No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the author.
What can the lived experiences of gang members tell us about that what occupies the 'black box' that mediates gang membership and offending? A systematic review
Abstract
Aims
This systematic review aims to explore the lived experiences of young gang members to explore the processes that mediate gang membership and offending.
Rationale
Gang membership disproportionately effects young people (Home Office, 2016). The link between gang membership and inordinately high levels of severe offending characteristics is well represented in research (Thornberry, 1998). However, the processes that mediate gang membership and offending are poorly understood (Melde & Esbensen, 2011). Young gang members are often passively conceptualised within research and need to have their voices uncovered to better elucidate the psychological processes that link gang membership to offending.
Method
A systematic review of qualitative research was carried out following the Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) statement for reporting (Moher et al., 2009), Six papers were identified which represented samples from both the UK and US. These were reviewed using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme Checklist (2016) and were subsequently analysed using thematic synthesis.
Findings
Young gang members associated offending with its role in reinforcing a community of belonging, providing material and non-material capital and as a response to living within an oppressive context.
Conclusions
This research suggests that the internal psychological processes within a gang play an important interacting role with the external marginalised contexts they occupy. Implications of the need for policy, research and practice to better account for this are discussed.
Background
Mortality risk is elevated among people released from prison; however, comprehensive analyses of cause-specific death patterns and associated factors remain limited.
Methods
This retrospective cohort study analysed 1,511 deaths of people under post-release supervision in England and Wales (2019–2021) using standardised ICD-10 mortality classifications. For the 12-month post-release period, crude mortality rates (CMRs), age-standardised mortality ratios (SMRs) and temporal patterns were calculated. Demographic and criminogenic factors were analysed across causes of death.
Results
The all-cause CMR was 857 deaths per 100,000 person-years, with a higher rate among women (1260 [993–1544]) than men (825 [762–889]). Injuries accounted for 49% of deaths, with drug poisoning as the leading cause, accounting for 54% of deaths among women and 38% among men. SMRs revealed dramatic elevations compared to the UK population: drug poisoning (74.1 [38.4–153.2]), interpersonal violence (63.3 [11.3–264.3]) and suicide (9.9 [3.3–27.8]). Temporal trends followed a bimodal pattern, with rates peaking immediately after release and again after six months. Further demographic disparities emerged: interpersonal violence deaths characterised by young age and minority ethnic representation; non-communicable disease deaths concentrated in older groups. Women exhibited comparable suicide rates to men, contrary to general population trends. Social inequalities were evident, with acute deaths associated with housing instability, unemployment and breach of release conditions.
Conclusions
Post-release mortality rates are very high, influenced by intersecting demographic, criminal justice, and social factors. Gender-specific approaches and cross-system coordination between health, justice, and social services are needed during imprisonment and the critical first year after release.
Exposure to street gangs in girls represents a complex trauma experience due to many reasons, including their complicated relationships with male gang members, repeated exposure to potentially traumatic events within the gang setting, and the developmental stage of adolescence when gang exposure typically occurs. However, research exploring the various complex trauma symptoms associated with gang exposure among girls has been sparse. Therefore, using a longitudinal design, this study examined the impact of adolescent girls’ street gang exposure on complex trauma symptoms in emerging adulthood, considering the influence of previous traumatic experiences in childhood. The study involved 110 adolescent girls admitted at two residential care centers in Montreal, Canada, between January 2008 and October 2009. It analyzed the effects of both initial occurrence and recurrence of exposure to street gangs. The findings demonstrated the harmful effects of repeated and prolonged exposure to street gangs during adolescence and emerging adulthood on a wide range of complex trauma symptoms, including post-traumatic stress, insecure attachment, externalization, and somatization. These findings emphasize the need for implementing trauma-informed approaches when addressing the challenges faced by girls who have been exposed to street gangs.
Pour consulter l'article / To read the article: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/MD9CV4HXF59VGX294Q2X/full?target=10.1080/10926771.2023.2276487
Change and Globalization
“Change” is in the air. The recent campaign to elect Barack Obama President of the United States was explicitly about change-- big changes, not only in who can hold that most powerful position in the world, but in new ways of influencing voters and in governing, new political values, and new directions for U.S. domestic and foreign policy.
