The validity of the BDHI translated into Papiamento in pre-trial defendants in Curaçao.

The Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory (BDHI) is an important assessment scale of hostility in forensic psychiatry. We analyzed the validity and reliability of a Papiamento translation of the BDHI in 134 pre-trial defendants in Curaçao using Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling (ESEM). The reliability of the Direct and Indirect Hostility BHDI-P subscales were good and the reliability of the Social Desirability poor. There was a negative correlation between Direct Hostility and Agreeableness and a positive correlation between Indirect Hostility and Anxiety. We conclude that the BDHI-P has an acceptable measurement quality when used in defendants.

Psychometric characteristics of the Dutch Personality Assessment Scale in Papiamento-speaking prisoners.

BACKGROUND: Although personality disorders are common among offenders, there is no validated translated questionnaire for the assessment of personality disorders in Papiamento, a Portuguese-Spanish influenced creole language, which is widely spoken on the former Dutch Antilles. AIM: To evaluate the Dutch Personality Scale as translated into Papiamento in the prison of Bonaire. METHODS: The Dutch Personality Assessment Scale was translated into Papiamento by two independent experts and retranslated back into Dutch by two other fully bilingual and independent experts. Twenty-four Papiamento-speaking prisoners agreed to participate in the study. RESULTS: There was good agreement on translation of the assessment items. The prisoner participants reported no difficulties in answering the questions. The internal consistency was acceptable for the seven subscales except for 'egoism' (α 0.21) and very good for 'inadequacy' and 'social inadequacy' (0.88 and 0.82 respectively). The scores of neuroticism, rigidity, egoism and dominance were higher than in the general Dutch population. CONCLUSION: Translation of the Dutch Personality Scale into the creole language Papiamento proved feasible. The cross-cultural translation and validation of personality assessment scales may be helpful in assessment of personality disorders in offenders speaking creole languages.

Social Defeat, Psychotic Symptoms, and Crime in Young Caribbean Immigrants to Rotterdam.

Background: The negative experience of being excluded from the majority group (social defeat) may be associated with psychosis in immigrants. The social defeat hypothesis is supported by the high frequency of perceived discrimination and acculturation problems in psychotic immigrants. In addition, social defeat may lead to crime through social problems such as unemployment, school dropout, a broken family structure, or psychotic symptoms. Methods: We assessed the association between social defeat and acculturation on the one hand and broadly defined psychotic symptoms and crime on the other in Caribbean immigrants to Rotterdam who are aged 18-24 years. The municipality of Rotterdam provided data about Caribbean immigrants to Rotterdam. Acculturation, social defeat (perceived discrimination, sense of control, and evaluation of self and others), psychotic symptoms, and crime were assessed using online questionnaires. Results: Social defeat was associated with psychotic symptoms in women (ß = 0.614, p < 0.001). This relation applied particularly to the negative self-perception domain of social defeat. Acculturation was associated with neither social defeat nor psychotic symptoms or crime and did not mediate the association between social defeat and psychosis. Conclusion: The social defeat hypothesis of psychosis may be gender-specific valid but does not extend to crime.