Positionality and Its Problems: Questioning the Value of Reflexivity Statements in Research.

There has been a remarkable push for the use of positionality statements-also known as reflexivity statements-in scientific-journal articles and other research literatures. Grounded in reputable philosophical traditions, positionality statements are meant to address genuine concerns about the limits of knowledge production. However, there are at least three reasons why they should be avoided in scholarship. First, it is impossible to construct credible positionality statements because they are constrained by the very positionality they seek to address. Second, positionality statements are unnecessary because reducing bias-positional or otherwise-in scientific literatures does not hinge on the biographical details of individual scholars but on the integrity of the collective process of truth-seeking. Third, by asking scholars to disclose information about themselves, positionality statements undermine the very norms and practices that safeguard the impartiality of research. Instead of asking individual scholars to issue subjective declarations about their positionalities, scholarly communities should focus on improving the rules of intersubjective competition at the heart of scientific progress. In our view, the most productive path to increasing representation and reducing positional bias in research is to protect the freedom of scholarly inputs while insisting on methodological transparency and rigor.

Using age difference and sex similarity to detect evidence of sibling influence on criminal offending.

BACKGROUND: Sibling resemblance in crime may be due to genetic relatedness, shared environment, and/or the interpersonal influence of siblings on each other. This latter process can be understood as a type of 'peer effect' in that it is based on social learning between individuals occupying the same status in the social system (family). Building on prior research, we hypothesized that sibling pairs that resemble peer relationships the most, i.e., same-sex siblings close in age, exhibit the most sibling resemblance in crime. METHODS: Drawing on administrative microdata covering Finnish children born in 1985-97, we examined 213 911 sibling pairs, observing the recorded criminality of each sibling between ages 11 and 20. We estimated multivariate regression models controlling for individual and family characteristics, and employed fixed-effects models to analyze the temporal co-occurrence of sibling delinquency. RESULTS: Among younger siblings with a criminal older sibling, the adjusted prevalence estimates of criminal offending decreased from 32 to 25% as the age differences increased from less than 13 months to 25-28 months. The prevalence leveled off at 23% when age difference reached 37-40 months or more. These effects were statistically significant only among same-sex sibling pairs (p < 0.001), with clear evidence of contemporaneous offending among siblings with minimal age difference. CONCLUSIONS: Same-sex siblings very close in age stand out as having the highest sibling resemblance in crime. This finding suggests that a meaningful share of sibling similarity in criminal offending is due to a process akin to peer influence, typically flowing from the older to the younger sibling.

Opportunity and the sexual abuse of adolescents.

OBJECTIVES: The risk of sexual abuse victimization was examined from a routine activity perspective. For comparison, predictors of sexual encounters with same-age peers were also examined. METHODS: Analyses were based on a nationally representative sample of 24,823 Finnish youth who responded to questions about their sexual encounters with peers and with someone outside their family who was at least five years older. RESULTS: Adolescents who had older friends and parents who did not monitor their social relationships were at greater risk of sexual abuse and peer encounters. In addition, delinquent youth had a higher risk of abuse than non-delinquents, controlling for exposure. Delinquent youth were also more likely to have favorable attitudes toward the abuse, to initiate the sexual encounter, and to experience repeat victimizations. Physical attractiveness, but not sexual maturity, was related to abuse. CONCLUSIONS: Risk of sexual abuse is positively related to exposure to older people, susceptibility to deviant influence, and the target's value to the offender. A full understanding of risk factors requires a consideration of the victims' characteristics and their compliant behavior.

Parental Alcohol Use and the Alcohol Misuse of their Offspring in a Finnish Birth Cohort: Investigation of Developmental Timing.

