The Study of Developmental Risk Factors for Early Fire Involvement

Ellithy, Ayah; Hawke, Lisa D.; Ward, Ashley K.; Henderson, Joanna

doi:10.1007/s10578-021-01122-9

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Youth firesetting is evidenced in individuals exhibiting heightened youthful curiosity about the inner workings of fire with or without consideration of its consequences whereas arson requires malicious intent (Ellithy et al., 2021; Lambie & Randell, 2011; Peters & Freeman, 2016). Youth firesetting behavior is often understood to be individuals harboring willful intent to cause harm, damage, and/or destruction (Putnam & Kirkpatrick, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, youth who set fires are overrepresented by offenders with a history of childhood dysfunctionality or maltreatment (Del Bove, 2005; Lambie & Randell, 2011; Pollinger et al., 2005), disrupted family dynamics, and/or out of home care arrangements (Brown, Porth, et al., 2017; Mojtahedi et al., 2017; Porth et al., 2018). Youth who set fires frequently experience significant comorbidities with anxiety, depression, antisocial personality, emotion dysregulation, conduct disorder, aggression, cruelty, and deviance/delinquency (Caprara et al., 2007; Del Bove et al., 2008; Ellithy et al., 2021; Martin et al., 2004; Perks et al., 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Even ordinary items such as paper, leaves and household furnishings are combustible. ), mirroring adult‐modeled behaviors, and underdeveloped understanding of the consequences associated with fire starting (Brown, Porth, et al., 2017; Ellithy et al., 2021; Kolko & Kazdin, 1989). For the intentional firesetting population, more sinister motivators include bullying, self‐expression, attention‐seeking, vandalization, arousal, intent to cause harm, with the most often self‐reported factor cited as revenge (Barrowcliffe & Gannon, 2016; Gannon et al., 2012; Lambie & Randell, 2011; Nanayakkara et al., 2020a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) and youth firesetting: A call on criminal justice, emergency responder, and fire prevention specialists to become informed

Brown

Spiller²,

Carter

et al. 2021

Behavioral Sci & The Law

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Central nervous system damage resulting from prenatal exposure to alcohol, often referred to as fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD), commonly manifests as lacking cognitive functioning, problem solving, impulsivity, memory, executive functioning, and social skill deficits. For individuals with FASD, these brain‐based deficits translate into impulsive behaviors and poorly thought‐out decision‐making, coupled with an inability to anticipate and recognize the sometimes very severe consequences of their behaviors. Not unexpectedly, individuals with FASD frequently find themselves disproportionately involved in the criminal justice system and mental health services. For some individuals with FASD, these behaviors can also include firesetting. First responders, like other health and legal professionals, are often unable to recognize the behavioral indicators of FASD, primarily due to a lack of training. As a result, firesetting behaviors are often attributed to deliberate, willful acts of delinquency, a desire to damage property, thrill seeking, or as attempts for personal gain, rather than being viewed as maladaptive attempts to solve problems by individuals who lack the tools to do this in more appropriate ways. These same skill deficits also present when individuals with FASD are interviewed about their involvement in such behaviors, sometimes resulting in confabulation, suggestibility, and false confessions. Further education and training in FASD are vital for first responders if they are to better support individuals with FASD and minimize their chances of becoming involved in firesetting behaviors. Furthermore, this training and education will help ensure that first responders can intervene in more appropriately when crisis situations do occur. This article will outline key behavioral symptoms of FASD as well as provide first responders with suggestions as to how to best support individuals when FASD is suspected. The brief quote that follows highlights some of the key challenges facing individuals with FASD and how poor decision‐making and impulsiveness can result in severe consequences for the individual and those around them.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) and youth firesetting: A call on criminal justice, emergency responder, and fire prevention specialists to become informed

Brown

Spiller²,

Carter

et al. 2021

Behavioral Sci & The Law

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“…Some level of fire interest is appropriate, and most children develop curiosity about fire around the age of 3 years (Peters, 2016). Indeed, the average age at onset of fire setting has been shown to be 4 years old (Ellithy, 2021). However, the act of fire setting by youth leads to significant morbidity and mortality in the United States with hundreds of millions of dollars of property damage.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Incendiary: Fire setting behaviors in youth

Sullivan

2024

Child Adolescent Behavior

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A 12‐year‐old boy presented for psychiatric assessment with a chief complaint of “fire setting.” The patient was reluctant to speak, however, his caregiver stated that he had set a fire in the basement of his home while the rest of the family were asleep. They were alerted due to the smoke alarm going off and were able to hurriedly contain the situation. The patient had a history of physical and emotional abuse from parents and was residing with his legal guardian, his maternal aunt.

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“…Given the dangers presented by fire, all youth engagement with fire is cause for concern (Pooley & Ferguson, 2017). There are some individual (e.g., gender), environmental (e.g., familial circumstances), and fire specific factors (e.g., fire interest) that increase the risk of YMF (Ellithy et al, 2021). Successfully measuring risk is essential for prevention and early intervention efforts.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Youth Misuse of Fire: Measuring the Risk of Firesetting Behaviour Using Explicit and Implicit Methods

Dadswell,

Sambol,

Zervos

et al. 2023

J Psychopathol Behav Assess

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Accelerated shifts in global climate have increased the threat from intentionally lit fires, especially within wildfire prone communities. A considerable proportion of intentionally lit fires are set by adolescents with high levels of fire interest. A persistent issue within the literature is difficulty with reliably assessing fire interest, as existing self-report measures are highly susceptible to censored responses. The current study investigated whether fire interest could be effectively measured using attentional bias tasks. The sample consisted of 86 participants (10–17 years; M = 13.65, SD = 1.81) allocated into three firesetter classifications: minor firesetter (n = 24), serious firesetter (n = 28), and non-firesetter (n = 34). All participants completed a series of questionnaires and two modified Stroop tasks aimed at measuring implicit fire interest. The findings showed no association between explicit and implicit measures of fire interest. However, serious firesetters scored significantly higher than other firesetter classifications on both explicit and implicit measures. Additionally, both explicit fire interest and performance on the Lexical Fire-Stroop emerged as significant predictors of firesetting behaviour. Collectively, these results illustrate the Stroop paradigm may be an effective tool to measure implicit fire interest within a community sample, and potential improvements are discussed. The current study detected a surprisingly high frequency of self-reported firesetters within a community sample and significant incongruency between parental and child reported firesetting behaviour, demonstrating the importance of continued research in this area.

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The Study of Developmental Risk Factors for Early Fire Involvement

Cited by 5 publications

References 36 publications

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) and youth firesetting: A call on criminal justice, emergency responder, and fire prevention specialists to become informed

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) and youth firesetting: A call on criminal justice, emergency responder, and fire prevention specialists to become informed

Incendiary: Fire setting behaviors in youth

Youth Misuse of Fire: Measuring the Risk of Firesetting Behaviour Using Explicit and Implicit Methods

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