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Executive Functions and Social Cognition in Juveniles Who Have Sexually Offended
Abstract
Although neuropsychological assessments provide valuable information for those working in forensic mental health, few neuropsychological studies concern persons who sexually offend, particularly juveniles who have sexually offended (JSO). It has been suggested that, contrary to current theories, executive function in JSO, as a group, is no more impaired than it is in juvenile delinquents in general. However, JSO with child victims seem to be more impulsive than JSO whose victims are peers or adults. To verify this potentially important (and unexpected) finding, a sample of adolescent males ( N = 134; 15.6 ± 1.5 years old) that included JSO, general delinquents, and underprivileged nondelinquents was assessed using a battery of behavioral and psychological tests that focus on impulsivity. No difference was found between groups regarding higher order executive functions as measured with the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task but JSO with child victims were found to be the most impulsive subgroup as evidenced with the Iowa Gambling Task, the Stop-Signal Reaction Task, and the Impulsive scale of the Social Problem Solving Inventory. They also had the highest number of prescriptions for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medication. These results, which contradict hypotheses derived from assessment of adult sex offenders, illustrate an important difference between the cognitive profiles of adult and juvenile males who sexually offended. They also confirm that JSO whose victims are children appear to be more impulsive.
... Neuropsychological assessment has been employed to assess a wide variety of Regarding the underage population convicted of crimes, the general objective of the studies was to try to identify executive dysfunctions in these individuals [83][84][85][86] . They also investigated possible risk factors for minors to develop criminal behavior in relation to previous environmental conditions, life experiences and comorbid conditions 87,88 . ...
The introduction of neuropsychologists in legal practice allowed for the field of forensic neuropsychology to arise. However, it is still a recent field of knowledge that is in continuous development. The existing literature highlights the incipience of studies in this area and the need for adaptation of instruments and methods. Thus, this scoping review aims to analyze how neuropsychological assessment has been employed so far in the forensic context. In order to do this, a search and a follow-up were conducted in the databases PsycInfo, Scopus and Web of Science. The query used for both searches was "(neuropsychological assessment OR neuropsychological test)" AND "forensic" OR "forensic neuropsychology". Initially, 1001 papers were identified, and after a two-stage screening process, 83 articles were included for analysis. Regarding neuropsychological assessment, the most investigated constructs were cognitive levels, memory and symptom validity. The heterogeneity of employed instruments we found in the studies evidenced the great existing variability in forensic neuropsychological practice. Among the most assessed populations were individuals with psychiatric, psychological or neurological diagnoses and male adult detainees in general. With this review, we expect to provide an overview on the current state of forensic neuropsychology, as well as information that may serve as a starting point for new research and further developments in the field.
... 42 It may be the case that ToM is not a pivotal piece in the emergence of delinquent behavior, but indeed a trigger during the development. Literature has not data supporting clear differences between people with a history of legally relevant aggressive behavior and psychopathic traits regarding ToM, [43][44][45] however, there is supporting evidence for holding that impairments in this regard reduce during the development. 46 Interestingly, though, was the study conducted by Jusyte and Schönenberg (2009), which revealed a specific deficit in the categorization of ambiguous negative facial expressions in a group of violent offenders, while no differences were observed concerning the perceptual sensitivity on neutral/emotional stimuli. ...
Introduction:
Delinquent behaviors are risky behaviors that increase during puberty and reach the highest peak in late adolescence. It has been proposed that poor decision-making and theory of mind (ToM) are key cognitive processes implicated with delinquency during adolescence, affecting the valuation of risks and lack of social norms appreciation, respectively. Nevertheless, it is not clear yet whether adolescent offenders who are at provisional deprivation of liberty due to conflict with the law (ACL) might, in fact, present a specific profile in these cognitive processes.
Objective:
To assess deliberative decision-making and ToM among adolescents with and without conflict with the law.
Method:
:The sample comprised 62 participants: ACL (n=29) and a control group (CG; n=33). ToM was assessed with the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test and decision-making was assessed with the Columbia Card Task. Additionally, substance use, callous-unemotional traits, childhood maltreatment and IQ, were assessed.
Results:
ACL had more ToM errors for negative mental states in comparison to CG, but not for error rates concerning neutral and positive mental states. With regards to decision-making, our results suggest that ACL group did not vary their behavior based on the available information and that the risk information has an opposite effect in the number of cards (risk-taking behavior) when compared to CG.
Conclusion:
These findings have important implications for the development of interventions for these adolescents, suggesting that they tend to learn little from negative outcomes while have reduced capacity to process negative emotions.
... For certain persons, however, these inhibitory mechanisms are defective, leading to an acting out. Impulsivity is a paramount aspect of the neuropsychological profiles of sexual offenders, both in adults and in adolescents (Joyal et al., 2020). Importantly, this acting out is not necessarily atypical or illegal, it might also concern typical sexual behaviors (non-paraphilic hypersexuality; Kafka, 2010). ...
... Although little attention has been paid to reinforcement learning in the sexual offender literature, some recent studies suggest that PSOCs indeed do present with reinforcement learning impairments. Joyal, Tardif, and Spearson-Goulet (2018) administered the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT; Bechara, Damasio, Damasio, & Anderson, 1994) to 39 juveniles who had sexually offended (JSO) against child victims, 15 JSO against peer or adult victims, 41 adolescents with a nonsexual offense history, and 39 nondelinquent adolescents. In this task, participants are asked to earn as much money as possible by choosing cards from four decks. ...