There is a positive association between parental alcohol use and the alcohol use of their offspring. It is less clear whether this relation exists at different developmental periods. The purpose of the current study was to examine the associations between parental alcohol use at two developmental periods (prenatal and adolescence) and the alcohol misuse of their offspring at two developmental periods (adolescence and young adulthood). Data from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 (NFBC1986; n = 6963; 51% of offspring were girls) were used. The NFBC1986 is a population-based study of individuals born during a 1-year period in Finland. Multi-informant (parent, teacher, and youth) and multi-method (surveys and population registers) data were collected at four developmental periods (prenatal, childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood). The findings indicated that parents' alcohol use was stable from the prenatal period to adolescence. Mothers' and fathers' (based on mothers' perceptions) alcohol use during the prenatal period and adolescence were directly related to adolescents' heavy drinking. Prenatal alcohol use by mothers and fathers were related to young adults' alcohol use disorder indirectly (but not directly) through mothers' and fathers' alcohol use during adolescence and then through adolescents' heavy drinking. The results suggest that early and ongoing screening for alcohol use by mothers and fathers could help identify individuals at risk for heavy drinking and alcohol-related problems during adolescence and young adulthood.

Drug- and Alcohol-Associated Deaths in U.S. Jails.

Drugs and alcohol are the third leading cause of death in U.S. jails. We analyzed 2000 to 2013 national jail mortality data by coding text data. We identified 1,442 deaths associated with drugs and alcohol. Drug-associated deaths were more than double alcohol-associated deaths during 2009 to 2013 when drug type was available for drug-associated mortality. Only 18% of deaths within 7 days of arrest for alcohol intoxication were officially coded as involving drugs/alcohol intoxication. Among the 103 deaths associated with substance withdrawal, 66 involved alcohol, 21 involved drugs (primarily opioids), and 16 could not be determined. Drugs and alcohol likely contribute to more deaths in jails than has been recognized due to how deaths are coded. Alcohol and opioid withdrawal represent a small but underappreciated contributor to jail deaths.

Reactions of Boys and Girls to Sexual Abuse and to Sexual Encounters with Peers.

To understand the etiology and consequences of child sexual abuse it is important to study the victims' subjective reactions to such incidents. Because researchers have not been able to survey children about sexual abuse, not much is known about how subjective reactions are related to gender, age, age difference, and the social relationship between the offender and victim. The present study fills this gap using data gathered from a large, nationally representative sample of Finnish children ages 11 to 17 (N = 32,145). Analyses of abuse are based on a sample of 1520 children (78% girls), while analyses of peer sexual experiences are based on a sample of 3551 children (55% girls). Multivariate analyses adjusted for the use of coercion, the intimacy of the sexual experience, and other incident characteristics. It was hypothesized that, as a result of sex differences in sexuality and attitudes toward deviant behavior, girls are more sensitive than boys to age and age difference. Three findings supported the hypothesis: (1) girls were more likely than boys to have a negative reaction to sexual encounters regardless of the age difference; (2) for girls, age was negatively associated with the likelihood of a negative reaction, but age had no effect for boys; and (3) girls reacted negatively to age difference while boys did not. However, girls did not react more negatively unless the offender was at least eight years older. The results highlight the susceptibility of adolescent boys to encounters with older women. They further suggest that ignoring the role of the victim limits understanding of the vulnerability of young people to sexual abuse.

Prospective relations between alexithymia, substance use and depression: findings from a National Birth Cohort.

Purpose: This study examined a developmental model that links affect-regulation difficulties in childhood with three dimensions of alexithymia in adolescence (difficulty identifying feelings, difficulty describing feelings, and externally oriented thinking) and substance use and depression in adulthood, while accounting for cumulative contextual risk in childhood, and testing potential gender moderation. Methods: Multiple group path analyses were conducted using data from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 (N = 6963). Analyses used data collected during prenatal/birth, childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood periods. Results: Our examination of early precursors for alexithymia indicated that the associations of affect-regulation problems in childhood with alexithymia were stronger for girls, potentially putting girls with affect-regulation difficulties in childhood at higher risk for developing alexithymia in adolescence. The associations of cumulative contextual risk in childhood with alexithymia, substance use disorder, and depression diagnosis in adulthood were significant for both girls and boys. Our findings in regard to substance use and depression disorders revealed that alexithymia in adolescence predicted depression diagnosis in adulthood, particularly due to a contribution from the alexithymia domain of 'difficulties identifying feelings.' However, none of the alexithymia domains was directly associated with substance use disorder in adulthood. Conclusions: Our study contributes to research that links alexithymia with difficulties in affect regulation and cumulative contextual risk in childhood, yielding findings that may be relevant for preventive interventions.

