The impact of modes of administration on self-reports of offending: evidence from a methodological experiment with university students.

Objectives: Current knowledge about the causes of offending behavior is heavily reliant on self-reports of offending (SRO). However, methodological research on the impact of modes of administration on SRO is very scarce. Further, the existing evidence conflicts with the general knowledge about responding to sensitive questions. In this study, we aimed to test whether SRO are affected by modes of administration. Methods: We carried out a methodological experiment, with a 2 (interviewer-administered vs. self-administered surveys) × 2 (paper-and-pencil vs. computer- assisted surveys) factorial design. A total of 181 undergraduate students were randomly assigned to one of these conditions and completed the International Self-Report Delinquency 3 (ISRD3) questionnaire. Results: Findings showed an increased odds of reporting offending behavior in self-administered surveys, compared to face-to-face interviews. Paper-and-pencil and computer-assisted modes resulted in comparable estimates of offending. Conclusions: This experiment provides evidence that SRO provide more accurate estimates of offending behavior using self-administered surveys.

The relationship between psychological symptom ratings and crime in juvenile justice system involved young people.

RATIONALE: Prior research has not adequately examined the relationship between psychological state and offending. Limitations include over-reliance on criminal convictions as the dependent variable, failure to examine a comprehensive set of psychological states, the limited nature of measures and the frequent use of cross-sectional data that cannot ensure temporal ordering. AIMS: To explore the relationship between five self-reported psychological states-anxiety, depression, hostility, paranoia and psychoticism-and three types of offending-violent, non-violent and marijuana use-reported 6 months later in a sample of justice system involved young people. METHODS: Data were acquired from the publicly available Pathways to Desistance dataset, a longitudinal study of 1262 young people (86% male) involved in the criminal justice system. Measures of psychological state were self-reported using the Brief Symptom Inventory at project entry and self-report offending measures 6 months later. RESULTS: No psychological states were significantly associated with reports of marijuana use and depression was not related to offending. Anger and paranoia each predicted an increased variety of violent and non-violent offending, while anxiety and psychoticism each increased the variety of violent but not non-violent offending. Clinically significant states on one or more sub-scales were related to variety of both violent and non-violent offending. IMPLICATIONS: These results suggest that early screening of psychological state may help identify young people at risk for offending. Further research might be directed at clarifying the extent of actual disorder and the nature of interventions that would best help not only those with a diagnosable disorder, but also those with aspects of their psychological state which trouble them, but which may not actually amount to disorder.

Chronic and Daily Stressors Along With Negative Affect Interact to Predict Daily Tiredness.

The present study examines the within-person relationship of daily stressors and tiredness and whether this depends on daily negative affect and individual differences in chronic stress. One hundred sixteen older adult participants were recruited via Amazon's Mechanical Turk for a 9-day daily diary study. Daily tiredness, daily stressors, and negative affect were measured each day, and chronic stress was measured at baseline. Daily stressors, daily negative affect, and chronic stress interacted to predict daily tiredness. People with high chronic stress who experienced an increase in daily negative affect were the most reactive to daily stressors in terms of experiencing an increase in daily tiredness. We also found that people with low levels of chronic stress were the most reactive to daily stressors when they experienced low levels of daily negative affect. Our results highlight the need for individualized and contextualized approaches to combating daily tiredness in older adults.