Developing a new assessment procedure of social information processing in adolescents within secure residential care.

The purpose of the present study was to develop a new assessment procedure of social information processing (SIP) for adolescents, to explore its validity and to examine whether it differentiated between IQ groups. Ninety-four adolescents within secure residential care were administered the SIP instrument, the Youth Self Report and two subtests of the WISC/WAIS. Results showed that the constructs underlying the items of the instrument were associated with profiles from the SIP theory, the subsequent SIP steps were correlated, and several SIP steps were correlated to self-reported behavior. No differences were found between IQ groups. These first results have implications for adjustment of the instrument. Further research should confirm construct validity and psychometric qualities of the scales.

Risky decision making in substance dependent adolescents with a disruptive behavior disorder.

Of all psychiatric disorders, the disruptive behavior disorders (DBDs) are the most likely to predispose to substance dependence (SD). One possible underlying mechanism for this increased vulnerability is risky decision making. The aim of this study was to examine decision making in DBD adolescents with and without SD. Twenty-five DBD adolescents (19 males) with SD (DBD+SD), 28 DBD adolescents (23 males) without SD (DBD-SD) and 99 healthy controls (72 males) were included in the study. DBD adolescents with co-morbid attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were excluded. Risky decision making was investigated by assessing the number of disadvantageous choices in the Iowa gambling task. DBD+SD made significantly more risky choices than healthy controls and DBD-SD. Healthy controls and DBD-SD did not differ on risky decision making. These results suggest that risky decision making is a vulnerability factor for the development of SD in a subgroup of adolescents with DBD without ADHD.

Rapid Health and Needs assessments after disasters: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Publichealth care providers, stakeholders and policy makers request a rapid insight into health status and needs of the affected population after disasters. To our knowledge, there is no standardized rapid assessment tool for European countries. The aim of this article is to describe existing tools used internationally and analyze them for the development of a workable rapid assessment. METHODS: A review was conducted, including original studies concerning a rapid health and/or needs assessment. The studies used were published between 1980 and 2009. The electronic databasesof Medline, Embase, SciSearch and Psychinfo were used. RESULTS: Thirty-three studies were included for this review. The majority of the studies was of US origin and in most cases related to natural disasters, especially concerning the weather. In eighteen studies an assessment was conducted using a structured questionnaire, eleven studies used registries and four used both methods. Questionnaires were primarily used to asses the health needs, while data records were used to assess the health status of disaster victims. CONCLUSIONS: Methods most commonly used were face to face interviews and data extracted from existing registries. Ideally, a rapid assessment tool is needed which does not add to the burden of disaster victims. In this perspective, the use of existing medical registries in combination with a brief questionnaire in the aftermath of disasters is the most promising. Since there is an increasing need for such a tool this approach needs further examination.

Salivary testosterone and aggression, delinquency, and social dominance in a population-based longitudinal study of adolescent males.

Testosterone (T) has been found to have a stimulating effect on aggressive behavior in a wide range of vertebrate species. There is also some evidence of a positive relationship in humans, albeit less consistently. In the present study we investigated the relationship between T and aggression, dominance and delinquency over time, covering a period from early adolescence to adulthood. From a large population-based sample (n = 1.161) a subgroup of 96 boys was selected whose behavior had been assessed repeatedly by different informants from age 12 to 21 years, and who had provided multiple T samples over these years of assessment. On the whole, a decrease in aggressive and delinquent behavior was observed in a period in which T rises dramatically. Boys who developed a criminal record, had higher T levels at age 16. In addition, positive associations were observed between T and proactive and reactive aggression and self-reported delinquent behavior. Over the pubertal years different forms of aggressive and delinquent behavior were positively related to T, which may indicate that specific positive links are dependent on the social setting in which this relationship is assessed.

Prediction of adolescent outcome in children with disruptive behaviour disorders--a study of neurobiological, psychological and family factors.

In this preliminary study we explored the predictive influence of various family, psychological, demographic, and neurobiological characteristics on the persistence of antisocial behaviour in adolescence. Existing data were combined with case-records in a sample of 47 disruptive behaviour disordered (DBD) children who had been treated in in-patient and/or day-treatment units when they were between seven to 12 years old. Parent-rated and self-rated externalizing problem scores and the presence of a DBD diagnosis served as the outcome measures in adolescence. We used linear regression analyses to examine the predictors of adolescent outcome. A lower basal skin conductance level (SCL) was repeatedly found to predict poor adolescent outcome, either when rated by parents or by participants themselves. In addition, comorbid attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, one aspect of performance on the door-opening task, and a mother of low socioeconomic status also predicted that a child would have more antisocial problems in adolescence, depending on the type of outcome measure. Results of this study support the fearlessness theory, according to which low activity of the autonomous nervous system, as manifested by low SCL, is related to the effectiveness of socializing punishment and accordingly to poor socialization and adolescent outcome.