Prevention of Firearm Injuries Among Children and Adolescents: Consensus-Driven Research Agenda from the Firearm Safety Among Children and Teens (FACTS) Consortium.

IMPORTANCE: Firearm injuries are the second leading cause of death among US children and adolescents. Because of the lack of resources allocated to firearm injury prevention during the past 25 years, research has lagged behind other areas of injury prevention. Identifying timely and important research questions regarding firearm injury prevention is a critical step for reducing pediatric mortality. OBJECTIVE: The Firearm Safety Among Children and Teens (FACTS) Consortium, a National Institute for Child Health and Human Development-funded group of scientists and stakeholders, was formed in 2017 to develop research resources for the field, including a pediatric-specific research agenda for firearm injury prevention to assist future researchers and funders, as well as to inform cross-disciplinary evidence-based research on this critical injury prevention topic. EVIDENCE REVIEW: A nominal group technique process was used, including 4 key steps (idea generation, round-robin, clarification, and voting and consensus). During idea generation, stakeholders and workgroups generated initial research agenda topics after conducting scoping reviews of the literature to identify existing gaps in knowledge. Agenda topics were refined through 6 rounds of discussion and survey feedback (ie, round-robin, and clarification steps). Final voting (using a 5-point Likert scale) was conducted to achieve consensus (≥70% of consortium ranking items at 4 or 5 priority for inclusion) around key research priorities for the next 5 years of research in this field. Final agenda questions were reviewed by both the stakeholder group and an external panel of research experts not affiliated with the FACTS Consortium. Feedback was integrated and the final set of agenda items was ratified by the entire FACTS Consortium. FINDINGS: Overall, 26 priority agenda items with examples of specific research questions were identified across 5 major thematic areas, including epidemiology and risk and protective factors, primary prevention, secondary prevention and sequelae, cross-cutting prevention factors, policy, and data enhancement. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: These priority agenda items, when taken together, define a comprehensive pediatric-specific firearm injury prevention research agenda that will guide research resource allocation within this field during the next 5 years.

Associations of Cumulative Family Risk With Academic Performance and Substance Involvement: Tests of Moderation by Child Reading Engagement.

Background: Exposure to cumulative contextual risk within the family early in life increases children's risk for substance involvement and related difficulties, including school failure, in adolescence and young adulthood. However, potential protective factors that buffer these risk associations are relatively untested, yet such tests are needed to improve existing preventive interventions for enhancing resilience among vulnerable children. Objectives: This study tested child reading engagement with parents at home as a moderator of cumulative family risk associations with adolescent substance use and academic performance as well as young adult substance abuse. Methods: Population register data as well as parent-report and adolescent-report data from 6,963 participants of the 1986 Northern Finland Birth Cohort study were analyzed via structural equation modeling with latent variable interactions. Results: Results showed that child reading engagement moderated the associations of cumulative family risk with both adolescent academic performance and young adult substance abuse, but not with adolescent substance use. The highest levels of academic performance were observed under conditions of low risk and high reading engagement. Interestingly, cumulative family risk had a small positive association with substance abuse when reading engagement was low and a negative association with the young adult outcome when reading engagement was high. Conclusions/Importance: Moderation tests revealed complex interaction forms that may have implications for both theory and family-based preventive interventions.

When a Woman Kills Her Man: Gender and Victim Precipitation in Homicide.

