Recent studies reported a greater effect of attitudinal dissimilarity than similarity on interpersonal attraction. Hypotheses of (1) person positivity bias and (2) a greater weighting of attitudinal dissimilarity than similarity for such an asymmetry were tested. Extravert (N = 90) and introvert (N = 90) college students in Singapore indicated their social and intellectual attraction towards a dissimilar or similar stranger. Attraction responses were also obtained in a control condition of no‐attitude information. As predicted, extraverts showed a higher person positivity bias in the control condition and hence a greater rejection of the dissimilar stranger than did introverts. Dissimilarity also resulted in a more negative social than intellectual attraction. Taken together, these results put the similarity‐dissimilarity asymmetry on a firm ground. More important, they show (a) that extraversion affects the asymmetry via the person positivity bias, and (b) that weight of dissimilar attitudes depends upon the kind of attraction responses solicited. Reasons for the similarity‐dissimilarity symmetry, instead of the asymmetry, in past attitudes‐and‐attraction research are discussed.

Judgments of intellectual and social attractiveness of a target were taken from a pair of moderate and extreme intellectual or social traits. Weights of the traits given were identified from the pattern in their two-way interaction effect. Responses to a control condition of no-trait information provided the estimates of the person positivity bias in the participants, and the relative effects of the negative and positive traits were determined relative to such bias values. Consistent with the cognitive hypothesis, positive intellectual and negative social traits received more weight in the intellectual and social attraction responses, respectively. However, negative and moderate traits carried more weight in social attraction as predicted by the hypothesis of behavioural adaptation. Despite the asymmetric weighting of intellectual traits in intellectual attraction and of social traits in social attraction, the negativity effect was stronger than the positivity effect. Evidently, mechanisms postulated by both the hypotheses co-exist but they are detectable by only the operationalization employed in the two research paradigms.

Recent research suggested that the predictive validity of adult sexual offender risk assessment measures can be affected when used cross-culturally, but there is no published study on the predictive validity of risk assessment measures for youth who sexually offended in a non-Western context. This study compared the predictive validity of three youth risk assessment measures (i.e., the Estimate of Risk of Adolescent Sexual Offense Recidivism [ERASOR], the Juvenile Sex Offender Assessment Protocol-II [J-SOAP-II], and the Youth Level of Service/Case Management Inventory [YLS/CMI]) for sexual and nonviolent recidivism in a sample of 104 male youth who sexually offended within a Singaporean context (Mfollow-up = 1,637 days; SD follow-up = 491). Results showed that the ERASOR overall clinical rating and total score significantly predicted sexual recidivism but only the former significantly predicted time to sexual reoffense. All of the measures (i.e., the ERASOR overall clinical rating and total score, the J-SOAP-II total score, as well as the YLS/CMI) significantly predicted nonsexual recidivism and time to nonsexual reoffense for this sample of youth who sexually offended. Overall, the results suggest that the ERASOR appears to be suited for assessing youth who sexually offended in a non-Western context, but the J-SOAP-II and the YLS/CMI have limited utility for such a purpose.

The Risk–Need–Responsivity (RNR) framework is regarded as the forefront of offender rehabilitation in guiding youth offender risk assessment and interventions. This article discusses the juvenile justice system in Singapore and the local research that has been conducted in relation to the RNR framework and the associated Youth Level of Service (YLS) measures. It describes a journey that saw the implementation of the RNR framework across the juvenile justice agencies and highlights the challenges that were faced during the implementation process on the ground. Finally, the article concludes by providing future directions for the implementation of the RNR framework in Singapore.

An increasing amount of research has been carried out to understand the characteristics of subgroups of adult sex offenders, but there is limited research into the risk factors and criminogenic needs of subgroups of youth who sexually offended. The current study investigated if there were differences in the risk and criminogenic needs of 167 Singaporean youth who sexually offended based on two typologies - youth who offended both sexually and nonsexually versus youth who offended only sexually, and youth who offended against child victims versus youth who offended against nonchild victims. Results show that youth who offended both sexually and nonsexually were found to have higher risk and criminogenic needs as compared to youth who only sexually offended. In addition, youth who offended against child victims were found to have higher numbers of previous sexual assaults as compared to youth who offended against nonchild victims. These differences have implications for the management and intervention of youth who sexually offended.