Racial Bias in School Discipline and Police Contact: Evidence From the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Social Development (ABCD-SD) Study.

OBJECTIVE: Black youth are disproportionately exposed to school exclusionary discipline. We examined the impact of race on age at the onset of school disciplinary actions and police contact, and the rate of receiving increasingly severe disciplinary actions. METHOD: Youth (N = 2,156) and their caregivers participating in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Social Development (ABCD-SD) study reported on the occurrence and timing of disciplinary events and youths' demographics, delinquency, and neighborhood conditions. Experiences of exclusionary discipline were analyzed using logistic regression and Cox proportional hazards models. RESULTS: Black youth reported significantly higher rates of almost all disciplinary events compared to White youth. In logistic regression and Cox models, Black youth experienced higher risk for exclusionary discipline and police contact (odds ratios from 2.47 [detention] to 5.16 [sent home]; hazard ratios from 1.36 [detention] to 4.71 [expelled]), even after adjusting for sex, delinquency, neighborhood conditions, and the interaction between race and sex. Black youth who received detention and suspension were at higher risk for additional, more severe school discipline than were White youth. CONCLUSION: Consistent with a racial bias in exclusionary discipline practices and policing, Black youth, particularly Black male youth, were at a higher risk for experiencing almost all disciplinary outcomes and at younger ages than White youth, after controlling for delinquency, sex, and neighborhood factors. Compared to White students, school detention and suspension status predicted an accelerated cascade of school discipline outcomes for Black students, suggesting racial disparities in how the severity of school discipline escalates over time. DIVERSITY & INCLUSION STATEMENT: We worked to ensure that the study questionnaires were prepared in an inclusive way. One or more of the authors of this paper self-identifies as a member of one or more historically underrepresented racial and/or ethnic groups in science. We actively worked to promote inclusion of historically underrepresented racial and/or ethnic groups in science in our author group. While citing references scientifically relevant for this work, we also actively worked to promote sex and gender balance in our reference list. While citing references scientifically relevant for this work, we also actively worked to promote inclusion of historically underrepresented racial and/or ethnic groups in science in our reference list.

Differential Item Functioning in Reports of Delinquent Behavior Between Black and White Youth: Evidence of Measurement Bias in Self-Reports of Arrest in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study.

Youth self-reports are a mainstay of delinquency assessment; however, making valid inferences about delinquency using these assessments requires equivalent measurement across groups of theoretical interest. We examined whether a brief 10-item delinquency measure exhibited measurement invariance across non-Hispanic White (n = 6,064) and Black (n = 1,666) youth (ages 10-11 years old) in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Developmentsm Study (ABCD Study®). We detected differential item functioning (DIF) in two items. Black youth were more likely to report being arrested or picked up by police than White youth with the same score on the latent delinquency trait. Although multiple covariates (income, urgency, and callous-unemotional traits) reduced mean-level difference in overall delinquency, they were generally unrelated to the DIF in the Arrest item. However, the DIF in the Arrest item was reduced in size and no longer significant after adjusting for neighborhood safety. Results illustrate the importance of considering measurement invariance when using self-reported delinquency scores to draw inferences about group differences, and the utility of measurement invariance analyses for helping to identify mechanisms that contribute to group differences generally.

Criminal career duration: Predictability from self-reports and official records.

Criminal career duration has not been well investigated. There are very few longitudinal data sets that last long enough and enough subjects to investigate criminal career duration, and especially the characteristics and risk profiles of especially life course persistent offenders. The aim of the study was to describe the predictability of criminal career duration based on both official records and self-reports of offending, and to put the results in the context of the Moffitt theory of "adolescent limited" and "life course persistent" offenders. The Pittsburgh Youth Study (n = 1517) is a seminal longitudinal study based on a community sample of high-risk boys from the city of Pittsburgh. Data was used from the oldest sample of boys in the PYS (N = 506). The participants were first assessed on average at age 12, and data was used up until age 36 for self-reported offending, and age 40 for police charges. The analyses were conducted on moderate and serious violence and moderate and serious theft. Career duration was based on self-reports and official charges in combination. The results show the extent to which commonly accepted and well validated risk factors predict criminal career duration with a special focus on individuals showing high rate/persistent offending in adolescence. Results show more pathways of delinquent development than have previously been described by Moffitt, (Psychological Review, 1993, 100(4), 674-701). Results also show that there is limited predictability of delinquency and offending over time. In addition, results show that only a small number of risk factors distinguish high and low rate adolescent offenders who become continuous offenders. Examples are peer factors. Implications for policy making and intervention science are discussed.