Prior studies suggest that persons with a sexual offense against a child (PSOCs) present with an impairment in learning from reinforcement, which may contribute to the behavioral dysregulation often seen in PSOCs. Therefore, gaining more insight into the nature of this impairment seems essential to better understand child sexual (re)offending. Using a passive avoidance task, we found that PSOCs ( n = 57) have difficulties with selecting behaviors that are associated with reward and suppressing behaviors that are associated with punishment relative to nonoffending men ( n = 33), but not compared with persons with a nonsexual offense history ( n = 31). The latter ability was particularly compromised in nonpedophilic PSOCs. By unraveling a source of pathology in the mechanisms that are involved in behavioral control, this study helps setting a step toward new, more tailored, therapeutic approaches.
Antisocial behavior in adolescents is generally seen as a neurodevelopmental problem. However, in spite of increasing knowledge on the neurobiology of persistent antisocial behavior, conduct disorders and psychopathic traits, this knowledge is hardly used in clinical practice.
Aim of this review is to give an overview of current research on the neurobiology of antisocial behavior in adolescents, and to discuss how this knowledge can be translated to youth forensic clinical practice.
First, an overview of recent literature on genetics, neuroimaging, neuropsychology, neurophysiology/neuroendocrinology and antisocial behavior in adolescents is given. Second, implications for diagnostics, risk taxation and treatment are discussed. Finally, an integrated biopsychosocial approach for future research regarding translational forensic child and adolescent psychology and psychiatry is advocated.
This is the preprint version of a chapter published in: L. A. Craig & R. M. Bartels (Eds.) 2021. Sexual Deviance: Understanding and Managing Deviant Sexual Interest and Paraphilic Disorders. Wiley. https://www.wiley.com/en-gb/Sexual+Deviance%3A+Understanding+and+Managing+Deviant+Sexual+Interests+and+Paraphilic+Disorders-p-9781119705833
Suppression of certain types of reflexive emotional responses is thought to temporarily deplete executive functions (EF), as evidenced by poorer performance on measures of EF, but does not deplete other, lower-order cognitive processes. This study examined whether similar decrements in performance on EF tests would occur following suppression of sexual arousal. A sample of 44 male college students underwent baseline cognitive assessment (EF and lower-order cognitive processes), followed by experimental manipulation consisting of exposure to sexually explicit audiovisual stimuli. Sexual arousal was monitored using penile plethysmography. In this study, 21 participants were assigned to a suppression condition and were instructed to suppress sexual arousal during the video, while 23 were assigned to an arousal condition and were instructed to allow themselves to become aroused. Following experimental manipulation, cognition was reassessed. Unexpectedly, results showed EF decrements in the arousal group but not in the suppression group. As expected, only EF was affected by experimental manipulation, with no group differences in lower-order cognitive processes. Thus, the findings suggest that sexual arousal is associated with temporary decrements in EF performance, at least among young, primarily White, male college students. The results contribute to understanding why sexually charged situations are sometimes associated with poor decisions or unsafe/reckless sexual practices.
Current theories view impulsivity as an important factor in the explanation of sexual
offending. While impulsivity itself is a multidimensional construct, response inhibition and
impulsive decision-making are two frequently discussed subcomponents. Impulsivity in
sexual offenders could be triggered by sexual cues with high emotional significance. The
present study compared response inhibition abilities and the degree of impulsive decisionmaking between 63 child sexual abusers and 63 non-offending controls. A Go/No-Go task was used to assess response inhibition, while the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and the Game of Dice Task (GDT) were used for the assessment of decision-making. In contrast to previous studies, modified versions of the Go/No-Go task and the IGT were used, including pictures of the Not Real People-Set depicting nude adults and children. Child sexual abusers showed more deficits in response inhibition in the Go/No-Go task. Furthermore, decision-making was especially impaired by the presence of child images in child sexual abusers with more intense pedophilic sexual interests. In contrast, in the non-offending controls the presence of preferred sexual cues (pictures of women) improved decision-making performance. No differences in overall GDT performance were found between the groups; however, child sexual abusers chose the riskiest option more frequently than non-offending controls. In line with theoretical assumptions about the processes underlying sexual offending, child sexual abusers show more deficits in neuropsychological functioning, which may be related to more impulsive behaviors. These impairments could be triggered by the presence of sexually relevant cues.
Although executive dysfunctions are commonly hypothesized to contribute to sexual deviance or aggression, evidence of this relationship is scarce and its specificity is unproven, especially among adolescents. The objective of this study was to compare the executive functioning (EF) of adolescents with sexual offense convictions (ASOC) to that of non-sex-delinquents (NSD). A secondary goal was to assess the relationship among specific sexual offense characteristics (i.e., victim age), history of childhood sexual abuse (CSA), and EF. It was hypothesized that as a group, ASOC would present similar EF profiles as NSD. It was further hypothesized that ASOC with child victims would present significantly higher rates of CSA and more severe impairment of EF than ASOC with peer-aged or older victims and NSD. A total of 183 male adolescents (127 ASOC and 56 NSD) were interviewed to collect demographic information, sexual development history, history of CSA, an assessment of living conditions, and history of delinquency and sexual offending. Participants were administered the Delis-Kaplan Executive Functioning System and the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Youth Version. In accord with the first hypothesis, ASOC and NSD presented similar EF scores, well below normative values. Thus, EF deficits may not characterize the profiles of adolescents with sexual behavior problems. Contrarily to our second hypothesis, however, offending against children and or experiencing CSA were not associated with poorer EF performance. On the contrary, ASOC with child victims obtained significantly higher scores on measures of higher order EF than both ASOC with peer-aged or older victims and NSD. Implications of these results and future directions are discussed.
© The Author(s) 2015.
Introduction:
Sexual interest toward prepubescents and pubescents (pedophilia and hebephilia) constitutes a major risk factor for child sexual abuse (CSA) and viewing of child abusive images, i.e., child pornography offenses (CPO). Most child sexual exploitation involving CSA and CPO are undetected and unprosecuted in the "Dunkelfeld" (German: "dark field").
