No abstract

The reliability and validity of the self-report questionnaire How I Think (HIT), designed to assess self-serving cognitive distortions related to antisocial behavior, was tested among Swedish offender and nonoffender adults and adolescents ( N = 364). The results showed self-serving distortions to be more common among offenders and to predict self-reported antisocial behavior when tested among adults. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed, in contrast to earlier findings, that the underlying structure of the HIT was best explained by a three-factor solution with one major cognitive factor, referred to as “criminal mind.” It was concluded that the HIT, after further examination of its structural and divergent validity, could be used as a measure of criminal thinking in adults as well as in adolescents.

These data extend the relationship between sexual abuse and pain to a Swedish population suffering from musculoskeletal complaints. Our findings suggest that intervention in the pain treatment setting may need to address further the problems of effective coping strategies and depression.

Background: Aggression replacement training (ART) is a widely used cognitive behavioural intervention for reducing aggression-related recidivism among criminal offenders. Its effectiveness in reducing offending, however, remains uncertain. Aim: To examine the effect of ART on adult offenders' criminal recidivism rates. Method: We compared 1,124 convicted adult offenders who began ART in the Swedish Prison and Probation Services 2003-2009 with 3,372 offenders in the system at the same time who did not participate in ART. Linkage with nationwide, longitudinal registries allowed extensive propensity score-matched controlling for baseline differences (e.g. sociodemographics, criminal history, psychiatric morbidity, and substance misuse) between groups.Results: Intent-to-treat analyses suggested similar 1-year