Rural�CUrban Migration and Experience of Childhood Abuse in the Young Thai Population

Evidence suggests that certain migrant populations are at increased risk of abusive behaviors. It is unclear whether this may also apply to Thai rural-urban migrants, who may experience higher levels of psychosocial adversities than the population at large. The study aims to examine the association between migration status and the history of childhood sexual, physical, and emotional abuse among young Thai people in an urban community. A population-based cross-sectional survey was conducted in Northern Bangkok on a representative sample of 1052 young residents, aged 16-25?years. Data were obtained concerning: 1) exposures-migration (defined as an occasion when a young person, born in a more rural area moves for the first time into Greater Bangkok) and age at migration. 2) outcomes-child abuse experiences were assessed with an anonymous self report adapted from the Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS). There were 8.4%. 16.6% and 56.0% reporting sexual, physical, and emotional abuse, respectively. Forty six percent of adolescents had migrated from rural areas to Bangkok, mostly independently at the age of 15 or after to seek work. Although there were trends towards higher prevalences of the three categories of abuse among early migrants, who moved to Bangkok before the age of 15, being early migrants was independently associated with experiences of physical abuse (OR 1.9 95%CI 1.1-3.2) and emotional abuse (OR 2.0, 95%CI 1.3-3.0) only. Our results suggest that rural-urban migration at an early age may place children at higher risk of physical and emotional abuse. This may have policy implications for the prevention of childhood abuse particularly among young people on the move.     

S—s—U— phenotype in the coloured population of Cape Town: Problems encountered in paternity tests

Two Cape Coloured persons of mixed White, Khoikhoi, Malay, Black parentage in Cape Town whose red cells were found to be S—s—U— establish that the rare S^u allele is present in this population group. The most likely source of the S^u allele in them is the non-indigenous Black slaves who were brought to the Cape in the early years of White settlement there. In two paternity suits involving Cape Coloured persons, maternal and paternal exclusions were present unless the inheritance of an MS^u or an NS^u chromosome was postulated, and MS, NS and Ns chromosomes were seen to accompany He+ alleles in them.     

Regulation of technology transfer: The Mexican experience

Beginning some 20 years ago, regulation of technology transfer became common-place in a number of developing countries. Whether such regulation could prove beneficial was often questioned, particularly in the industrialized world. But with a 15–20 year history to study, we can now look at the impact that regulation has had. Mexico presents a good case study, as its original law was one of the earliest, and the country's political continuity has led to a detectable evolvement of the technology-transfer process that allows analysis of various factors over time.     

Predicting batterer recidivism five years after community intervention

The purpose of this study was to examine batterer recidivism rates 5 years after community intervention and to determine differences that discriminate between recidivists and nonrecidivists. Of the 100 men included in the sample, 40% were identified as recidivists because they were either convicted of domestic assault, the subject of an order for protection, or a police suspect for domestic assault. A discriminant analysis was conducted using a variety of background and intervention variables. Five variables were selected that significantly discriminated between recidivists and nonrecidivists and correctly classified 60.6% of the cases. Men who had been abusive for a shorter duration prior to the program, court ordered to have a chemical dependency evaluation, in chemical dependency treatment, abused as children, and previously convicted for nonassault crimes were more likely to be recidivists. Variables relating to intervention did not significantly predict recidivism. Implications for community intervention programs are discussed.     

Expert Approaches to Communicating Violence Risk

There has been virtually no empirical study of the way in which evaluating clinicians communicate their conclusions about the risk of violence toward others. Risk communication has become particularly important in recent years, serving as the link between empirical data from recent studies and the understanding and use of such data by evaluators and decision makers. The present study considered how psychologists and psychiatrists, identified as experts in violence risk assessment, responded to eight vignettes that systematically measured preferences for risk communication. The vignettes involved the presentation of the following factors in a 2 × 2 × 2 within-subjects design, counterbalanced for order: (1) risk model (prediction vs. management), (2) risk level (high vs. low risk of the individual being assessed), and (3) risk factors (the predominance of static vs. dynamic risk factors). A total of 71 individuals (41 psychologists, 2 sociologists, and 28 psychiatrists) responded to a survey mailed to 100 individuals, for a response rate of 71%. Participants were asked to rate the value of six forms of risk communication for each of the eight vignettes. There were few significant differences between the ratings assigned by psychologists and those assigned by psychiatrists. The most highly valued form of risk communication involved identifying risk factors applicable to the individual and specifying interventions to reduce risk. A repeated-measures multivariate analysis of variance yielded a main effect for risk level and an interaction between risk level and risk factors. The implications of these findings for research and practice are discussed.     

Psycholegal Assessment of Co-occurring Chronic Pain and Schizophrenia Post-MVC: Analysis of Causation Using Two Case Examples

The key aspect of any psycholegal assessment is the analysis of causation, which requires consideration of important legal constructs such as the but for test, material contribution test, thin skull, and crumbling skull. An analysis of causation can be especially helpful in determining overall liability when evaluating the impact of two major co-occurring conditions. This paper focuses on the utility of conducting an analysis of causation using two case examples in which chronic pain and schizophrenia co-occurred following a motor vehicle collision (MVC). Collision-related injuries often lead to the development of chronic pain and could result in permanent and serious impairment and disability. Schizophrenia is a rare psychological occurrence in the collision context and is associated with its own unique and overwhelming physical, psychological, and cognitive challenges. In the psycholegal context, evaluating the impact of two major co-occurring conditions can be problematic and lead to conceptual challenges. In the two cases presented, some assessors attributed nearly all post-collision changes to schizophrenia as if it were pre-existing or in a latent state and failed to assess or even consider the contribution of MVC-related sequelae to the onset of schizophrenia. As part of addressing these conceptual challenges, we present a model of psycholegal assessment that takes into account the pre-, peri- and post-MVC variables that best explain the occurrence of these two conditions. The model also allows the assessor to determine the current and future needs of injured persons, the permanent physical, psychological, and cognitive sequelae that impact quality of life and/or work, and prognosis for the near and distant future.