Aim:
This study assesses a treatment program to enhance behavioral control and reduce associated dynamic risk factors (DRF) in self-motivated pedophiles/hebephiles in the Dunkelfeld.
Methods:
Between 2005 and 2011, 319 undetected help-seeking pedophiles and hebephiles expressed interest in taking part in an anonymous and confidential 1-year-treatment program using broad cognitive behavioral methodology in the Prevention Project Dunkelfeld. Therapy was assessed using nonrandomized waiting list control design (n=53 treated group [TG]; n=22 untreated control group [CG]).
Main outcome measures:
Self-reported pre-/posttreatment DRF changes were assessed and compared with CG. Offending behavior characteristics were also assessed via self-reporting.
Results:
No pre-/postassessment changes occurred in the control group. Emotional deficits and offense-supportive cognitions decreased in the TG; posttherapy sexual self-regulation increased. Treatment-related changes were distributed unequally across offender groups. None of the offending behavior reported for the TG was identified as such by the legal authorities. However, five of 25 CSA offenders and 29 of 32 CPO offenders reported ongoing behaviors under therapy.
Conclusions:
Therapy for pedophiles/hebephiles in the Dunkelfeld can alter child sexual offending DRF and reduce-related behaviors. Unidentified, unlawful child sexual exploitative behaviors are more prevalent in this population than in officially reported recidivism. Further research into factors predictive of problematic sexual behaviors in the Dunkelfeld is warranted.
Our aim in this study was to evaluate executive function and its relationship to delinquency and sexual crime in adolescents incarcerated for sexual crimes. Based on self-report data, 196 male adolescent sexual offenders from a Midwest state reported high rates of executive dysfunction. Although such deficits did not relate to the number of victims of sexual abuse, severity, or degree of force used in commission of the sexual crimes, poor executive function was significantly predictive of both general delinquency and felony theft. In both measures of delinquent conduct, behavioral regulation dysfunction was predictive of the frequency of commission of the crimes, whereas metacognition was not. Research and treatment implications are offered.
© The Author(s) 2014.
More knowledge is needed about the etiology and treatment needs of adolescent sex offenders. The current study compared adolescents who had offended against children (defined as below the age of 12 and at least 5 years younger than the adolescent), adolescents who have offended against peers or adults, and adolescents who had victims in both age groups. Based on Seto and Lalumière's meta-analytic findings, participants were compared on theoretically derived factors, including childhood sexual abuse, atypical sexual interests, sexual experience, social competence, psychiatric history, and general delinquency factors (past criminal history, substance abuse history, and offense characteristics). The study sample consisted of 162 court-referred male adolescent sexual offenders aged 12 to 17 years. Of the six identified domains, groups significantly differed on five of them; the exceptions were variables reflecting social competence. The results further support the validity of distinguishing adolescent sex offenders by victim age.
Research shows that pedophilic (PED) child molesters exhibit slower performance speed and greater performance accuracy when compared to nonpedophilic (N-PED) child molesters or other criminal and noncriminal controls. The purpose of the present study was to examine whether these differences reflect a slow/deliberate response style among PEDS (as we have previously hypothesized; Eastvold, Suchy, & Strassberg, 2011; Suchy, Whittaker, Strassberg, & Eastvold, 2009a, 2009b), or a fundamental neuropathological weakness in processing speed. Data came from a larger study examining neurocognition among sex offenders. Processing speed in three different domains (motor speed, visual-perceptual speed, and visual-motor integration) was examined in 20 phallometrically identified PEDs, 20 N-PEDs, and 20 nonsexual offenders, using both clinical (Finger Tapping, Symbol Search, Digit Symbol Coding) and experimental measures (Inspection Time Task [ITT]). The ITT assessed speed of visual-perceptual processing independent of response speed. On clinical measures, PEDs exhibited slower visual perception [F(2, 57) = 5.24, p = .008] and visual-motor integration [F(2, 57) = 5.02, p = .010] than the other groups, with no differences for simple motor speed. On the ITT, PEDs performed less accurately than the other groups [F(2, 57) = 3.95, p = .025], clearly indicating that slow processing speed cannot be explained by a deliberate response style. Group differences persisted after controlling for other potential confounds (age, estimate IQ, working memory, ethnicity, and substance use). PEDs' slower performance is due to a fundamental neurocognitive weakness, rather than a slow/deliberate response style. These results are consistent with Cantor et al.'s (2008) work identifying white matter abnormalities among PEDs and provide further support for a neurodevelopmental etiology of pedophilia. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).
Introduction: The present study sought to examine two methods by which to improve decision making on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT): inducing a negative mood and providing additional learning trials.
Method: In the first study, 194 undergraduate students [74 male; Mage = 19.44 (SD = 3.69)] were randomly assigned to view a series of pictures to induce a positive, negative, or neutral mood immediately prior to the IGT. In the second study, 276 undergraduate students [111 male; Mage = 19.18 (SD = 2.58)] completed a delay discounting task and back-to-back administrations of the IGT.
Results: Participants in an induced negative mood selected more from Deck C during the final trials than those in an induced positive mood. Providing additional learning trials resulted in better decision making: participants shifted their focus from the frequency of immediate gains/losses (i.e., a preference for Decks B and D) to long-term outcomes (i.e., a preference for Deck D). In addition, disadvantageous decision making on the additional learning trials was associated with larger delay discounting (i.e., a preference for more immediate but smaller rewards).
