The corpus of research presented in this thesis applies a process-oriented perspective to understanding the interplay between marital conflict, parent-child relations and children's adjustment Specifically, this thesis focuses on the conceptually important question concerning the relative impact of parent-child warmth versus hostility on children's appraisals of the interparental and parent-child relationship, and how children's appraisals mediate the influence of parent-child relations on children's adjustment in the context of a discordant interparental relationship. Using data from a sample of over 500 children, parents and teachers living in the United Kingdom, a set of interlocking studies were conducted. First, two studies addressed the direction of effects between marital conflict and parent-child warmth and hostility, and between parent-child warmth and hostility and children's internalising symptoms and externalising problems. In addition, differences according to parent and child gender, and parent and child reports of interparental and parent-child relations were identified. This provided a necessary first step to confirm the orienting influence of marital conflict on the quality of parent-child relations, and to identify the influence of parent-child relations on children's adjustment, whilst also considering the theoretically plausible alternative that children's behaviour influences parents' expressions of warmth and hostility within parent-child relations, which, in turn, may influence the level of interparental conflict. Following on from this, a third study examined the mediating role of parent-child warmth and hostility in accounting for the relationship between interparental conflict and children's long-term internalising symptoms and externalising problems. This study examined the relative influence of parental hostile and rejecting behaviour versus warm and responsive behaviour on children's adjustment considered in the context of marital conflict. Finally, an integrative model examined whether the affective quality of parent-child relations determines children's appraisals of parent-child insecurity and children's perceptions of threat and self-blame derived from exposure to interparental conflict, and in turn, how these appraisals of marital and parent-child relations determine changes in children's symptoms of psychological and behavioural distress. Collectively, the studies contained within this thesis are among the very first to systematically consider the direction of effects between interparental conflict, parent- child warmth and hostility and children's adjustment and serve as a primer for researchers interested in factors that may reduce children's maladjustment in response to a discordant marital relationship.

In recent years, cognitive theories of offender behaviour have lead to the development of rehabilitation programs. However, many of the cognitive theories which underpin these programs have not been fully developed nor have they been the subject of very much empirical investigation. For example, some of these programs have been applied to versatile offenders (i.e., those that commit a wide range of different types of offences), but cognitive theories, in general, have not been developed to account for such versatility. Moreover, there has been little investigation of the cognitive processes in versatile offenders. This thesis is concerned with the application of one cognitive theory, script theory, to offender behaviour, with particular reference to versatile offender behaviour. In Study 1, forty offenders broadly fitting the profile of 'versatile offender' with a mean age of 16 years old and a comparison group of forty non-offenders were given 4 vignettes to complete. In Study 2, a second group of 30 offenders and 35 non-offenders who were over 18 years of age were also compared. Each vignette contained a potential criminal situation that was set within typical situations in which they occur: a violent situation, vandalism, car theft and burglary. The vignette scenarios were derived from British Crime Survey statistics and comprised some of the most common offences to occur for younger age groups. The response format and subsequent analysis was consistent with previous uses of this methodology: initial categorization of actions within stages of scenario responses, followed by in depth analyses of the nature of these responses. The results of both studies provided evidence consistent with script-like knowledge structures across a range of offences for subsets of offenders. Study 3 employed a similar methodology to that used in Studies 1 and 2 in order to contrast a group of 'Elite' offenders (who had received no convictions during their adult lives) with a group of repeat offenders. The results of this study confirmed that there was script-like knowledge in the repeat offenders, and that their knowledge and behaviour (as indexed by the responses to a burglary vignette) differed markedly from the Elite offenders. The conclusions drawn from the results are that repeat offenders who are versatile appear to process crime scene information similarly to repeat specialist offenders in that there are script-like characteristics. Therefore, both rehabilitation program designs and crime prevention methods would benefit from more use of the script theoretical framework in predicting offenders' linear processing patterns. Furthermore, the Elite group of offenders appear to use a comparatively lower risk strategy in terms of movements between different locations in and around a crime scene. This strategy is distinguishable from specific 'how to do' techniques used for breaking in to properties for example. Within the script framework, this strategy is explained by the use of an expansive set of sub-tracks to the principal script. Sub-tracks are predetermined sets of behaviours which negate a problem and then return the user back to the original course of the script. Such sub-tracks appear to be absent from the repeat offenders repertoire' of processing, hence the rigidity and concrete appearance to the processing of repeat offenders who fail to avoid periodical adjudications.