This research revisited the claim that victim precipitation (VP) is especially prevalent in situations where women kill their male intimate partners. Using administrative data from the Finnish Homicide Monitor ( N =1,494), we created a typology of homicide incidents to examine variation in VP across three factors: the gender of the offender, the gender of the victim, and the intimacy of the victim-offender relationship. The results from regression models demonstrated strong support for the assumption that killings by women of their male intimate partners are more likely to have been victim precipitated than other types of homicide. This homicide type stood out as having the strongest association with each measure of VP included in the analysis. We did not observe statistically significant differences in VP among other homicide types. For example, we did not observe gender differences in VP in homicides that did not involve intimate partners. This pattern of results contradicts prior evidence suggesting that VP is a general feature of female-perpetrated killings, independent of the gender of the victim and the intimacy of the victim-offender relationship. As such, the present study underscores the importance of replication in studies of interpersonal violence. Theoretically, the results support the gender-partner interaction hypothesis over gender differences hypothesis of VP.

Profiles of Contextual Risk at Birth and Adolescent Substance Use.

This study examined whether there are subgroups of families with distinct profiles of prenatal/birth contextual risk, and whether subgroup membership was differentially related to adolescent substance use. Data from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 were used. A five-class model provided the most meaningful solution. Large Family Size (7.72%) and Low Risk (69.69%) groups had the lowest levels of alcohol, cigarette, and illegal drug use. Similar high levels for each of the three substance-related outcomes were found for Parent Substance Misuse (11.20%), Maternal School Dropout (4.66%), and Socioeconomic Disadvantage (6.72%) groups. Maternal smoking and drinking while pregnant and paternal heavy alcohol use were found to be key prenatal risk factors that tended to cluster together and co-occur with other prenatal risk factors differently for different subgroups of youth.

Socioeconomic disadvantage and psychological deficits: Pathways from early cumulative risk to late-adolescent criminal conviction.

Early exposure to multiple risk factors has been shown to predict criminal offending, but the mechanisms responsible for this association are poorly understood. Integrating social-environmental and dispositional theories of crime this research investigated the capacity of family socioeconomic disadvantage and individual psychological deficits to mediate the association between childhood cumulative risk and late adolescent criminal convictions. Male participants in the 1986 Northern Finland Birth Cohort Study (n = 3414) were followed from the prenatal period through age 19-20. The data were analyzed by estimating a structural equation model of the hypothesized pathways. The results found support for both processes of influence, and the model sustained a statistically significant direct effect of cumulative risk on crime. Socioeconomic disadvantage and psychological deficits contribute to criminal offending independently and with roughly equal magnitude. The results point to the utility of both environmental and psychological interventions to prevent criminality among children at risk.

Tests of linear and nonlinear relations between cumulative contextual risk at birth and psychosocial problems during adolescence.

This study tested whether there are linear or nonlinear relations between prenatal/birth cumulative risk and psychosocial outcomes during adolescence. Participants (n = 6963) were taken from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort Study 1986. The majority of participants did not experience any contextual risk factors around the time of the target child's birth (58.1%). Even in this low-risk sample, cumulative contextual risk assessed around the time of birth was related to seven different psychosocial outcomes 16 years later. There was some evidence for nonlinear effects, but only for substance-related outcomes; however, the form of the association depended on how the cumulative risk index was calculated. Gender did not moderate the relation between cumulative risk and any of the adolescent psychosocial outcomes. Results highlight the potential value of using the cumulative risk framework for identifying children at birth who are at risk for a range of poor psychosocial outcomes during adolescence.

Cumulative contextual risk at birth and adolescent substance initiation: Peer mediation tests.