Conclusions: The present results indicate that decision making is affected by negative mood state, and that decision making can be improved by increasing the number of learning trials. In addition, the current results provide evidence of a relationship between performance on the IGT and on a separate measure of decision making, the delay discounting task. Moreover, the present results indicate that improved decision making on the IGT can be attributed to shifting focus toward long-term outcomes, as evidenced by increased selections from advantageous decks as well as correlations between the IGT and delay discounting task. Implications for the assessment of decision making using the IGT are discussed.
The Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) was administered to 120 subjects in the standardized 128-card format. The standard scoring measures of the traditional administration were compared to those obtained using only the first 64 cards. Rank ordered correlations for all of the measures were significant. T-test comparisons revealed no differences on the measures between the test versions. These results provide preliminary support for an abbreviated administration of the WCST. Suggestions regarding further research are discussed.
Over past decade, the Iowa gambling task (IGT) has been utilized to test various decision deficits induced by neurological damage or psychiatric disorders. The IGT has recently been standardized for identifying 13 different neuropsychological disorders. Neuropsychological patients choose bad decks frequently, and normal subjects prefer good expected value (EV) decks. However, the IGT has several validity and reliability problems. Some research groups have pointed out that the validity of IGT is influenced by the personality and emotional state of subjects. Additionally, several other studies have proposed that the "prominent deck B phenomenon" (PDB phenomenon) - that is, normal subjects preferring bad deck B - may be the most serious problem confronting IGT validity. Specifically, deck B offers a high frequency of gains but negative EV. In the standard IGT administration, choice behavior can be understood with reference to gain-loss frequency (GLF) rather than inferred future consequences (EV, the basic assumption of IGT). Furthermore, using two different criteria (basic assumption vs. professional norm) results in significantly different classification results. Therefore, we recruited 72 normal subjects to test the validity and reliability of IGT. Each subject performed three runs of the computer-based clinical IGT version. The PDB phenomenon has been observed to a significant degree in the first and second stages of the clinical IGT version. Obviously, validity, reliability, and the practice effect were unstable between two given stages. The present form of the clinical IGT version has only one stage, so its use should be reconsidered for examining normal decision makers; results from patient groups must also be interpreted with great care. GLF could be the main factor to be considered in establishing the constructional validity and reliability of the clinical IGT version.
The Psychology Experimental Building Language http://pebl.sourceforge.net/ Berg Card Sorting Test is an open-source neurobehavioral test. Participants (N = 207, ages 6 to 74) completed the Berg Card Sorting Test. Performance on the first 64 trials were isolated and compared to that on the full-length (128 trials) test. Strong correlations between the short and long forms (total errors: r = .87, perseverative response: r = .83, perseverative errors r = .77, categories completed r = .86) support the Berg Card Sorting Test-64 as an abbreviated alternative for the full-length executive function test.
Typically, neuropsychological studies of sex offenders have grouped together different types of individuals and different types of measures. This is why results have tended to be nonspecific and divergent across studies. Against this background, the authors undertook a review of the literature regarding the neuropsychology of sex offenders, taking into account subgroups based on criminological theories. They also conducted a meta-analysis of the data to demonstrate the cognitive heterogeneity of sex offenders statistically. Their main objective was to test the hypothesis to the effect that the neuropsychological deficits of sex offenders are not broad and generalized compared with specific subgroups of participants based on specific measures. In all, 23 neuropsychological studies reporting data on 1,756 participants were taken into consideration. As expected, a highly significant, broad, and heterogeneous overall effect size was found. Taking subgroups of participants and specific cognitive measures into account significantly improved homogeneity. Sex offenders against children tended to obtain lower scores than did sex offenders against adults on higher order executive functions, whereas sex offenders against adults tended to obtain results similar to those of non-sex offenders, with lower scores in verbal fluency and inhibition. However, it is concluded that neuropsychological data on sex offenders are still too scarce to confirm these trends or to test more precise hypotheses. For greater clinical relevance, future neuropsychological studies should consider specific subgroups of participants and measures to verify the presence of different cognitive profiles.
Two studies investigated the relationship between shyness (tension and inhibition with others) and sociability (preference for being with others rather than being alone) using 952 undergraduates. A factor analysis of shyness and sociability items revealed 2 distinct factors, indicating that shyness and sociability are distinct personality dispositions. Self-reported shyness showed only a moderate negative correlation with self-reported sociability. Furthermore, the measures of shyness and sociability had different patterns of correlations with other personality scales (e.g., the Public and Private Self-Consciousness scales of the Self-Consciousness Inventory, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and the EASI [Emotionality, Activity, Sociability, Impulsivity] Temperament Survey). On the basis of these findings, it is concluded that shyness is not just low sociability. Next, 4 groups of Ss were selected: shy–sociable, shy–unsociable, unshy–sociable, and unshy–unsociable. Pairs of these Ss, matched for both traits, interacted for 5 min. Shy–sociable Ss talked less, averted their gaze more, and engaged in more self-manipulation than did the other 3 groups. In studying social behavior, it should be known whether Ss are shy but also whether they are sociable. (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).
The aim of this study was to identify two sub-populations of sex offenders based on the age of the victims and on the age difference between the abuser and the victim (child sexual abusers vs. peer sexual abusers), and to compare the personality characteristics of these two subgroups with those of juvenile non-sex offenders. The group was composed of 67 adolescent offenders aged 13-18 years who were adjudicated for sexual offenses or non-sexual offenses: 20 non-sex offenders (JNSOs), 26 child sexual abusers (CAs), and 21 peer sexual abusers (PAs). The Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory (MACI) was administered to all participants. The mean scores and clinical cutoffs on the MACI scales were compared across the three samples. Compared with PAs, CAs were more submissive and conforming, and they experienced more anxious feelings. Peer sexual abusers scored higher on the unruly and forceful personality scales, on social insensitivity, and on delinquent predisposition. Peer sexual abusers also reported higher scores on substance-abuse proneness, impulsive propensities, and antisocial functioning than CAs, but their scores were similar to those of JNSOs. Our results show clear similarities between PAs and JNSOs in terms of personality and clinical characteristics, especially with regard to antisocial personality traits. Child sexual abusers did not display the personality characteristics typical of PAs and JNSOs which predisposed them to delinquent activities. These results raise questions as to whether juvenile sex offenders should be treated within the same institutions as non-sex offenders and whether the same treatment programs should be implemented for all types of juvenile sex offenders.
