Weak parental supervision and lack of child remorse as predictors of proximal crime continuity in early-to-mid adolescent delinquents

Purpose The purpose of this study was to determine whether core constructs from the control (impulsivity resulting from poor parental discipline leads to crime) and moral (weak moral values lead to crime) models of criminal lifestyle development were capable of predicting crime continuance in early-to-mid adolescent youth. Design/methodology/approach Weak parental supervision and lack of remorse for antisocial conduct on the part of the child were correlated with subsequent delinquency in 1,850 (1,685 males, 165 females) early-to-mid adolescent delinquents. Analyses were based exclusively on data extracted from New York City probation, family court and police files. Findings Results from a negative binomial regression analysis revealed that both weak parental supervision and lack of remorse for antisocial conduct predicted subsequent delinquency over a period of six months, net the effects of age, sex, ethnicity, prior delinquency, sibling delinquency, negative peer associations, substance use and a felony charge. Research limitations/implications These findings provide preliminary support for the control (low parental supervision) and moral (lack of remorse) models of criminal lifestyle development. Practical implications Weak parental supervision and failure to express remorse for antisocial actions increased risk of future delinquency by 19% and 29%, respectively. Teaching parents to be more effective disciplinarians and encouraging the development of moral values in youthful offenders may be of value in promoting desistance to crime in early juvenile offenders. Originality/value The importance of these results is that they reinforce prior findings obtained using self-report measures with data collected from official records.

Perception of Extreme Advertising by Young People (by the Example of Adrenaline Rush Commercials)

The article proves scientific and social importance of studying the impact of advertising on young people, and presents the results of an empirical research into peculiarities of young people’s perception of two popular Adrenaline Rush commercials that demonstrate extreme sportsmanship. Basing on the postulates of psychosemiotics and narrative psychology, the author makes a complex psychological analysis of the two promoting narratives. The study shows that the commercials have a high suggestive potential. The slogan “There’s nothing you can’t do!” addressed to the target audience is provocative and, according to the research hypothesis, is able to stimulate young people’s need for risky behavior, which they may demonstrate not in sports, but in life in the form of antisocial conduct. The empirical research involved a survey of 94 respondents including 70 university students and 24 senior pupils. Having watched each commercial, they tried to determine a potential volition action of the character by estimating on 1-10 scale every of the 50 variants to finish the sentence “He can do it”. The factor analysis of the numerical data enables the author to point out six factors that form semantic categories of potential actions, namely, the common, the humanist, the antisocial, the extreme, betrayal, and power. It is inferred that both commercials extensively stimulate readiness for antisocial conduct, and senior pupils are more affected than students are. Young people do not think critically when they hear the pitch for risky behavior, so, in their minds, the risk zone expands into the area of social destruction.

6. Social networking and antisocial conduct

This chapter examines antisocial conduct in social media platforms (SMPs), such as Facebook and Twitter, and how it has spawned cases of defamation, blasphemy, and incitement to violence. It first considers how social networking breeds gossip and speculation leading to invasion of privacy, citing the Ryan Giggs case in 2011 and its legal implications of postings on SMPs. After discussing the Neuberger report and the joint committee on privacy and injunctions, the chapter looks at use of SMPs to make criminal threats and organize criminal activity, focusing on the Paul Chambers case and the Facebook riot cases in England. It then analyses cyberbullying, trolling, and harassment on SMPs, concluding with an assessment of the controversial movie that appeared on YouTube entitled ‘Innocence of Muslims’.

Conceptual models of normative content in mental disorders

The idea that mental disorders are value-laden means that they harbor action-guiding meanings and are subject to praise or blame. This domain of values includes a specific kind of value—vice—which describes wrongful, immoral, or criminal thought or conduct (e.g., antisocial personality disorder, pedophilia, conduct disorder, intermittent explosive disorder). Vice-laden mental disorders are problematic because they imply that (1) psychiatrists police antisocial conduct; (2) vice-laden disorders contribute to stigmatizing mental illness; and (3) they generate incoherent social policy and programs that both intrude upon and neglect the “served” population and community welfare. With this background, this chapter addresses the ethical, practical, and political implications of these conditions; presents four models of normative content in vice-laden mental disorders (i.e., coincidental, moralization, medicalization, and mixed); assesses their “pros” and “cons” for public policy; and concludes with considerations for psychiatric and public policy in addressing social problems associated with vice-laden mental disorders.

