Violence exposure and health related risk among African American adolescent female detainees: A strategy for reducing recidivism

Juvenile crime and violent victimization continue to be significant social problems (Fitzpatrick, Piko, Wright, & LaGory, 2005); in that, adolescents, females in particular, are likely to participate in health related risk behaviors as result of having been victimized or exposed to a violent environment. Specifically, abuse, neglect, sexual molestation, poverty, and witnessing violence are well known risk factors for the development of trauma-related psychopathology and poor outcomes relative to delinquency, drug and alcohol abuse, and HIV risk behaviors (Steiner, Garcia, & Matthews, 1997). HIV infection is a common public health concern disproportionally affecting adolescent African American female detainees. This unique population has a serious history of violence exposure, which subsequently tends to lead to engaging in risky sexual behaviors, mental health problems, and abusing substances. Also, as a result of little to no intervention, this population is recidivating at an alarming rate, a problem that may further exacerbate the expression of health-related risk behaviors among African American adolescent female detainees. The authors briefly describe a pilot program to be implemented in the juvenile justice system that is based on the Model of Accumulated Risk (Garbarino, 1996), Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Model (1994), and the Positive Youth Justice Model (Butts, Bazemore, & Meroe, 2009). The program proposes to reduce risky sexual behaviors, teach alternatives to abusing substances, treat mental health concerns, and reduce the rate of recidivism through "positive youth development", PYD (Butts, Bazemore, & Meroe, 2009). Tying elements of wraparound services and reeducation together, this program addresses salient concerns that may have an impact on an adolescent detainees' success following their release from prison in a holistic manner.     

An evaluation of the effectiveness of positive behavioural support within a medium secure mental health forensic service

A number of recent influential reports recommend the use of proactive and preventative approaches such as Positive Behavioural Support (PBS) in the management of challenging behaviours. Although evidence supporting the use of PBS is mainly drawn from studies of learning disability and child populations, it is recognised that PBS could have a much wider utility. In this study, PBS was implemented in a medium secure forensic mental health service, a novel context. Impact was evaluated using an adapted version of the Checklist of Challenging Behaviour at baseline and then at 3 monthly intervals for a year. Significant reductions were observed in aggression frequency, management difficulty and severity and other challenging behaviour frequency and management difficulty. Reductions in challenging behaviour were still evident after six months for the full group and twelve months for the sub-group with the exception of other challenging behaviour management difficulty. In contrast, no such significant differences were found for a control group. This study indicated that PBS was an effective intervention in the management of challenging behaviour in this forensic mental health context.     

Roadblocks and drunk driving: A time series analysis

Deterrence theory suggests that drunk driving can be reduced when the certainty of apprehension is improved. Sobriety checkpoints or roadblocks have been implemented in several jurisdictions to increase both the number of drunk drivers apprehended and the public’s perception of the risk of apprehension. The present study was conducted to obtain additional information on the effectiveness of such checkpoints as implemented in a medium sized urban community. A time series design consisting of 126 weeks of data was utilized to measure the impact of sobriety checkpoints on the number of alcohol related crashes. The research methods utilized, results obtained, and suggestions for further research are presented.     

Young adults' coping style as a predictor of their alcohol use and response to daily events

Limited resources for coping with stress have been associated with psychological disturbance and alcohol abuse among adults. In the current investigation, both retrospective questionnaires and prospective monitoring measures were used to test young adults' trait coping styles as predictors of their weekly alcohol consumption. Individuals who reported deficits in emotion focused and avoidant coping strategies drank more often than subjects with all other styles of coping. These subjects also exhibited greater overall alcohol consumption that subjects who employed high levels of emotion focused coping but low levels of avoidant coping. Results therefore support the idea that young adults' coping styles are related to their use of alcohol Analyses also showed strong positive correlations between questionnaire and monitored measures of drinking, but only moderate associations between the two measures of coping. Measurement methodologies of the current investigation are discussed in terms of their clinical and research applications.This research was supported in part by a NIAAA grant No. 1R29AA09135-01 to Kim Fromme and by two University of Delaware undergraduate research grants to Kathy Rivet.Received her Ph.D. from the University of Washington in 1988. Major research interest focuses on the ways in which alcohol use influences young adult's participation in a variety of risky activities.     

Humiliation,Manipulation, and Control: Evidence of Centrality in Domestic Violence Against an Adult Partner

This paper describes two related studies. Study 1 is a literature review of existing adult partner domestic violence assessment scales. Results of the review revealed that the scales varied on the available amount of empirical evidence for validity and reliability. More importantly, results showed that the content of the scales focused most heavily on the physical abuse aspects of domestic violence. Study 2 is a factor analysis performed on the results of 64 items taken from the Artemis Intake Questionnaire, a clinically relevant tool constructed by treatment providers used in working with the victims of domestic violence. Results indicate that reported humiliation and blame of the victim accounted for the largest amount of variance, followed by controlling the victim, and then physical violence. Results of this factor analysis suggest that greater emphasis must be put on factors other than physical violence in the construction of future domestic violence scales.     

The rate and kinetic order of ethanol elimination

The rate and kinetic order of ethanol elimination was evaluated in human volunteers. Part I of the study involved dosing individuals with alcoholic beverages on two separate occasions. Breathalyzer tests were performed at 15-min intervals for a period of 5 h. Attention was focused on values obtained after peak blood ethanol levels had been reached. The second part of the study included having samples drawn from alcoholics at predetermined intervals during recovery from alcoholic intoxication. Blood ethanol concentration data was analyzed for kinetic order and a comparison of ethanol elimination rates of alcoholics and non-alcoholics was made. The predicative capability of estimating a BAC from both the zero and first order theories was also investigated.It was concluded that ethanol elimination is a zero order process. For subjects classified as non-drinkers (consume less than 6 ounces of ethanol/month), the mean ethanol elimination rate as determined in the study was 12 ± 4 mg/h. For subjects classified as social drinkers (consume more than 6 ounces but less than 30 ounces of ethanol/month), the mean ethanol elimination rate was 15 ± 4 mg%/h, and for alcoholics, the mean ethanol elimination rate was 30 ± 9 mg%/h. These results indicate that the rate of ethanol elimination increases with drinking experience.