No description available.

The aim of this thesis was to examine the role of biobehavioural and social variables in explaining adolescent antisocial behaviour. One study examined neuropsychological functioning in 115 young offenders. A more extensive second study was carried out on a sub-sample of the original young offender group, consisting of 48 participants. This second study used more detailed neuropsychological assessments and assessed participants' responses to emotional stimuli. Emotional functioning was assessed in 3 ways: by recording electrodermal responses during a fear conditioning task, by recording the eye-blink startle reflex while participants passively viewed different types of affective pictures, and by examining facial affect recognition. It was expected, first, that antisocial teenagers would be characterised by a sensation-seeking personality, neuropsychological impairments as evidenced by executive functioning tasks, low IQ, poor electrodermal fear conditioning, and reduced startle amplitudes, compared to age and sex matched controls. Second, it was expected that biobehavioural risk factors would interact with social risk factors in explaining ASB, and that social factors would moderate the biobehavioural - ASB relationship. We found that young offenders differed from matched controls in terms of personality traits, and neuropsychological and emotional functioning. With respect to the second hypothesis, it was found that biobehavioural risk factors did not interact with social variables in explaining different types of offending behaviour, contrary to previous studies. Specifically, the research findings indicated that young offenders were characterised by lower IQ and specific neuropsychological deficits in terms of working memory, planning and decision-making. Additionally, they had problems with the learning, processing, and recognition of emotions. Finally, we showed that different risk factors were associated with different types of offending, with both social and biobehavioural variables predicting prolific and persistent offending, and only biobehavioural factors predicting severe offending. The implications of these findings for policy and practitioners working with young offenders were discussed.

Methods to predict dangerousness (recidivism and institutional violence) in mentally disordered offenders are well established in the research literature. In stark contrast there have been fewer developments in the prediction of violence in offenders with learning disabilities (LD), a subgroup of mentally disordered offenders. Chapter 1 reviewed the prevalence of offending and recidivism in offenders with LD and concluded that risk assessment of violence was an area that required further research. The literature regarding the risk factors for offending in this population illustrated that it was unclear if the risk factors for offending are qualitatively different to other mentally disordered offenders without LD. This was tested in Chapter 2 and it was found that the factors related to offending in offenders with LD were not different to other mentally disordered offenders. This provided evidence for the criterion validity of 'best practice' risk assessment instruments, the VRAG, the PCL-R and the HCR- 20, already validated in mentally disordered offenders (the predictive efficacy of these instruments was also reviewed in Chapter 1). Chapter 3 and 4 tested the predictive efficacy of the VRAG, the PCL-R (and its variants) and the HCR-20 in offenders with LD by evaluating the ability of the risk assessment instruments to predict long-term re-convictions (Chapter 3) and institutional violence (Chapter 4) in offenders with LD in comparison to a control group of other mentally disordered offenders. It was found that the VRAG, the PCL- R (and its variants) and the HCR-20 have comparable or superior predictive efficacy in offenders with LD. Chapter 5 served to complement these findings with the development of a screening tool for risk of violence in offenders with LD. The research contained in this thesis has extended the evidence base on risk assessment in offenders with LD and should hopefully serve to improve evidence based practice and service provision in forensic services for people with LD.

