesting that the combination of high CU traits and aggression defines a unique subgroup of antisocial individuals that more closely fits with the construct of psychopathy than the presence of CU traits alone.
| S-EPMC6447079 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Deliberate self-harm behavior (DSH) can have profound effects on a person's quality of life, and challenges the health care system. Even though DSH has been associated with aggressive interpersonal behaviors, the knowledge on DSH in persons exhibiting such behaviors is scarce. This study aims to (1) specify the prevalence and character of DSH, (2) identify clinical, neurocognitive, psychosocial, and criminological characteristics associated with DSH, and (3) determine predictors of DSH among young violent offenders. Data were collected from a nationally representative cohort of 270 male violent offenders, 18-25 years old, imprisoned in Sweden. Participants were interviewed and investigated neuropsychologically, and their files were reviewed for psychosocial background, criminal history, mental disorders, lifetime aggressive antisocial behaviors, and DSH. A total of 62 offenders (23%) had engaged in DSH at some point during their lifetime, many on repeated occasions, yet without suicidal intent. DSH was significantly associated with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, various substance use disorders, being bullied at school, and repeated exposure to violence at home during childhood. Mood disorders, anxiety disorders, and being bullied at school remained significant predictors of DSH in a total regression model. Violent offenders direct aggressive behaviors not only toward other people, but also toward themselves. Thus, DSH must be assessed and prevented in correctional institutions as early as possible, and more knowledge is needed of the function of DSH among offenders.
| S-EPMC5560725 | biostudies-other