When juveniles are defined by society as delinquent they are frequently institutionalized. These institutions are referred to as reform schools, correctional institutions or schools, residential care facilities, treatment centers, or variations of the above. They are state sponsored or privately sponsored. Whatever name is on the sign by the front door, each institution is in the business of "people changing." The excellence of an inanimate product can be measured, weighed, checked, and reproduced; but an altered person is more difficult to measure. If one is in the business of people-changing, it seems important to see if one is in fact changing people. This study of post institutional adjustment in one privately sponsored girl's residential care facility is an attempt to look at change in a group of released girls measured in the scale devised by the study group).

The Child Abuse Committee at the University of Oregon Medical School has assumed a coordinating role as an attempt to provide more effective service to abused children and their families. This research report is a follow up to a 1970 study by Matusak which evaluated the effectiveness of the Committee. The Matusak study seemed to indicate that, because of Committee action resulting in appropriate intervention and services, definite improvement in the situation of the children in the study was seen. This study follows the children from the 1970 study one year later and makes further comparisons of child abuse cases seen at the hospital in 1971. The results of this study fail to support the Matusak findings. A decreased percentage of children in the 1970 study group have maintained their level of improvement one year later and an even lower percentage of the 1971 study group are improved. More children have been left in their own homes than in 1970 but there is little to indicate that the family functions any more adequately than at the time of abuse. The findings seem to reflect a need for reevaluation of management and treatment practices in child abuse cases. It appears that responsibility and authority for coordination should be placed with a single agency and that more specialized services be provided by experienced staff.

While men do indeed construct self-validating and often peculiar interpretations of the realities of their world the simple fact that these views become consensually shared doctrines of experience does not protect them from the revisionism of historical scrutiny. These perceptions of the world become retrospectively altered as developing bodies of knowledge reject them as being clearly deceptive or anachronistic. The concept of psychopathology, distinguished historically under many rubrics, has not been immune to these same processes of modification, nor has it ever been free of the diverse irrationalities which men of all ages have constructed to explain the etiology and treatment of deviant behavior. Historically, consideration of atypical behavior all reflect attempts to explain dysfunction utilizing existing systems of belief and knowledge. For example, primitive and ancient societies advanced quasi-theoretical frameworks that stressed either external causation (e.g., spirit intervention, sorcery, demonic possession, lunacy, bewitchment) or personal causation (e.g., loss of soul, breach of taboo, object intrusion, brain disease). Of course, retrospective evaluation of these explanatory devices have found them to be woefully impoverished. With the advent of science these archaic beliefs were found to be incompatible with a rational view of the world where all events had logical and determinable causes. Moreover, with the development of the medical model of disease, aberrant behavior, of a functional nature, could be explained and treated in the same systematic manner as that which had an organic basis. While the "new view" still distinguished between external and internal causation of psychopathology, it radically redefined explanatory concepts and apparently located dynamics of the disease process within the individual. The classic psychiatric/psychological approach has (and continues to) stressed the description and classification of pathological signs and symptoms and when etiology was considered, illness was accounted for more often than not by such intra-psychic factors as anxiety, stress, breakdown of defense mechanisms and ego strength. Current theories of psychopathology have not been quite as oblivious to the effects of the individual's environment in the production and maintenance of both functional and organic illness. Nor can they be, for the last two decades have witnessed a growing awareness of the purely sociological aspects of pathological processes--processes which had hitherto been assigned only to individual defects. Research in the social epidemology of mental illness has established the importance of numerous sociological variables including ecological and socioeconomic status factors,personal and social characteristics, and culture-specificfactors. It is now commonly recognized that the environment of the individual plays a crucial role in determining the characteristics and course of pathological processes.

The present study involved an examination of the delinquency problem in Saudi Arabia within the framework of social control theory. Specifically, the study was based on the thesis set forth by Travis Hirschi, i.e., that delinquent acts result when an individual's bond to society is weak or broken. Also taken into account, however, were the findings from the research of Wiatrowski, et al. that suggest a need for a) some modifications in Hirschi 's conceptual framework and b) inclusion of socio-economic factors in the social control model.

Gang membership is associated with increased exposure to risky behaviors, including violent victimization and other negative health outcomes (Krohn and Thornberry 2008; Howell and Decker 1999) Using a sample of 74 African American female gang members from Champaign IL, this study explores the association between gang friendships and risky sexual behavior, specifically the number of sexual partners an individual has had. I argue that gang friendship networks are proxies for risky behavior and this may extend into the realm of sexual health as well. Understanding the effect of friendship may help to explain an individual’s propensities towards risky sexual behavior above and beyond individual level attributes, as friendship has been linked to peer influence. I will examine three main research questions. (1) What is the broad effect of friendship on sexual risk taking among female gang members? (2) How does gang affiliation alter the effect of friendship? and (3) How does the effect of friendship differ based on the strength of the tie? Findings suggest that friendship networks have a strong prediction effect on number of sexual partners amongst gang women in my sample, but varies based on type of friendship and strength of tie. Results suggest that affiliated gang friends increase the likelihood of having more sexual partners, whereas non-affiliated and non-gang friends decrease this likelihood. When disaggregated, the strength of the relationship is significant.