This thesis examines the motivations underlying social influence and behaviour matching in young children. In my General Introduction, I argue that, in adults, behaviour matching is often motivated by goals to learn from and affiliate with other group members (or by a combination of these two factors). In addition to explicit forms of behaviour matching, however, adults also subconsciously assimilate their behaviour to those around them. I argue that imitation in young children may be similarly motivated by goals to learn from and affiliate with others. In other words, that imitation performs an instrumental and a social function in development. Further, I argue that young children may also subconsciously assimilate their behaviour to those around them. The following experimental chapters test aspects of these claims. Chapter 2 investigates verbal imitation. Focusing on the instrumental aspects of this ability, I test whether young children copy the perceived intentions behind speech. Results show that children correct the ungrammatical utterances of an intentional model, but copy the utterances of a non-intentional model exactly. Chapter 3 investigates social imitation. In that chapter, I test whether children increase their imitation when they have a goal to affiliate. Results show that children who have been given a goal to affiliate (through priming with social exclusion) copy the actions of a model significantly more closely than children who have been given a neutral prime. Chapter 4 investigates unintentional, or subconscious, behaviour matching and tests whether even infants assimilate their behaviour to social primes. Results show that infants primed with affiliation are significantly more likely to help an experimenter than infants primed with individuality. Taken together, these experiments demonstrate that behaviour matching is a diverse and important phenomenon in development. It occurs both intentionally and unintentionally, and enables children to learn from and affiliate with those around them.

Findings suggest non-pathological postpartum mood is characterised by (1) specific symptoms of anxiety and depression and, more broadly (2) co-existing symptoms that exist most frequently below the threshold for disorder, the rate and severity of which spontaneously diminish over time.

No description available.

Parenthood is a life goal desired by the majority of young people. However, not all couples who desire a pregnancy will achieve one spontaneously and a proportion of couples will need medical help to resolve underlying fertility problems. However previous research has highlighted a lack of fertility awareness in the general population. The aim of the studies to be presented in this thesis was to better understand help seeking behaviour in the context of fertility problems, establish risk factors associated with fertility potential, and identify targets for public health campaigns to improve fertility health related behaviour. The results from the current set of studies demonstrated that infertility is a prevalent problem in society with around 9% of the adult population affected. Given that parenthood is a desired goal by the majority of adults, it was therefore surprising to find that on average just over 50% of people with fertility problems seek any medical advice or care with an even smaller number receiving treatments. A key factor associated with fertility self-care and the initiation of treatment (when needed) was knowledge about fertility and the potential for successful treatment because such knowledge helps people take care of their fertility and reduces fear of diagnosis if a problem conceiving arises. Although young people (future parents) know that negative lifestyle factors can reduce fertility, they falsely believe in fertility myths and the power of being healthy. Finally, the risk factors associated with reduced female fertility potential were established. The majority of these risk factors have the ability to be modified and even prevented and thus offer the opportunity to develop a tool for women to assess their own fertility potential, and take more responsibility and control over their fertility health. Overall, the work presented in this thesis demonstrates that raising public awareness about fertility health issues is key in helping women understand that their current actions can impact on their future life goals and to help those experiencing fertility problems to act in a timely manner to seek the medical advice and help they may require.

This thesis presents a psychosocial investigation into environmental subjectivity, through the lens of the myth of apathy. The central argument is for the acknowledgement of unconscious processes, in particular defence mechanisms, and themes of loss, mourning and ambivalence, in how environmental issues are perceived, experienced and responded to. The research draws from qualitative fieldwork in Green Bay, Wisconsin in 2007, involving three in-depth interviews with ten participants selected through the use of an online survey. Surveys were sent out to 1067 residents in Green Bay, 163 responded. The interviews were conducted using a dialogic, relational interview approach, and the analysis based on psychoanalytic qualitative research methods. The analysis centres on several core themes as emerging in the data and in the context of industry in Green Bay: loss, mourning and melancholia; ambivalence and splitting; and concern, care and reparation. The data analysis presents two case studies and four analytic thematic chapters. Based on psychoanalytic clinical work on reparation, the thesis presents a case for the incorporation of creativity and concern in the practice of environmental communications and advocacy, and critiques the concept of apathy as based on assumptions regarding a lack of concern or care. Further the thesis critiques the concepts of the gap between values and practices, or between concern and action, and advocates an appreciation for the complex dilemmas, struggles, and contradictions that may arise from environmental issues and degradation. The thesis aims to contribute to the field and practice of environmental communications and policy, in addressing unconscious dimensions and the need to incorporate affective elements of environmental degradation in addition to attitudes, values and behaviour.