Pervasive developmental disorders and criminal behaviour: a case control study

The prevalence and pattern of criminal behaviour in a population of 313 former child psychiatric in-patients with pervasive developmental disorders were studied. The patients were divided into three subgroups and compared with 933 matched controls from the general population. Age at follow-up was between 25 years and 59 years. An account of convictions in the nationwide Danish Register of Criminality was used as a measure of criminal behaviour. Among 113 cases with childhood autism, .9% had been convicted. In atypical autism (n=86) and Asperger's syndrome (n=114) the percentages were 8.1% and 18.4%, respectively. The corresponding rate of convictions in the comparison groups was 18.9%, 14.7%, and 19.6% respectively. Particular attention is given to arson in Asperger's syndrome (p= .0009).     

Ontario proposes to regulate viatical settlements

Proposed new regulations would allow any company to apply for a licence to trade in viatical settlements in Ontario. Currently, only insurance companies can engage in this practice.     

Child support enforcement policy and unmarried fathers' employment in the underground and regular economies

Some scholars have suggested that a negative consequence of strengthening child support enforcement is to encourage fathers to shift from regular sector to underground employment. We employ data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to investigate the relationship between the strength of child support enforcement (CSE) and levels of underground and regular sector employment among unmarried fathers. We find that, in general, living in a city with stricter CSE is associated with fewer hours of underground employment. We find little evidence that stronger enforcement is associated with employment or hours in the regular sector. © 2007 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.     

Characteristics of Adolescents Who Report Very High Life Satisfaction

This study investigated the characteristics of adolescents who report high levels of life global satisfaction. A total of 485 adolescents completed the Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale (SLSS) (Huebner, E. S. (1991). Sch. Psychol. Int. 12: 231–240.) along with self-report measures of intrapersonal, interpersonal, and school-related functioning. Based on their SLSS scores, students were divided into three groups: “low” (bottom 20% of the distribution), “average” (middle 50%), and “high” (upper 20%). Youth in the high satisfaction group reported significantly higher adaptive functioning on all dependent variables than youth in the low satisfaction group. Relative to students with average life satisfaction, students with high life satisfaction reported superior scores on a measure of social stress, a measure of attitudes toward teachers, and on all measures of intrapersonal functioning. Also, no adolescents in the high life satisfaction group demonstrated clinical levels of psychological symptoms, whereas 7% of the average group and 42% of the low satisfaction group reported clinical levels of symptoms. Taken together, the findings suggested that high life satisfaction is associated with some mental health benefits that are not found among youth reporting comparatively lower satisfaction levels.Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology at the University of Kentucky. Research interests include positive well-being among youth, perfectionism, and peer neglect. He is a recent recipient of the APA Division 16 (School Psychology) award for scholarly contribution.Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of South Carolina. Research interests involve the conceptualization, measurement, and implications of positive psychological well-being constructs among youth. He is currently director of the School Psychology Program, and fellow of Division 16 of the APA and the International Society for Quality of Life Studies.     

Assessing the factors associated with sexual harassment among young female migrant workers in Nepal

This article explores the extent of, and factors associated with, sexual harassment of young female migrant workers in the carpet and garment factories in Kathmandu Valley. Information is drawn from a survey of 550 female workers aged 14 to 19 and 12 in-depth case histories. Bivariate and multivariate techniques were applied to identify the factors associated with harassment. The survey found that 1 in 10 young women had experienced sexual harassment or coercion. Those who were exposed to pornographic movies were more likely than those with no exposure to any kind of movies to report sexual harassment. Perpetrators included coworkers, boyfriends, employers, and relatives. Case histories revealed that the inability of young women to communicate effectively with their peers and sex partners, lack of self-esteem, job insecurity, and other socioeconomic problems made them vulnerable to these abuses. The results suggest the need for advocacy and a range of factory-based interventions.