The Association Between Serious Mental Health Problems and Violence: Some Common Assumptions and Misconceptions.

The media, the general public, and politicians often emphasize that mental illness is a precursor and a cause of violence, particularly emphasizing an assumed relationship between mental illness, including psychopathy and psychosis, and the use of guns to commit violence. We report which individuals with serious mental health problems have an increased risk to commit violence (including gun violence). Second, we answer the question to what extent serious mental health problems explain most violence and especially gun-related violence. And what is the opinion of experts on these questions? Third, we review which effective screening instrument can help to identify individuals with mental health problems who are at risk to carry a gun and commit violence. For policy makers and legislators, this article points out that most psychiatric disorders are not related to violence, with some exceptions such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and often only in conjunction with substance use. We show that the attributable risk of mental illness to explain violence in general is low. We also emphasize that conduct disorder in late childhood or adolescence is a better predictor of violence than is mental illness at a later age. Empirically based screening methods to identify individuals with mental health problems who are prone to violence appear to have limited utility. Implications are discussed for clinicians and practitioners working in the justice system, researchers, and policy makers.

A brief validated screen to identify boys and girls at risk for early marijuana use.

To guide recruitment, the ABCD Study requires a method for identifying children at high risk for early-onset substance use that may be utilized during the recruitment process. This study was undertaken to inform the development of a brief screen for identifying youths' risk of early-onset substance use and other adverse outcomes. To be acceptable by participants in this context, consideration of potential items was limited to child characteristics previously determined to be potentially pertinent and parental cigarette smoking. To focus the analyses on a single target substance use outcome pertinent to the stated goals of the ABCD Study, early-onset marijuana use was selected. Utilizing data collected prior to the initiation of the ABCD Study, four longitudinal data sets were used in nine secondary data analyses to test, replicate and validate a brief screening assessment for boys and girls to identify those at risk for early-onset marijuana use by ages 14-15. The combination of child externalizing problems reported by the parent (4 items: destroys things belonging to his/her family or others; disobedience at school; lying or cheating; steals outside the home) and parent smoking (1 item) proved to be the optimal screen. This was largely replicated across the four data sets. Indicators of predictive efficiency were modest in magnitude and statistically significant in 8 out of the 9 analyses. The results informed the screen's optimal threshold for identifying children at risk for early-onset marijuana use. The addition of child internalizing problems did not improve these predictions. Further analyses showed the predictive utility of the screen for several other substance use outcomes at ages 15 to 18, including alcohol and nicotine use. The results support the use of a short screening assessment to identify youth at risk for early-onset substance use in the ABCD Study and other research.

Dating violence in teenage girls: parental emotion regulation and racial differences.

BACKGROUND: Teen dating violence (TDV) is a common phenomenon of great public concern. TDV may lead to severe long-term consequences for victims and offenders, and even more so for females than for males. AIM: The aim of this paper is to investigate possible underlying factors for involvement in TDV either as a perpetrator or a victim. Social learning theory is commonly used to explain internalisation of parents' behaviour on children's behavioural expressions, but less so on parents' emotion regulation as a direct link to later TDV. METHOD: We used longitudinal data from the Pittsburgh Girls Study (N = 2450) to investigate if and how parents' positive and negative emotion regulation is related to TDV, controlling for early aggression and race. RESULTS: Results show a moderately strong association between parents' negative emotion regulation and their daughters' involvement in serious dating violence. We also found that many more African American girls were involved in TDV compared to Caucasian girls, both as a perpetrator and victim. CONCLUSIONS AND PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: We discuss directions for future research focusing on emotion regulation and dating violence. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Constancy and Change in the Prevalence and Frequency of Offending When Based on Longitudinal Self-reports or Official Records: Comparisons by Gender, Race, and Crime Type.