BACKGROUND: Children who experience multiple adversities, such as prenatal exposure to drugs and poverty, early in development are at increased risk for the early initiation of alcohol and cigarette use. However, studies that examine potentially malleable processes associated with substance use initiation in the context of exposure to cumulative stressors are scant. This study examined associations between cumulative contextual risk at birth and initiation of alcohol and cigarette use in adolescence, testing childhood peer marginalization and peer aggression and behavior problems as mediating mechanisms. Analyses further adjusted for fearfulness/inhibition and hyperactivity/distractibility to determine if the hypothesized mediating mechanisms were significant after accounting for temperamental characteristics associated with substance initiation. METHODS: Participants were 6190 adolescents from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 Study. Data were collected on cumulative contextual risk (parent reports), substance initiation (adolescent reports), childhood peer processes and behavior problems (teacher reports), and temperamental characteristics (teacher reports). Novel discrete-time survival mediation analysis was conducted to test the hypothesized mediating mechanisms. RESULTS: Initial analyses showed that the associations between cumulative contextual risk and both alcohol and cigarette initiation were mediated by childhood peer processes and behavior problems; however, the indirect effects became statistically non-significant after adding the temperament variables, which themselves predicted substance initiation. CONCLUSIONS: Targeting peer processes may not be an effective way to interrupt pathways leading from early contextual risk to substance initiation. Instead, early screening and intervention efforts to delay substance initiation may need to be tailored to the individual temperamental characteristics of targeted participants.

Childhood cumulative contextual risk and depression diagnosis among young adults: The mediating roles of adolescent alcohol use and perceived social support.

This study examined associations between cumulative contextual risk in childhood and depression diagnosis in early adulthood, testing two adolescent mediating mechanisms, alcohol use and perceived social support from family and friends, while accounting for the stability of internalizing problems over time and examining possible gender moderation. Multiple group mediation analyses were conducted using parent- and adolescent-report as well as hospital records data from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 (N = 6963). Our analyses demonstrated that the association between cumulative contextual risk in childhood and depression diagnosis in adulthood is mediated by adolescent alcohol use and perceived social support both for boys and girls. The findings highlight potentially malleable mediating mechanisms associated with depression in vulnerable youth that could be targets in selective depression preventive interventions.

Antisocial and human capital pathways to socioeconomic exclusion: A 42-year prospective study.

Nordic welfare states have been very successful at reducing poverty and inequality among their citizens. However, the presence of a strong social safety net in these countries has not solved the problem of socioeconomic exclusion, manifesting in such outcomes as chronic unemployment and welfare dependency. In an effort to understand this phenomenon, the current study builds on the assumption that psychological risk factors emerge as important determinants of socioeconomic disadvantage in an environment where ascribed characteristics have less impact on educational and occupational attainment. Using data from Finland, this research examined a life course model linking childhood differences in cognitive skills and antisocial propensity to midlife socioeconomic exclusion. The Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development (n = 369) follows individuals from age 8 (b. 1959) through age 50. Evidence from a structural equation model found support for key theoretical predictions: (a) human capital and antisocial pathways contributed independently to socioeconomic exclusion; (b) the effect of childhood psychological factors on midlife socioeconomic exclusion was mediated by adolescent and adult life course outcomes; and (c) the human capital and antisocial domains intersected such that antisocial children struggled in school as adolescents, which contributed to their persistence in crime and deviance in adulthood-a behavioral pattern that directly increased the risk of socioeconomic exclusion in midlife. In short, the findings suggest that early emerging differences in cognitive ability and antisociality set in motion a process of negative life outcomes with enduring consequences for socioeconomic well-being. The results are discussed from the perspective of sociohistorical context and public policy. (PsycINFO Database Record

Antidepressant use and violent crimes among young people: a longitudinal examination of the Finnish 1987 birth cohort.

