Population-based studies on violent crime and background factors may provide an understanding of the relationships between susceptibility factors and crime. We aimed to determine the distribution of violent crime convictions in the Swedish population 1973-2004 and to identify criminal, academic, parental, and psychiatric risk factors for persistence in violent crime.
The nationwide multi-generation register was used with many other linked nationwide registers to select participants. All individuals born in 1958-1980 (2,393,765 individuals) were included. Persistent violent offenders (those with a lifetime history of three or more violent crime convictions) were compared with individuals having one or two such convictions, and to matched non-offenders. Independent variables were gender, age of first conviction for a violent crime, nonviolent crime convictions, and diagnoses for major mental disorders, personality disorders, and substance use disorders.
A total of 93,642 individuals (3.9%) had at least one violent conviction. The distribution of convictions was highly skewed; 24,342 persistent violent offenders (1.0% of the total population) accounted for 63.2% of all convictions. Persistence in violence was associated with male sex (OR 2.5), personality disorder (OR 2.3), violent crime conviction before age 19 (OR 2.0), drug-related offenses (OR 1.9), nonviolent criminality (OR 1.9), substance use disorder (OR 1.9), and major mental disorder (OR 1.3).
The majority of violent crimes are perpetrated by a small number of persistent violent offenders, typically males, characterized by early onset of violent criminality, substance abuse, personality disorders, and nonviolent criminality.
This longitudinal study assessed the association between prior (preschool) and concurrent physical and relational aggression as they relate to Russian adolescents' disclosure and concealment patterns with their parents. In the initial preschool study, there were 106 boys and 106 girls (mean age?=?60.24 months, SD?=?7.81). Both peer nominations and teacher ratings of aggression were obtained for these children. Ten years later, the majority of these children (72.2%; n?=?153) completed a longitudinal follow-up battery of assessments. Included in these measures was a self-reported measure of aggression as well as an assessment of the extent to which these adolescents disclosed to and concealed information from their parents. Separate models were estimated by gender of child for the 153 children who participated in both Time 1 and Time 2 data collections. Preschool physical aggression proved an important longitudinal predictor of adolescent disclosure and concealment for girls. Concurrently, self-rated relational aggression was also significantly associated with concealment for both boys and girls.
Fifty-two extremely premature born and 54 full-term controls were assessed regarding behavioral outcomes, risk-taking and self-perceived quality of life. Behavioral outcomes were assessed with the Achenbach Youth Self Report; risk-taking was estimated regarding alcohol and nicotine use; self-perceived quality of life and future expectations were rated; and attention and hyperactivity problems were surveyed retrospectively with the Wender Utah Rating Scale. The prematurely born reported fewer problems than full-term born on the externalizing scale (delinquent behavior and aggressive behaviour); and they reported less alcohol consumption. No difference was observed between the two groups concerning nicotine use, views about quality of life and expectations for the future or in the retrospective assessment of attention and hyper-activity problems. Conclusively, the prematurely born adolescents described a quality of life and future expectations comparable to full-term born controls. They also reported fewer behavioral problems and less risk-taking behavior.
The main aim of this study was to describe adolescents' perceptions and experiences of bullying: their thoughts about why children and adolescents are bullied, their ideas about why some bully others, and what they believe is important in order to stop bullying. The adolescents were asked about experiences throughout their school years. The study group was comprised of 119 high school students, with a mean age of 17.1 (SD = 1.2). Of the adolescents who reported, 39% indicated that they had been bullied at some time during their school years and 28% said that they had bullied others; 13% reported being both victims and bullies. The ages during which most students had been bullied at school were between 7 and 9 years. Bullies reported that most of the bullying took place when they were 10 to 12 years old. The most common reason as to why individuals are bullied was that they have a different appearance. The participants believe that those who bully suffer from low self-esteem. The most common response to the question "What do you think makes bullying stop?" was that the bully matures. The next most frequent response was that the victim stood up for himself/herself. Those who were not involved in bullying during their school years had a much stronger belief that victims can stand up for themselves than did the victims themselves.
