The authors describe the development of a theory-driven assessment and research protocol at the Adolescent Treatment Program of The Menninger Clinic. First, the theoretical framework behind a mentalization-based model for assessment and treatment is described. Next, the process whereby measures were selected to operationalize key components of the mentalization-based model is discussed, including a brief discussion of each measure and assessment procedure. The next section describes the clinical and research use of the data collected. Here, the authors describe how outcomes assessment information is integrated into the clinical decision-making process, and they outline the research questions they aim to answer through the assessment protocol. The authors conclude with a section on the challenges, pitfalls, and future directions of the project.
The Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory (YPI) is a self-report measure of juvenile psychopathic traits. Validity data for this measure are limited, especially for nonreferred samples. This report investigated the concurrent validity of the YPI by assessing 171 nonreferred male youth (M age = 12.96 years) with a battery of self-, parent-, and peer-report measures including the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), the Reactive-Proactive Aggression Questionnaire (RPQ), the Antisocial Process Screening Device (APSD), and a peer-sociometric measure of aggression. Results confirmed the expected correlations between the YPI and measures of proactive aggression, other externalizing and internalizing behavior, and parent-report psychopathic-like traits. In addition, cluster analyses of YPI scores revealed 2 groups of youth (low vs. high) who scored differently on measures of externalizing behavior. This study supports the utility of the YPI as a research tool for assessing juvenile psychopathic traits.
The U.S. military is one of the world's largest employers. Approximately 30% of active duty military personnel smoke cigarettes and more than 14% use smokeless tobacco. The military has historically supported tobacco use and more recently is attempting to combat its use. Through 20 years of collaborative research with the United States Air Force, we have learned that smoking bans are effective, recruits who have never previously smoked cigarettes initiate tobacco use, smokeless tobacco serves as a gateway for smoking initiation, smoking is associated with discharge, smoking adds significant proximal training costs, tobacco use increases during deployment, and tobacco quitline counseling with a provision of medication is effective. Our findings may provide groundwork for future tobacco control efforts in the U.S. military.
Custody evaluation likely induces a motivation for parents to distort self-reports of parenting behavior. This study examined thesusceptibility of the Parent-Child Relationship Inventory (PCRI) to exaggeration of positive parenting in an instructional manipulation simulating a custody evaluation versus research study in 64 university students who were parents of children between the ages of 3 and 15. Results suggested that the simulated custody context influenced PCRI scores in the expected direction. However, the social desirability indicator built into the measure was effective at detecting the attempt to present an overly favorable image of the parent-child relationship.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.