Restricted (confirmatory) and unrestricted (exploratory) factor analyses were used to investigate the factor structure of the Social Problem-Solving Inventory (SPSI; D'Zurilla & Nezu, 1990). The SPSI is based on a theoretical model consisting of two general components (problem orientation and problem-solving skills) which are further divided into seven primary subcomponents (cognitive, emotional, and behavioral aspects of problem orientation and four specific problem-solving skills). Thus, both a two-factor model and a hierarchical model with seven first-order factors and two second-order factors were tested. The results provided only modest support for the two-factor model, and the hierarchical model failed to show substantial improvement over this model. Further analyses using exploratory as well as confirmatory methods found that an alternative five-factor model was best for the SPSI in the sense of goodness of fit, parsimony, and cross-validation. The implications of these results for social problem-solving theory and assessment are discussed.
The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) has been widely used to assess differences in decision-making under uncertainty. Recently, several studies have shown that healthy subjects do not meet the basic predictions of the task (i.e., prefer options with positive long-term outcome), hence questioning its basic assumptions. Since choice options are characterized by gain and net loss frequency in addition to long-term outcome, we hypothesized that a combination of features rather than a single feature would influence participants' choices. Offering an alternative way of modeling IGT data, we propose to use a system of linear equations to estimate weights that quantify the influence of each individual feature on decision-making in the IGT. With our proposed model it is possible to disentangle and quantify the impact of each of these features. Results from 119 healthy young subjects suggest that choice behavior is predominantly influenced by gain and loss frequency. Subjects preferred choices associated with high-frequency gains to those with low-frequency gains, regardless of long-term outcome. However, among options with low-frequency gains, subjects learned to distinguish between choices that led to advantageous and disadvantageous long-term consequences. This is reflected in the relationship between the weights for gain frequency (highest), loss frequency (intermediate), and long-term outcome (lowest). Further, cluster analysis of estimated feature weights revealed sub-groups of participants with distinct weight patterns and associated advantageous decision behavior. However, subjects in general do not learn to solely base their preference for particular decks on expected long-term outcome. Consequently, long-term outcome alone is not able to drive choice behavior on the IGT. In sum, our model facilitates a more focused conclusion about the factors guiding decision-making in the IGT. In addition, differences between clinical groups can be assessed for each factor individually.
There is increasing evidence of neurocognitive dysfunction among child molesters, supporting the notion of brain anomalies among pedophiles. However, approximately half of child molesters are not pedophilic (i.e., are not primarily attracted to children), and neurocognitive differences between pedophilic (PED) and nonpedophilic (NPED) child molesters are not well understood. The purpose of this study was to assess neurocognition, specifically executive functioning (EF), among phallometrically defined PED and NPED child molesters, relative to nonsexual offenders (NSO). Participants (N = 89) were compared on seven EF domains. Results revealed that (a) child molesters exhibited an overall executive profile that was different from that of NSOs, with PEDs differing from NSOs but not from NPEDs; (b) child molesters on the whole performed better than NSOs on abstract reasoning and more poorly on inhibition; and (c) PEDs performed better than NPEDs on planning and exhibited better overall performance accuracy relative to NPEDs. These results suggest that PEDs exhibit a more deliberate, planful response style characterized by greater self-monitoring; whereas NPEDs appear to respond more impulsively. The current report further elucidates neurocognition among child molesters and highlights the need for future research examining subtypes of child molesters.
The present project utilized the Five Factor Model of personality (FFM; McCrae & Costa, 1990) to clarify the multi-faceted nature of impulsivity. The NEO-PI-R and a number of commonly used impulsivity measures were administered to over 400 young adults. Exploratory factor analyses identified four distinct personality facets associated with impulsive-like behavior which were labeled urgency, (lack of) premeditation, (lack of) perseverance, and sensation seeking. Each of these traits was marked by a different facet of the FFM. Following the initial factor identification, scales to measure each of the personality facets were created and combined to form the UPPS Impulsive Behavior scale. Implications for the understanding of impulsive behavior and the FFM are discussed, as are future applications of the UPPS impulsive behavior scale.
This paper represents a first attempt to provide an integrated framework to explain the onset, development, and maintenance of sexual offending. According to the Integrated Theory of Sexual Offending (ITSO), sexual abuse occurs as a consequence of a number of interacting causal variables. We examine the factors that affect brain development (evolution, genetic variations and neurobiology) and ecological factors (social and cultural environment, personal circumstances, physical environment) and discuss how they impact upon core neuropsychological functions underpinning human action. The ITSO then explains how clinical symptoms arise from the interaction between these neurological systems and ecological factors. The capacity of the ITSO to incorporate competing theories of sexual offending is considered, and we end the paper by critically evaluating its usefulness in stimulating research and further theory development.
To describe trends in the prevalence of prescribed attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medication by Canadian preschoolers and school-age children and to compare these with trends in the prevalence of the ADHD diagnosis between 1994 and 2007.