This study examined the use of physical aggression in intimate relationships and the effects of self-esteem, adult attachment, and witnessing violence in the family of origin on such. Participants were 189 males and 379 females enrolled in classes during the fall semester 2006 at East Tennessee State University. Participants were recruited via 2 methods and participated either via an online survey through the Psychology department or paper-based surveys administered to random cluster samples of students. The 2 versions differed only in administration format. The surveys consisted of a demographic questionnaire, CTS2 for their relationships, CTS for their parents' relationship, Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale, and ECR-R. A 2 x 2 x 3 x 2 MANOVA was undertaken to assess main effects and interactions of gender, interparental violence, self-esteem, and adult attachment. Significant main effects emerged for all independent variables with a significant interaction between gender and interparental violence for 4 dependent variables.

Research on spouse abuse has received greater attention during the last 3 decades around the world. This research was conducted to investigate the selected correlates of alcohol use, drug use, and marital status and the effects they have on use of weapons and violent behavior. The secondary data used was from a study done in Chicago from 1995-1998, called the Chicago Community Crime Prevention and Intimate Violence Study. There were 210 domestic violence victims studied in one Chicago area. Each victim was asked a series of the same questions. It was found that 39.4% of the domestic violence cases involved an alcohol problem, and 45.1% of them involved drugs. It was found that divorced subjects had the highest percentage of the use of a weapon (67%). In the overall cross tabulations, alcohol, drug use, and marital status were not significantly related to the use of a weapon and violent behavior. It was also found that alcohol consumption and violent behavior was significant at the .10 level of significance.

This research was conducted to investigate the effects of gender, grade level, family relationships, and vicarious victimization on self-esteem and attitudes of bullying. A self-report questionnaire was administered to sixth and seventh graders at a middle school to 436 students of whom 209 were males and 224 were females. Each home base classroom was systematically sampled for a random sample. The survey consisted of several demographic questions as well as questions regarding the previously mentioned variables. The mean age was 11.8 with 80.7% indicating they were white and 19.3% indicating another race. In the overall regression equations, gender and family relationships were significantly related to attitudes of bullying and family relationships was the only variable significant in the self-esteem equation. Several correlations between variables were found to be significant.

This study focused on the relationship of five variables: rape myth acceptance, attitudes toward rape victims, sex roles, authoritarianism, and Christian fundamentalism. Also, differences between men and women were compared. The study was conducted at East Tennessee State University, and 100 people participated. Contrary to past research, Christian fundamentalism was not a significant predictor of rape myth acceptance or attitudes towards rape victims, but there were significant relationships between all of the other variables. Men were found to be more accepting of rape myths and had a more negative view of rape victims than did women. Implications of these findings, future research ideas, and possible rape-awareness educational programs are discussed.

Child sexual abuse has existed since earliest recorded history. It is believed that one in three females and one in five males are sexually abused before their 18th birthday, and many researchers believe this is a gross underestimation of the problem. Child sexual abuse has been studied extensively from the perspective of the victim. Child sexual abusers have been studied over the last few decades but with inconsistent definitions and methods applied among studies. This qualitative study explored the childhood reflections of 8 incarcerated child sexual abusers in a southern Appalachian prison. One-on-one in-depth interviews were conducted at the prison with the 8 male participants. After multiple readings of the transcripts, analysis was completed and the stories emerged. The investigator used van Manen's descriptive-interpretive process. This process involved guided existential reflections based on spatiality, corporeality, temporality, and relationality. The existentials were used as an aid to understand how incarcerated adult male child sexual abusers experienced childhood. Questions were asked using the existentials in order to better understand childhood experiences in this underserved and often forgotten population. Data were managed using NVivo qualitative data analysis software. Textural themes were organized into essential structural themes which were abstracted into the essential categorical themes of failure to root, what you see is what you learn, these are the moments of your life, and stupid is as stupid does. All participants demonstrated failure to root as evidenced by their inability to recall their childhood homes or their play life during childhood. Results indicated that participants developed a sense of self resulting from external perceptions which left them with a disembodied concept of self. A disembodied concept of self was demonstrated through the experiences of both failure to root and what you see is what you learn. These are the moments of your life is the abstraction of the participants' method of coping with the abuses they suffered from different family members. The resulting personal view of lived body is represented by the abstraction of stupid is as stupid does. Results are discussed and related to nursing practice, education, and research.