Intellectual, behavioral, and personality correlates of violent vs. non-violent juvenile offenders.

The overall aim of this study was to examine the relationship between offender status (violent vs. nonviolent) and selected predictor variables from personality, behavioral, and intellectual domains. The two main sub goals were (a) to determine which variables from these domains were most closely associated with offender status, and (b) to construct a stepwise logistic regression model that could help identify which juveniles were more likely to be incarcerated for violent vs. nonviolent offenses. The participants for this investigation were juvenile offenders referred to the Juvenile Court Assessment Center by the Juvenile Justice Division of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit. The court-ordered assessment included the following measures: (a) The Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory (MACI), (b) the Behavior Assessment System for Children (BASC), (c) the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Third Edition (PPVT-III), (d) the Wide Range Achievement Test-Third Edition (WRAT-III), (e) the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (K-BIT), and (f) records of school achievement. The ten variables that had the strongest association with offender status were entered into the stepwise logistic regression analysis; five of these strategically chosen predictor variables accurately differentiated violent from nonviolent offenders 86.3% of the time. Reading Percentile (ß=-.051), PPVT-III (ß=-.059), MACI-Inhibition (ß=-.033), MACI-Eating Dysfunction (ß=.051), and BASC-Sense of Inadequacy (ß=-.072). Gender differences were explored.

The Injury Distress Index: development and validation.

OBJECTIVE: To develop and validate a new measurement tool designed to assess self-reported distress responses after traumatic physical injury. DESIGN: A mixed-methods study design was used. Development of the Injury Distress Index (IDI) included input from patients and experts and a comprehensive literature review. The IDI and validity measures were administered by a trained research assistant at bedside within 1 week of admission. The internal structure (exploratory factor analyses [EFAs]), reliability (internal consistency), and associations with other variables (construct and criterion validity) were examined. SETTING: Hand, multiple trauma, and burn services at a large southeastern level-1 trauma center. PARTICIPANTS: Multicultural cohort of 169 traumatically injured adults (31% hand, 21% burn, 48% multiple trauma). INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: IDI, Trauma Symptom Checklist-40, Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire, Perceived Stress Scale-10, Life Orientation Test-Revised, General Perceived Self-Efficacy Scale, Drug Abuse Screening Test-10, Brief Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test, Abbreviated Injury Scale, hospital length of stay (LOS), postdischarge emergency department visits, and days readmitted to hospital postdischarge. RESULTS: An item pool was developed from patient, expert, and literature review data. EFAs extracted 3 separate factors for posttraumatic stress (avoidance and numbing, re-experience, and hyperarousal: coefficient range, .31-.98), which is consistent with conceptual and diagnostic criteria. EFAs also produced single factors of depression (coefficient range, .44-.72), anxiety (coefficient range, .50-.75), and pain (coefficient range, .57-.79). Most IDI scales (except anxiety) could be differentiated between different levels of injury severity. IDI scales and subscales correlated highly and in a convergent pattern with validity measures of posttraumatic stress (r range, .18-.50), depression (r range, .24-.52), anxiety (r range, .30-.57), and pain (r range, .10-.42), as well as theoretically related variables, such as general distress (r range, .32-.56), self-efficacy (r range, -.15 to -.39), and optimism (r range, -.21 to -.45). IDI scales correlated in a discriminant pattern with measures of drug and alcohol abuse (r range, .02-.07; r range, .09-.21, respectfully). Concurrent and predictive validity evidence was also supported with small associations with injury severity (r range, .16-.30), hospital LOS (r range, .05-.21), number of emergency department visits postdischarge (r range, -.05 to .27), and number of days readmitted to the hospital postdischarge (r range, .05-.21). Cronbach alpha coefficients were within the acceptable range (alpha range, .75-.92). CONCLUSIONS: A new tool to examine injury-related distress after traumatic physical injury has been developed. Results suggest that IDI scores showed acceptable reliability and validity coefficients with this multicultural sample. Additional validation studies are recommended with larger sample sizes using similar populations to confirm these findings.

Acculturation and drug use among dually diagnosed Hispanic adolescents.

With drug abuse among Hispanic youth on the rise, examining cultural factors such as acculturation may provide insight into understanding and addressing this problem. This study examined the relationship between acculturation and severity of drug use among a sample of severely impaired Hispanic adolescents referred for residential substance abuse treatment. As recent studies with clinical samples have found, it was hypothesized that lower levels of acculturation would be associated with higher levels of substance use. Results indicated that youth born outside the United States reported greater frequency of drug use at intake into treatment than those born in the United States, supporting the hypothesis.