The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file. Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on September 11, 2009). Thesis advisor: Dr. Charles M. Borduin, Includes bibliographical references.

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Social Work professionals are recognizing the problematic trend among young offenders who have a history of being cruel to animals. / A sample of 118 files from a youth serving agency were examined to determine the potential relationships between demographics and background variables, selected items from the Child Behavior checklist (Achenbach, 1991), types of crimes and styles of aggression and animal cruelty. Reported styles of aggression consisted of proactive aggression (violent youth who planned their offences) and reactive aggression (youth who commit less serious crimes and would overreact to problems). / In a stepwise regression analysis of a theoretical model, two significant predictors of cruelty toward animals were found: (1) the youths' history of proactive aggression and (2) youths' exposure to physical abuse, this latter both directly, and also as a significant predictor of proactive aggression. / Further education and training for children, caregivers and professionals is needed to increase awareness of the link between animal cruelty and human violence.

Thesis (Ph.D)--Murdoch University, 2006. / Thesis submitted to the Division of Arts. Includes bibliographical references (leaves189-208).

This research report is submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg in partial fulfilment of the degree of Masters of Arts in Research Psychology

Due to an increasing concern about violent lyrical content in today's popular music, it was of interest to examine what groups of people enjoy listening to music containing an aggressive lyrical style. To simplify such a laborious project [due to the volume of people who enjoy music] the correlation between violent offender status and preference of music was studied and compared to a sample of college students. Forty participants (20 male violent offenders in a Florida State Correctional Facility and 20 male college students at the University of Central Florida) filled out a packet containing a Biographical Information Survey as well as a Violent Music Preference Assessment Questionnaire (VMPA). It was hypothesized that the violent offenders would prefer music with more violent lyrical content than the students. Surprisingly, The participants in both groups yielded similar musical tastes. There was no significant difference within the numerically judged predilections of the two groups.

This social constructionist program of inquiry begins to explore how psychopathy/the psychopath is constructed beyond the professional domain of forensic psychology. Indeed, while this highly important diagnostic construct is defined and operationalized very precisely by contemporary forensic psychologists, it is believed to be grossly and seriously misunderstood by others. Study 1 examines how Canadian mass newspaper (news) discourse represents psychopathy/the psychopath using ethnographic media analysis. This study rests on the central assumption that mass newspaper discourse provides a key window onto the public construction of reality. Study 2 examines how in-treatment, persistently violent male offenders (individuals with close ‘proximity’ to psychopathy) may conceptualize, experience, and approach (or not) the diagnostic construct, as gleaned through their conversational talk during small-size focus group interviews. The various ways in which these distinct (and contextually-bound) discourses align with and diverge from one another are identified. The various ways in which mass newspaper and offender focus group discourses align with and diverge from the contemporary forensic psychological construction of psychopathy/the psychopath are also discussed. Clinical, practical, and ethical implications of the research findings are also presented and discussed briefly.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - Simon Fraser University, 2005. / Theses (Dept. of Psychology) / Simon Fraser University. Also issued in digital format and available on the World Wide Web.

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Thesis (Ph.D.)--Murdoch University, 2006. / Thesis submitted to the Division of Arts. Bibliography: p. 293-306.