Trauma,Psychiatric, Substance Use,and Thought Disorders Among Youth in the Juvenile Justice System and How to Deal with Them

The personal stories that youth in juvenile facilities report to their counselors are heartbreaking because they are filled with accounts of excessive trauma resulting from neglect, physical, sexual, and emotional violence perpetrated on these children. Perry found that trauma develops from severe neglect, abuse, and living in terrorizing environments. Trauma changes the neural processing ability within the child's developing brain which can lead to hypervigilance and dysfunctional behavior. ¹ Widom found that children who had been abused or neglected as children have 30% higher arrests as a juvenile and as an adult for a violent offense. ²      

Governing Iberian Rivers: from bilateral management to common basin governance?

Traditionally, international water resources have been managed by riparian states based essentially on a technical hydraulic approach, addressing navigation concerns, water flows at the border and shared hydraulic structures, besides the definition of political borders. During the 1990s, the possibility of a paradigm change emerged, where a “technical hydraulic management approach” seemed to be giving way to a more “political environmental governance approach”. Yet, in many cases, this change did not ensue. This article argues that several riparians are trapped in stalemate due to a too strong sovereign approach to their water relations. Adopting a critical perspective on hydro-hegemony, this article argues that this framework of analysis is too limited since it is embedded in a Westphalian concept of sovereignty. To support this argument, the article draws on the Iberian Peninsula water politics. These riparians are still embedded in notions of territorial sovereignty, not being able to take on a holistic water basin governance regime embedded on considerations of equity, human rights and social justice. The article concludes that it is vital to move beyond a static sovereignty-based analysis of riparian relations and engage in a dynamic discussion of different water governance models and their consequences concerning peace and development.     

COVID-19 pandemic and evolution of telemedicine to TeleIME

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a life altering expe-rience that very few could have predicted.During these unprecedented and uncertain times,with the majority o...     

Psychiatric and Forensic Differences Between Men Charged with Sex Offences and Men Charged with Other Offences

Studies on differences between individuals convicted of sexual offences and nonsexual offences are sparse and there is an on-going debate as to whether sexual offenders differ from other offenders. The primary aim of this study was to determine demographic characteristics, prevalence of mental disorders, alcohol and drug use at the time of the crime and the criminal responsibility of individuals charged with sexual offences, compared to nonsexual crimes, with the aim of bringing awareness to the similarities and differences between men charged with sex offences and those charged with other crimes. This is a single-institution retrospective study of subjects charged with sexual offences and sent for institutional psychiatric evaluation to a Forensic Psychiatric Centre in an urban, academic, tertiary-care center. The control group consisted of individuals charged with nonsexual offences referred to the same center. Results showed significant differences between individuals charged with sexual offences and nonsexual offences. Men charged with sex offences more frequently committed their crimes alone and victimized children equally as often as adults. They also less frequently pleaded guilty in court. They were more likely to be abused in childhood and more often had antisocial personality disorder and paraphilias and less often substance-related disorders. The majority were considered criminally responsible. Our results show that sex offenders are different from nonsex offenders in many characteristics of their personal history, offence characteristics and forensic evaluations and these particular differences warrant different approaches to the prevention of future re-offending, compared to nonsex offenders.     

Parenting Predictors of Early-Adolescents’ Health Behaviors: Simultaneous Group Comparisons Across Sex and Ethnic Groups

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the invariance of predictive relations across early-adolescent sex and ethnic groups regarding parenting factors and externalizing and internalizing problems and victimization. Data (n = 598; 54% female) from a triethnic (Hispanic, non-Hispanic white, and non-Hispanic black) probability sample of fifth graders collected from three sites (Birmingham, AL, Houston, TX, and Los Angeles, CA) were used in the analyses. Simultaneous group structural equation modeling supported the invariance of parenting-early adolescent outcomes across sex and ethnic groups. Parental monitoring and parental norms were relatively robust predictors of early-adolescent externalizing problems and victimization, and to a lesser extent, of internalizing problems. A maternal nurturance by parental monitoring interaction was statistically significant for all outcome behaviors, indicating that higher monitoring in conjunction with higher maternal nurturance was associated with lower levels of early-adolescent problem behaviors. The findings suggest that core parenting factors such as nurturance, monitoring, and normative expectations for early adolescent problem behaviors may serve as a foundation for parenting components of multi-component intervention studies.     

The Influence of Romantic Attachment and Intimate Partner Violence on Non-Suicidal Self-Injury in Young Adults

Several theoretical models for non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) have been proposed. Despite an abundance of theoretical speculation, few empirical studies have examined the impact of intimate relationship functioning on NSSI. The present study examines the influence of romantic attachment and received intimate partner violence (physical, psychological and sexual) on recent reports of NSSI behaviors and thoughts. The sample was composed of 537 (79.9% female) primarily Caucasian university students between the ages of 18 and 25 years and currently involved in a romantic relationship. The results reveal that anxiety over abandonment was a significant predictor of NSSI thoughts and behaviors in women and a significant predictor of NSSI thoughts in men. Moreover, the experience of intimate partner violence emerged as a significant predictor of NSSI behaviors in both men and women. Continued empirical investigations into the influence of intimate relationship functioning on NSSI will facilitate the development of psychological interventions for young adults dealing with self-harm.     

Characteristics and Co-occurrence of Adolescent Non-Suicidal Self-Injury and Suicidal Behaviours in Pediatric Emergency Crisis Services

During the potentially tumultuous adolescent period, non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) and suicide attempts are relatively common, particularly amongst youth who present to mental health services. These phenomena frequently co-occur but their relationship is unclear. This study evaluated clinical data from 468 youth between the ages of 12 and 17 years (63.5% female) to determine the incidence of NSSI 24 h prior to presentation at emergency crisis services, evaluated the overlap between NSSI and suicide attempt, and examined the characteristics of different types of self-harm. Half of the adolescents presenting to emergency crisis services had self-harmed within the previous 24 h, with most of these (91%) classified as NSSI only. The percentage of youth with a suicide attempt was 5% and the co-occurrence of these two behaviours was 4%. Group differences in depressive symptoms, suicidal ideation and impulsivity were identified, with the co-occurring NSSI and suicide attempt group presenting with the highest level of psychopathology. This study underscores the necessity of assessing suicidal ideation and NSSI in all youth presenting to mental health services.