Subjects participated in the National Longitudinal Survey on Children and Youth, a Canadian prospective survey collecting data biennially. Three cross-sectional samples of nonreferred children, aged 3 to 9 years and representative of Canadian children for 1994-1995 (n = 12 595), 2000-2001 (n = 13 904), and 2006-2007 (n = 14 655), were selected for the analyses. Information on prescribed medications and ADHD diagnosis was reported by each child's parents. Prevalence was estimated at each cycle, taking the child's age and sex into account.
The estimated prevalence of prescribed medications and ADHD diagnosis in Canada was generally low (less than 3%), but higher for boys (less than 4%) and school-age children (less than 5%). Preschoolers' prevalence of both prescribed medications and ADHD diagnosis stayed stable between 1994 and 2007 (1% or less), while that of school-age children increased nearly 2-fold. Boys' prevalence was higher than that of girls, but girls show the steepest increase over time, up to 2.1-fold. The association between prescribed medications and ADHD diagnosis has strengthened during the 2000s: a greater number of medications were used for children with ADHD (from 43% in 2000 to 59% in 2007) while off-label use of prescribed medications decreased among school-age children.
The upward trend in the prevalence of prescribed ADHD medications and ADHD diagnosis currently observed in contemporary societies is also occurring in Canada, except with preschoolers.
Previous studies have described juveniles who sexually offended (JSO) as a rather heterogeneous population. In consequence, different typologies of JSO have been proposed for a better understanding of the causes and interventional needs of JSO. Three previously described types have received support in previous studies, namely, the victim age type (JSO offending against children vs. adolescents or adults), the co-offender status type (JSO offending as singles vs. in groups), and the crime history type (JSO with vs. without a previous history of crime). The validity of these types is tested in a consecutive sample of 223 criminal male adolescents, who had been convicted of a sexual offense between 2000 and 2008 in the Canton of Zurich (Switzerland). By analyzing nine offender characteristics, four victim characteristics and six offense characteristics, the best evidence is found for the victim age-based type. The co-offender status and the crime history types are less well supported. However, all three types are related to each other and do not provide a comprehensive characterization of JSO. Therefore, an additional principal component analyses is performed searching for basic dimensions of juvenile sexual delinquency and leading to the following factors: "single offender with severe molestation of a related child," "persistent general delinquent with migrant background," "older offender with alcohol use and familial constraints," "multiple and aggressive offender with social adversities," and "offender with unselected and multiple victims." These five dimensions reflect different relevant factors of sexual offending behavior in male juveniles and may have further impact on forensic and clinical practice.
Understanding the pathways and circumstances of juvenile sexual offending is of utmost importance. However, juvenile sexual offenders (JSO) represent an especially diverse group of individuals, and several categorizations have been proposed to obtain more homogeneous subgroups. Victim age-based and family relation-based categorizations are particularly promising because they seem theoretically and clinically relevant. Empirical results however are still inconsistent, and most studies have not considered these two dimensions jointly. The first goal of this study was to further examine the value of sub-grouping JSO according to the age of their victim. A second goal was to determine the supplementary value, if any, of considering sibling incest. Based on a sample of 351 male JSO, it was first confirmed that sexual abuse of children was more strongly related to asocial-ity (social skill deficits) than sexual abuse of peers, the latter being more closely associated with antisociality (general delinquency). The relevance of considering mixed-type JSO (with both child and peer victims) separately was also confirmed. More importantly, multivariate statistical analyses demonstrated that adding sibling incest to the equation was useful. JSO of intra-familial child were significantly more likely to have been victimized during their own childhood compared to JSO with extra-familial victims. Nevertheless, adolescents who had committed sibling incest obtained middle ground results on most variables (except for crime severity), suggesting that they constitute a distinct but not extreme, subgroup. This study confirmed the utility of using both the age and the family relation with the victim in characterizing juvenile sexual offending.
Sexual offending represents the violation of social norms; brain architecture and functioning are biological entities; hence, there is no one-to-one correspondence of the two domains. This chapter provides an overview of extant findings on neuropsychological deficits in sexual offenders and gives a summary of structural and functional brain abnormality observed in sexual offenders. It discusses the legal and ethical implications of neuroscience research on sexual offending. Sexual deviance is a primary risk factor for sexual reoffending. One component of sexual deviance is sexual arousal toward inappropriate sexual objects or behaviors, such as images of children or displays of coercive activity; another pertinent component is sexual interest as evidenced by an attentional bias for corresponding stimuli. Neuroanatomical and neurophysiological correlates of sexual deviance are increasingly becoming identified. Deficits in self-regulation were also identified as a risk factor for sexual reoffending.
A meta-analysis of naturalistic studies of the academic performance-delinquency relationship and of intervention studies aimed both at improving academic performance and reducing delinquency found that children with lower academic performance offended more frequently, committed more serious and violent offenses, and persisted in their offending. The association was stronger for males than females and for whites than for African Americans. Academic performance predicted delinquency independent of socioeconomic status. Some intervention and prevention programs, using law-related or moral education components with adolescent children and self-control, social skills, and parent training components with young school-age children, were found to effect significant improvements in academic performance and delinquency.
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) is committed to improving the justice system's response to crimes against children. OJJDP recognizes that children are at increased risk for crime victimization. Not only are children the vic- tims of many of the same crimes that victimize adults, they are subject to other crimes, like child abuse and neglect, that are specific to childhood. The impact of these crimes on young victims can be devastating, and the violent or sexual victimization of chil- dren can often lead to an intergenerational cycle of violence and abuse. The purpose of OJJDP's Crimes Against Children Series is to improve and expand the Nation's efforts to better serve child victims by presenting the latest information about child victimization, including analyses of crime victimization statistics, studies of child victims and their spe- cial needs, and descriptions of programs and approaches that address these needs.
