No abstract

No abstract

Objective: Despite the presence of law enforcement personnel in schools (i.e., school resource officers or SROs) and the increased recognition of the importance of developmentally appropriate questioning practices, the school context remains underexamined within the juvenile interrogation literature. In the present study, we sought to take an initial step in addressing this gap by conducting a national survey of SROs in the U.S. regarding their questioning practices with children and youth in schools and SROs’ associated developmental knowledge and training. Hypotheses: We made several predictions including that SROs would (1) report regular involvement in questioning students, particularly adolescents; (2) demonstrate accurate developmental knowledge in some respects, generally viewing children as more developmentally limited than adolescents; and (3a) consider age and the nature of the offense in their questioning of students while (3b) demonstrating some gaps in applying their developmental knowledge to interrogative contexts (e.g., endorsing some developmentally inappropriate questioning practices). Method: SROs across the United States (N = 287, 81% male, Mage = 42 years, 93% White) completed a survey examining their perceptions of child/youth development and interrogation practices and training as well as their responses to hypothetical scenarios. Results: SROs reported regular involvement in questioning students about criminal behavior. SROs demonstrated awareness of some important developmental limitations of children/youth but, at times, did not appear to apply this knowledge when questioning juveniles themselves. Approximately half of the sampled SROs had not received training regarding juvenile interrogation, and most indicated a need for more structured training on the topic. Conclusion: SROs serve as information gatherers within the school setting who may benefit from additional juvenile interviewing/interrogation training.

No abstract

This study examined the concurrent validity of the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) in relation to the Depression (D) scale of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) and addressed a gap in the literature with respect to diagnostic discrimination. The participants were persons on probation or parole. Although women were more depressed than men on the SDS, gender did not interact with SDS as a predictor in a logistic regression analysis. The SDS was found to be the primary discriminating variable in distinguishing depressed from nondepressed participants. In addition, the SDS contributed significant incremental validity over the D scale and showed greater accuracy in identifying nondepressed individuals.

No abstract

No abstract

A cognitive imbalance, in which intellectual functioning is elevated in the performance area in comparison to verbal IQ, has been posited as an antecedent condition in relation to antisocial behaviors. The current investigation was based on the notion of a developmental arrest in which verbal, analytical, controlling brain processes (analogous to verbal IQ) fail to develop commensurately with the more impulsive actions mediated by the motor areas of the cerebral cortex (analogous to performance IQ). The simple verbal IQ performance IQ discrepancy index used in prior studies was reformulated as a causal theoretical model consisting of shared and unique performance IQ variance. The participants were 325 adults including 141 prison inmates. They were administered the Wechsler Adult Intel- The notion that crime and delinquency may be related to an imbalance in performance and verbal intelligence (e.g., performance greater than verbal) has been corroborated in several studies with juvenile offenders (Cornell & Wilson, 1992;Miller, 1987; Walsh, 1991). One theoretical explanation for this finding is that, relative to verbal IQ, elevated performance scores may represent a type of developmental arrest in regard to brain maturation. That is to say, the performance IQ involves, in part, the functioning of the motor areas of the right cerebral cortex. In normal human development the motor areas show early maturation, thus providing adaptive requirements for a rapid responding to stimuli on the part of infants and toddlers. The usual developmental course of brain maturation may include a general adaptive slowing of