This study examines men's domestic aggression as a function of attachment insecurities, considering the mediating roles of the demand-withdraw communication pattern and relationship satisfaction. The sample included 55 Canadian men undergoing counseling for relationship difficulties including aggression. The men completed questionnaires assessing physical and psychological aggression, the two dimensions of attachment insecurity (anxiety over abandonment and avoidance of intimacy), the demand-withdraw communication pattern, relationship satisfaction, and social desirability (a control measure). As predicted, there was an association between attachment anxiety and aggression (both physical and psychological), which was mediated by the man demands/woman withdraws (MD/WW) pattern (as reported by the men). There was no evidence of mediation by the woman demands/man withdraws pattern, as reported by the men. Relationship satisfaction mediated the association between attachment anxiety and psychological (but not physical) aggression, but did not mediate the link between avoidance and aggression (physical or psychological). Limitations and clinical implications are discussed.
Dysfunction in affect regulation is a prominent feature that grossly impairs behavioural and interpersonal domains of experience and underlies a great deal of the psychopathology in borderline personality disorder (BPD). However, no study has yet been published that evaluates the psychometric properties of the translated Danish version of self-report measures sensitive to the different aspects and dimensions of dysfunction in affect regulation prevalent in BPD.
This study comprised a group of women diagnosed with BPD (n = 29) and a comparison group of healthy subjects (n = 29) who reported psychopathology and levels of affective instability, aggression, impulsivity and alexithymia by self-report measures.
Our results demonstrated that women with BPD have significant psychopathology and report significantly higher levels of dysfunction in separate components of affect regulation by self-report measures than the comparison group of healthy subjects. Our results also provided partial support for the psychometric appropriateness and clinical relevance of the translated Danish version of affect regulation measures.
The normative reference range indicated by our results makes the measures useful as a practical assessment tool.
The present study examined the influence of driver age and vengeance on mild aggression among drivers with at least 5 years experience. Mild aggression decreased with age among low vengeance drivers and changed little across age groups among moderately vengeful drivers. However, mild driver aggression actually increased with age among highly vengeful drivers. Results are interpreted in terms of the aggressive nature of an enduring vengeful attitude.
Socioemotional risks associated with nonparental care have been debated for decades, and research findings continue to be mixed. Yet few studies have been able to test the causal hypothesis that earlier, more extensive, and longer durations of nonmaternal care lead to more problems. To examine the consequences of age of entry into nonparental care for childhood aggression, we used prospective longitudinal data from Norway, where month of birth partly determines age of entry into Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) centers. In this sample of 939 children followed from ages 6 months through 4 years, ECEC teachers reported the children's aggression when they were 2, 3, and 4 years old. We found some evidence that age of entry into ECEC predicted aggression at age 2, albeit modestly and not robustly. Between the ages of 2 and 4 years, the effect of age of entry on aggression faded to negligible levels. The implications for psychological science and policy are discussed.
AAS users and contemplators were investigated for differences in aggression and body image concern. Prevalence rates were sought as a secondary aim. 396 male adolescents at Norwegian high schools completed a questionnaire battery during school hours. Prevalence of AAS use showed 4.0%; AAS contemplation showed 5.1%. No significant differences between the AAS users and contemplators were found on levels of aggression and body image concern. AAS users and contemplators reported significantly higher levels of aggression and body image concern compared nonusing controls. AAS contemplators enhance understanding of AAS use by representing psychosocial factors contributing to increased aggression, and AAS use or risk thereof indicative of an aggressive personality profile. Body image concerns for AAS users and contemplators may indicate that AAS use does not diminish body image concern, and that body image concern is a risk factor for AAS use. This is supportive of previous research.
The connections between the use of different types of aggression (direct physical, direct verbal, and indirect) and sociometric status among same-sex and opposite-sex peers were studied. The subjects were 209 ninth-grade adolescents. Although an adolescent's aggression in general was related to being rejected by peers, a different picture emerged when the shared variance between types of aggression was controlled: The partial correlations showed that when the level of direct (physical and verbal) aggression was kept constant, increases in indirect aggression did not explain variance in peer rejection scores. On the contrary, the use of indirect aggression contributed (especially among boys) to social acceptance by peers. The direct (physical and verbal) forms of aggression were unrelated to adolescents' social acceptance scores. No clear differences were detected between girls' and boys' acceptance or rejection of their aggressive peers, despite the finding that boys seemed to tolerate indirect aggression better than girls did.