We report an experiment testing the hypothesis that impulsive behavior reflects a deficit in the ability to inhibit prepotent responses Specifically, we examined whether impulsive people respond more slowly to signals to inhibit (stop signals) than non-impulsive people In this experiment, 136 undergraduate students completed an impulsivity questionnaire and then participated in a stop-signal experiment, in which they performed a choice reaction time (go) task and were asked to inhibit their responses to the go task when they heard a stop signal The delay between the go signal and the stop signal was determined by a tracking procedure designed to allow subjects to inhibit on 50% of the stop-signal trials Reaction time to the go signal did not vary with impulsivity, but estimated stop-signal reaction time was longer in more impulsive subjects, consistent with the hypothesis and consistent with results from populations with pathological problems with impulse control
This paper differentiates four subgroups on the basis of victim characteristics within a sample of 100 British sexually abusive male adolescents aged between 11 and 18 years. The groups were compared in terms of their background characteristics and sexually abusive behavior. Results indicated that when subgroups were delineated on the basis of victim characteristics, they could be reliably differentiated on several abuser and abuse characteristics. Findings were generally consistent with those described in the North American literature. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to etiology and to the development of a taxonomic classification system for British sexually abusive adolescents.
The last decade has seen increased concern regarding the sexual offences committed by young people. In line with this concern is an interest in developing an empirical research base that can help identify typologies of juvenile sex offenders and, in turn, direct resources. The current study investigated whether youths who sexually offend against children (individuals at least 5 years younger than themselves) differ in terms of offender and offence variables from juveniles who sexually assault members of their peer group. Findings were developed from data extracted from 43 files held by local Youth Offending Teams. Perpetrators of abuse were all male and were aged from 10 to 17 years. Findings indicated that juvenile child abusers experienced greater deficits in self-esteem and social isolation. In contrast, peer abusers had witnessed family violence more frequently and had family members associated with criminal activity more often. Logistic regression analysis found the variables of ‘knowing the victim’, ‘lacking age appropriate friends’, and ‘having been the victim of bullying’ all reliably predicted offender status (child vs peer). Findings suggest different typologies of juvenile sex offenders may have different routes to abusive behaviour and therefore require interventions that are tailored to their criminogenic needs.
Performance on the Psychological Assessment Resources computerized version of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST)(PAR) was compared to that on the standard version of the WCST using 119 neurologically normal subjects from Spain. Subjects were randomly assigned to test versions and were administered either the standard or computerized WCST. The data indicate that these two test versions yield similar results in normals. Further, age- and education-corrected standard scores based on the North American standardization sample described in the WCST manual indicate that performance by Spanish subjects on measures of the WCST approximates that of North American subjects.
Research manuscripts published in the Information Technology, Learning, and Performance Journal are expected to adhere to the publication guidelines of the American Psychological Association (2001) and generally accepted research and statistical methodology. This manuscript describes the rationale supporting the reporting of effect size in quantitative research and also provides examples of how to calculate effect size for some of the most common statistical analyses. We include a table of recommendatio ns for effect size interpretation. We also address basic assumptions and cautions on the reporting of effect size. Introdu
The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) is commonly used to assess risky decision making in clinical and non-clinical populations, and negative mood and various personality characteristics have been shown to affect the number of advantageous and disadvantageous selections on this task. Recent research has suggested that IGT data should be analyzed at the individual deck level due to differences in frequency and magnitude of losses, and the present study examined how personality characteristics and state mood may affect deck level selections on this task. Participants were 91 undergraduate students (38 male) who completed measures of impulsivity and sensation seeking, behavioral activation and inhibition, state mood, and the computerized IGT. Results indicated that negative mood, drive, impulsivity, and sensation seeking were all positively correlated with Deck B selections, but negatively correlated with Deck D selections. No differences emerged in correlations between Decks A and B or Decks A and D. Results indicate that mood and personality characteristics differentially relate to selections from the individual decks on the IGT. Results have implications for the assessment of decision making, as personality and fluctuations in state-dependent mood could mimic pathological risk-taking if analysis is conducted on the combined decks.
The Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) is a widely used neuropsychological measure. It can, however, be frustrating and lengthy to administer. Short forms are available, but there have been few comparisons of the short forms and full WCST in clinical samples. This study compared the full WCST to two short forms in a sample of 201 clinic patients. Our data suggest that the full- and short-forms provide similar results. Use of some published cutoff scores may, however, lead to false-positive diagnoses of impairment, particularly in older patients. We conclude that short forms have promise, but additional normative data are needed.
This chapter provides a general introduction to the understanding, assessment, and treatment of the juvenile sex offender. The chapter discusses terms and defines concepts relating to the offender and his or her criminal behavior. Additionally, the chapter provides important definitions for related concepts, including sexual deviance, sexual abuse, sexual consent, and sexual crime. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Proposes Vocabulary and Block Design as a 2-subtest short form of the WAIS-R; the addition of Arithmetic and Picture Arrangement provides a 4-subtest short form of the scale. Based on data from the standardization sample, tables are presented giving Full Scale IQs for each of 9 age groups for both short forms. (11 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Conducted clinical assessments of 49 male adolescent sexual offenders (aged 11–16 yrs) that revealed that most Ss were recidivists, had a history of antisocial behavior predating and coinciding with their sexual offenses, and came from a disturbed family background. 33% had a history of physical abuse in childhood, but a history of sexual abuse could be confirmed in only 2 cases. The assaulters were less likely to be socially isolated than a comparison group of 45 adolescent child molesters and more likely to socialize with older peers than a comparison group of 24 juvenile delinquents. There was known sexual pathology in about 25% of the parents. Alcohol and drugs did not play a prominent role in the sexual assaults. Sexually deviant impulses and antisocial traits were motivating factors for most of the assaults. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Deficits in “executive” neuropsychological functions have been proposed to underlie the development of antisocial behavior such as juvenile delinquency. Results of research into the executive functions of delinquents have been mixed, and studies have been hampered by reliance on small samples of adjudicated subjects and questionable validity of the tests administered. This research examined the performance of a large unselected birth cohort of adolescent boys and girls on five tests of executive function that have documented reliability and validity. It is the first such study to use self-reports of antisocial behavior. Executive deficits were shown only by a subgroup of delinquent subjects with childhood comorbidity of antisocial behavior and attention deficit disorder; that subgroup's behavior was also rated as more aggressive and impulsive than comparison groups'. Group differences on executive measures remained significant after the effects of overall IQ were statistically controlled. Also, delinquents who had been detected by police did not show poorer executive functions than subjects with equivalent self-reports of delinquent behavior who had evaded official detection, suggesting that executive deficits are related to the development of antisocial behavior itself, and not simply to risk of detection.