INTRODUCTION: The study examines age-crime prevalence and age-crime frequency curves based on longitudinal data from boys in the Pittsburgh Youth Study and girls in the Pittsburgh Girls Study. RESULTS: Results show that the prevalence of the age-crime curve for theft and violence (based on self-reports or police charges) followed the typical age-crime curve for males and slightly less distinctly for females, with the peak of offending occurring earlier for self-reports than for police charges. The decrease in police charges for violence and theft took place at an earlier age for females than males, but this was not distinct when self-reported delinquency was the criterion. The mean frequency of self-reported theft and violence followed the age-crime curve for males but not for females, who showed a mean frequency of offending which was more constant. In contrast, the mean frequency of police charges increased with age for males and females. Comparing African-American and Caucasian males and females shows a higher prevalence but not a higher mean frequency of self-reported offending. CONCLUSIONS: The results are reviewed in the light of other studies, and the policy implications of the findings are discussed.

The Challenge of Parenting Girls in Neighborhoods of Different Perceived Quality.

It is well-known that disadvantaged neighborhoods, as officially identified through census data, harbor higher numbers of delinquent individuals than advantaged neighborhoods. What is much less known is whether parents' perception of the neighborhood problems predicts low parental engagement with their girls and, ultimately, how this is related to girls' delinquency, including violence. This paper elucidates these issues by examining data from the Pittsburgh Girls Study, including parent-report of neighborhood problems and level of parental engagement and official records and girl-reported delinquency at ages 15, 16, and 17. Results showed higher stability over time for neighborhood problems and parental engagement than girls' delinquency. Parents' perception of their neighborhood affected the extent to which parents engaged in their girls' lives, but low parental engagement did not predict girls being charged for offending at age 15, 16 or 17. These results were largely replicated for girls' self-reported delinquency with the exception that low parental engagement at age 16 was predictive of the frequency of girls' self-reported delinquency at age 17 as well. The results, because of their implications for screening and early interventions, are relevant to policy makers as well as practitioners.

Working with complex problem behaviors in juvenile institutional care: staff's competence, organizational conditions and public value.

PURPOSE: Institutional staff encounter juveniles with complex problems (externalizing and internalizing) which calls for adequate formal education/training and professional experience to deliver quality treatment, contributing to an effective organization and increasing public value. The purpose of this paper is to investigate staff's formal education, professional experience and the institutions' organizational strategies providing knowledge and clinical training to staff. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: The study includes staff questionnaires from eight wards (n=102). In addition, 39 in-depth interviews were conducted with management and staff members. FINDINGS: Results show that institutions lack clearly defined target groups, 70 percent of staff members lack college education, 30 percent has never been offered education within the organization, and the vast majority of staff does not feel competent in performing their daily work. Practical implications - The results from this study shed light on an overlooked area in institutions, detention centers and prison settings, and are important to policy makers and governmental organizations responsible for coercive care of juveniles. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: Unlike previous studies, treatment and detention organizations are emphasized as similar to manufacturing industry and profit organizations, and the results are discussed with departure in organizational theory.

Invited address: Street killings: prediction of homicide offenders and their victims.

The article reports on childhood predictors (explanatory, behavioral and offenses) to predict homicide offenders in the longitudinal Pittsburgh Youth Study, and compares these predictors with predictors of homicide victims in the same study. This forms the basis for formulating antecedents that are shared between homicide offenders and homicide victims at a young age (ages 7­11) and antecedents that are not shared or are unique for each. Implications of the research are highlighted for early intervention and for interventions with high-risk offenders.