Violent and aggressive behavior is a subset of antisocial behavior that is of particular concern to the criminal justice system and to the general public. A challenge facing mental health professionals and the criminal justice system is to assess—with a reasonable degree of accuracy—the likelihood that a young offender will recidivate and to arrange appropriate interventions. Because of its psychometric properties and high predictive validity, the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) is being incorporated into risk assessment batteries for use with adults. The purpose of the study was to extend the risk paradigm to adolescent offenders, investigating the predictive validity of the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (PCL:YV) from adolescence to adulthood. Subjects were 157 admissions, ages 12-18, referred to Youth Court Services for psychological or psychiatric assessment. Archival data were used to complete retrospectively the PCL:YV and to code criminal history and demographic data on each of the subjects. Follow-up criminal record data were collected, with an average follow-up time of ten years. Over the follow-up period psychopaths demonstrated a greater risk for committing violent offences than nonpsychopaths. They committed violent offences at a higher rate, earlier following their release from custody, and were more likely to escape from custody than nonpsychopaths. Further, results indicate that PCL:YV score, a difference in performance - verbal intellectual functioning (P > V Index), and history of self-harm contributed significantly to the prediction of violent outcome, over and above the contribution of a combination of criminal-history and demographic variables. Finally, background and demographic characteristics were compared between violent and nonviolent psychopaths. Findings are discussed in the context of current conceptualizations of psychopathy and adolescent antisocial behavior. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

No description available.

M.A.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 97-103).

Alcohol-related expectations have been defined as the anticipated consequences from consuming alcohol (Brown, Goldman, Inn, & Anderson, 1980). Previous research has been conducted to examine the role of alcohol expectations in the co-occurrence of alcohol problems with anxiety and depressive symptoms. In the current study, the relationship between alcohol problems, anxiety and depressive traits, and alcohol expectancies were examined within a male juvenile correction sample. Specifically, statistical analyses were conducted to test the degree to which alcohol expectancies combined with anxiety/depression traits improve the prediction of alcohol-related problems beyond that of anxiety/depression traits alone. Archival data were collected from 205 incarcerated male adolescents who completed both the Alcohol Expectancy Questionnaire -- Adolescent Form (AEQ-A) and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory--Adolescent (MMPI-A). Two research hypotheses were tested using correlation and regression analyses. The results demonstrated that depressive traits significantly predicted an increase in alcohol-related problems, and the addition of expectancies related to global positive changes and increased social behavior produced a significant gain in the prediction of alcohol problems. Furthermore, anxiety traits significantly predicted an increase in alcohol-related problems, and the inclusion of tension reduction expectancies yielded a significant gain in prediction. The results suggest that alcohol-related problems may be exacerbated by the presence of reinforcement-based expectancies in male juvenile offenders who are concurrently experiencing elevated levels of anxiety and depressive traits. These findings have implications for prevention and treatment programs that utilize cognitive-behavioral and expectancy challenge techniques to affect change in problematic alcohol consumption behaviors. / "December 2006."

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 40-47).

Thesis (M.A.)--York University, 2008. Graduate Programme in Psychology. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 34-39). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:MR45928

Thesis (M.Ed.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references.

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The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescent (MMPI-A) Structural Summary was developed to aid in parsimonious interpretation of the instrument s 69 scales and subscales. The current study of 130 male and female young offenders had two goals: (1) evaluate the criterion validity of the Structural Summary as a function of ethnicity (First Nation versus Caucasian), gender, and age (16 years and under versus 17 years and older); (2) examine ethnic, gender, and age differences in the elevation of Structural Summary scores. The MMPI-A Structural Summary showed strong evidence of criterion validity and few ethnic, gender, or age differences were noted. However, compared to Caucasian youth, statistically significant and clinically meaningful elevations were found for First Nations youth on four of eight Structural Summary dimensions. As well, older adolescents were more elevated than younger adolescents on a dimension measuring general maladjustment. Results reflect substantive differences in psychopathology rather than an artefact of test bias.