This article reviews evidence from neuropsychological tests that brain dysfunction is a correlate of conduct disorder. Most studies report consistent findings of differential neuropsychological deficits for antisocial samples in verbal and “executive” functions. Neuropsychological measures are related to some of the best indicators of poor outcome for children with conduct symptoms, such as early onset, stability across time, hyperactive symptoms, and aggressiveness. Neuropsychological tests statistically predict variance in antisocial behavior independently of appropriate control variables. This article argues that neuropsychological variables warrant further study as possible causal factors for conduct disorder and presents one developmental perspective on how neuropsychological problems might contribute risk for conduct disorder.
Although many studies have shown that delinquents are impaired on certain executive function tasks related to frontal lobe functioning, whether psychopaths present with such impairments is still controversial. Lapierre et al. [1995. Neuropsychologia 33:139–151] have investigated a more specific hypothesis of orbitofrontal deficits in psychopaths and found that psychopathic criminals are impaired on tasks involving behavioral inhibition and olfactory discrimination. The present study sought to replicate these results with juvenile psychopaths 14 to 18 years of age. As expected, psychopaths were found to be significantly impaired on behavioral inhibition tasks. However, psychopathic and nonpsychopathic inmates performed similarly on measures related to the dorsolateral area of the frontal lobe. Also, no significant intergroup difference was noted on the olfactory discrimination task. Although an orbitofrontal deficit in psychopathy remains possible, it is suggested to explain results through a functional inhibition deficit that is not specifically related to orbitofrontal processing. Aggr. Behav. 26:413–424, 2000. © 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
A meta-analysis was performed to quantify the association between antisocial behavior (ASB) and performance on neuropsychological executive functioning (EF) measures. This meta-analysis built on Morgan and Lilienfeld's (2000) meta-analysis of the same topic by including recently published studies and by examining a wider range of EF measures. A total of 126 studies involving 14,786 participants were included in the analyses. Antisocial groups performed significantly worse on measures of EF compared with controls, with a grand mean effect size of d= .44. Significant variation occurred in the magnitude of effect sizes calculated across studies. The largest effect sizes were found for criminality (d= .61) and externalizing behavior disorder (d= .54) ASB groups, whereas the smallest effect sizes were found for antisocial personality disorder (d= .19) groups. Larger differences in EF performance were observed across studies involving participants from correctional settings and with comorbid attention deficit and hyperactivity problems. Overall, the results indicated that a robust association exists between ASB and poor EF that held across studies with varied methodological approaches. The methodological issues in the research literature and the implications of the meta-analysis results are discussed, and the directions for future research are proposed.
The impulsive behavior that is often characteristic of adolescence may reflect underlying neurodevelopmental processes. Moreover, impulsivity is a multi-dimensional construct, and it is plausible that distinct brain networks contribute to its different cognitive, clinical and behavioral aspects. As these networks have not yet been described, we identified distinct cortical and subcortical networks underlying successful inhibitions and inhibition failures in a large sample (n = 1,896) of 14-year-old adolescents. Different networks were associated with drug use (n = 1,593) and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder symptoms (n = 342). Hypofunctioning of a specific orbitofrontal cortical network was associated with likelihood of initiating drug use in early adolescence. Right inferior frontal activity was related to the speed of the inhibition process (n = 826) and use of illegal substances and associated with genetic variation in a norepinephrine transporter gene (n = 819). Our results indicate that both neural endophenotypes and genetic variation give rise to the various manifestations of impulsive behavior.
A meta-analysis was conducted to analyze recidivism rates and assess the role of antisociality and sexual deviancy in sexual reoffending in juvenile sex offenders. The importance of these constructs is discussed with regard to current theory and in light of methodological and conceptual limitations of previous studies.
Adolescents adjudicated for sexual offenses are a heterogeneous group. The identification of more homogeneous subgroups of offenders may enable improved treatment, as the specific risks and needs presented by each group could be more effectively targeted. The current study examines three subgroups derived based on the age of victim(s), a popular method of subtyping that has mixed empirical support, using a sample of 176 males adjudicated for a sexual offense and court-ordered to participate in a community-based collaborative intervention program that integrates treatment and probationary services. Differences expected between groups based on theories regarding victim-age based subtypes are examined, in addition to differences consistently identified in prior research. Results indicate that these three subgroups are more similar than different, although some expected differences were found. Juveniles with child victims were more likely to have male victims and biologically related victims. Juveniles with peer/adult victims were more likely to have poor monitoring by their parents and more likely to have been arrested again. Juveniles with mixed types of victims appeared similar to juveniles with child victims on some variables and similar to those with peer/adult victims on others. Treatment implications and future directions for research are discussed. Typologies based on clinical characteristics of the youth rather than offense characteristics may have more promise for identifying meaningful subgroups.