Relationship between Adolescent Athletes’ Values and Behavior in Sport and Perceived Coach’s Character Development Competency

Research background and hypothesis. This study examined the relations between reported youth athletes’ prosocial and antisocial behavior and personal and social factors in sport context and whether these variables accounted for age and sports experience differences in reported behaviors values in sport and perceptions of coach’s character development competency. The aim of the research was to determine age and sports experience differences in manifestation of youth athletes’ values in sport, perceived coach’s character development competency and behaviors that occur in sport, and to examine interrelations between these variables. Research methods. The sample included 201 athletes recruited from Kaunas and Alytus sports schools. The participants completed the Youth Sport Value Questionnaire-2 (YSVQ-2 - Lee et al., 2008), the Prosocial and Antisocial Behavior in Sport Scale (PABSS – Kavussanu, Boardley, 2009), and adapted version of the Coaching Efficacy Scale (CES– Feltz et al., 1999).Research results. The positive correlation between values in sport, perceived coach’s character development competency and prosocial behavior of athletes were established. These values also had negative correlations with antisocial behavior whereas status values correlated negatively with prosocial behavior. Coach’s character development competency was perceived stronger by younger athletes (p < 0.05). Competence values were more important to these athletes compared to older ones (p < 0.05). Discussion and conclusions. Research revealed the importance of moral and competence values for adolescent athlete’s moral behavior in sport. Perceived character-development effectiveness positively correlated with athletes’ prosocial behavior; however, it was unrelated to antisocial behavior. Thus, perceiving the coach as being effective in instilling an attitude of good moral character may lead to an increased frequency of desirable behaviors but does not appear to have any effect on antisocial conduct. It was found that athletes’ prosocial acts were more frequent than antisocial ones, however, more experienced athletes displayed more frequent antisocial behavior to the teammates. These findings are consistent with the previous presumption that low frequency of engagement in antisocial behaviors does not necessarily mean that one frequently engages in prosocial action, or vice versa.Keywords: sport, athletes’ moral behavior, values in sport, perceptions, coaching effectiveness.

HISTÓRIAS DE VIDA DE RECLUSOS E REINSERÇÃO SOCIAL

LIFE STORIES OF OFFENDERS AND SOCIAL ADJUSTMENTThis is a qualitative study, with 20 male offenders, aged from 25 to 56 years old, incarcerated in a Portuguese prison. The objectives of this research were: to identify the beginning of anti-social conduct; the contextual factors that facilitate the occurrence of that conduct and the processes perceived by the offenders that would facilitate the social reinsertion. Methodology involves analysis of offender’s process and semi structured interview. Results indicate that 45% of offenders begin antisocial conduct in adolescence and 5% in childhood. The causes they appoint to deviant conduct were bad influence of deviant peers, drug addiction, and no employment. The factor they believe will help them in social reinsertion was to have a job. Data suggest certain reinsertion social strategies and the necessity of primary prevention of violence in schools.Keywords: anti-social conduct; offenders; social adjustmentResumo:Apresenta-se um estudo qualitativo, com 20 reclusos adultos do género masculino, com idades entre os 25 e os 56 anos, a cumprir pena numa prisão. Os objetivos deste estudo consistiam em identificar: o período do desenvolvimento que os reclusos associavam ao início da sua conduta antisocial; os fatores contextuais que facilitaram o início dessa trajetória; e os fatores que os reclusos percebiam como facilitadores da sua reinserção social no futuro. A metodologia incluiu análise documental dos processos dos reclusos e uma entrevista semi-estruturada. Os resultados sugerem que 45% dos reclusos identificam a adolescência como o período em que se iniciou o comportamento anti-social e 5% a infância. Os fatores contextuais mais apontados pelos reclusos para explicar o início dessas condutas foram a associação com pares desviantes; a toxicodepedência e o desemprego. O fator identificado como mais facilitador da reinserção social foi ter um trabalho. Os dados sugerem determinadas estratégias de reinserção social e a necessidade de programas de prevenção primária da violência em contexto escolar.Palavras-chave: conduta anti-social; reclusos, reinserção social