BACKGROUND: The use of antidepressants, especially selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), has been questioned due to poor efficacy and safety. We examined whether young violent offenders were more likely antidepressant users prior to their first violent offence than other young persons. METHODS: The study is a follow-up of children born in Finland in 1987 (n=59 120), linking national registers to each other using personal identity codes. Data on psychotropic drug use came from a register of reimbursed drugs and data on crimes from a register on court convictions (after the age of 14 years). Participants were followed until the age of 18 years, and for some analyses until the end of the follow-up (mean 21 years). To adjust for differences in background characteristics, regression analyses for antidepressant use were made, using the no-conviction group as the reference. RESULTS: Proportions of young people convicted by the age of 18 years were: 5% of boys (1.7% for violent crimes) and 1% (0.5%) of girls. Antidepressant use (both overall and for SSRIs) prior to violent crime was more common among those convicted than among those without convictions. Among boys with repeated violent crimes, it was also more common than among boys with non-violent crimes. Adjustment for differences in background characteristics decreased the associations between antidepressant use and violent crime, but did not eliminate them. CONCLUSIONS: The results add further evidence for caution in prescribing antidepressants among young persons. It also calls for a reanalysis of violence measures in the original trial data.

Different Risk Factors Between Disruptive Behavior Disorders and ADHD in Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986.

OBJECTIVE: To examine different risk factors between disruptive behavior disorders (DBD) and ADHD or combined DBD and ADHD. METHOD: The study population was derived from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986. Psychiatric diagnoses were defined from the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children-Present and Lifetime Version (K-SADS-PL) interview. The study sample was divided into four groups-people with DBD ( n = 44), with ADHD ( n = 91), with both ( n = 72), and without either ( n = 250)-to evaluate the different risk factors behind these disorders. RESULTS: After adjusting with possible confounding factors, female gender and paternal admittance to inpatient psychiatric care increased the odds that an adolescent was having DBD. Childhood hyperactivity symptoms increased the odds of having ADHD and childhood hyperactivity symptoms and scholastic impairment increased the odds of having both disorders. CONCLUSION: Our study indicates DBD and ADHD have clearly different risk factors, and the impact of the paternal factors on DBD should be noted more than has been before.

Does Educational Marginalization Mediate the Path from Childhood Cumulative Risk to Criminal Offending?

PURPOSE: Early exposure to multiple risk factors is known to predict involvement in criminal offending. The purpose of this study was to examine the processes responsible for this association. Specifically, the focus was on the capacity of adolescent educational experience to mediate the effect of childhood cumulative risk (CCR) on criminal offending, net of expected continuity in antisocial propensity and behavior. METHODS: Data from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort Study 1986 (n = 5,743) were used to estimate a structural equation model to examine the hypothesized pathways. The educational pathway was captured by a latent variable (educational marginalization) consisting of indicators of low academic performance, weak school attachment, and low educational aspirations. RESULTS: CCR had a strong positive relation with educational marginalization, which, in turn, emerged as a statistically significant predictor of having criminal record by age 19. Although continuity in antisocial behavior accounted for most of the total effect of CCR on criminal offending, one third of it was mediated by educational marginalization. CONCLUSIONS: The results highlight the adolescent educational experience as a promising target of intervention in efforts to curb criminal careers among children at risk.

Longitudinal Pathways from Cumulative Contextual Risk at Birth to School Functioning in Adolescence: Analysis of Mediation Effects and Gender Moderation.

Children and adolescents exposed to multiple contextual risks are more likely to have academic difficulties and externalizing behavior problems than those who experience fewer risks. This study used data from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 (a population-based study; N = 6961; 51 % female) to investigate (a) the impact of cumulative contextual risk at birth on adolescents' academic performance and misbehavior in school, (b) learning difficulties and/or externalizing behavior problems in childhood as intervening mechanisms in the association of cumulative contextual risk with functioning in adolescence, and (c) potential gender differences in the predictive associations of cumulative contextual risk at birth with functioning in childhood or adolescence. The results of the structural equation modeling analysis suggested that exposure to cumulative contextual risk at birth had negative associations with functioning 16 years later, and academic difficulties and externalizing behavior problems in childhood mediated some of the predictive relations. Gender, however, did not moderate any of the associations. Therefore, the findings of this study have implications for the prevention of learning and conduct problems in youth and future research on the impact of cumulative risk exposure.