The emphasis of this concluding chapter, as throughout the book, is also on change—changing community social norms and professional practices. That is not uncommon for community psychology (CP) texts. Even more perhaps than other books in the field, however, the emphasis in this volume, and especially in this chapter, is also on encouraging students to critically analyze the political goals, interests, and actors that not only resist change, but also those that want to make changes.
There may be no one better prepared to speak to both global and local political influences on communities and the transdisciplinary promise of CP than the author, Maritza Montero. She is a trained sociologist who has taught and written about CP for most of the field’s existence and was President of the International Society of Political Psychology. Yet what gives Prof. Montero practical, real-world expertise on community and political change is that she is Venezuelan and has closely observed and participated in the fast and massive government and social changes that have occurred in that country.
The most important contribution of Montero’s chapter may be to point to the wealth of Latin American ideas and liberating practices that have influenced CP globally. Just four years ago, J.R. Newbrough (to whom I am professionally, intellectually, and personally indebted) ended his commentary in this space by positing the need for public conversations about some important international challenges and he concluded that “CP as a profession is not ready either to initiate the conversation or to participate effectively in the conversation” (p. 501). That may accurately reflect the international ignorance of most community psychologists in the U.S. at that time, but probably understated the development of CP around the globe. And the field is already more international than it was just a few years ago, as evidenced by the recent volume by Reich, Riemer, Prilleltensky, and Montero (2007), international, continental and regional CP conferences around the globe, and new special journal issues on international CP that are currently in press in the American Journal of Community Psychology and the Journal of Prevention and Intervention in the Community. This globalization of the field is a very healthy sign and a necessary movement if CP is to survive and grow.
Critical Community Psychology: Living Up to the Promise
Montero and other contributors to this volume are strong proponents of critical/liberation psychology, an orientation which should perhaps be adopted more broadly and deeply by community psychologists. It fits well with the older ecological and newer transdisciplinary direction of the field as it requires community psychologists to understand social theory, how local, national and global political and economic structures influence local problems and solutions, and the importance of cultural sensitivity and social institutions (Maton, Perkins & Saegert, 2006). But critical/liberation psychology, like critical studies in general, has been around, particularly in Latin America and among a small number of U.S. and European psychologists, for several decades and there is little clear evidence of its widespread adherence or having any substantial influence on theory development, let alone research or community practice or policy. As Montero, Prilleltensky, Nelson and others have argued, community psychologists should be encouraged to think more critically about, and to reveal, the political and economic bases of problems. We should also be more practical, however, and address those structural problems through policy change at all levels.
This “Eurogang Manual” contains information about the background of the Eurogang Program of Research and offers additional guidelines for the use of the Eurogang instruments. It is intended as a companion to the Eurogang instruments, which are available for viewing at http://www.umsl.edu/~ccj/eurogang/instruments.htm. This manual is provided as an extra service to researchers who want to conduct comparative research on street gangs or troublesome youth groups.
The idea for this manual developed during a Eurogang meeting in Los Angeles that was held in May 2008. This meeting, initiated by Malcolm Klein, was intended to introduce new scholars to the program and its instruments, and to discuss the possibilities and pitfalls of doing cross-national, comparative research. Members of the steering committee and the instrument working group leaders gave several presentations and introductions. In addition, brainstorm sessions were held with the participants to get an overview of methodological problems and solutions of cross-national comparative research on gangs.1 At the end of this fruitful and vibrant meeting, we decided that the material (powerpoints, presentations, and notes) could be worked into a document that would be a complement to the instruments on the website. The current manual is the result of this work.
We start this document by providing an overview of the background of the Eurogang Program and its basic ideas. A short historical overview is given, with special attention to the meetings and workshops that were held over the course of the past decade. Following this, the principle agreements of our research program are presented and a short overview of the available instruments is provided.
The second chapter addresses our experiences and suggestions regarding the complex task of doing comparative research on street gangs and troublesome youth groups in different countries. It covers several methodological problems and dilemmas one confronts while setting up such a study and offers several options for resolving these issues. It also describes the practical barriers that almost inevitably will occur during such a study. Last but not least, the chapter delves into ethical problems and data security issues that must be addressed during a comparative gang study.
The third chapter elaborates on each of the instruments that are developed thus far.2 Each of the sections describes the background and developmental history of the instrument, addresses the philosophy behind it, and offers practical guidelines for using the instruments in an actual study. The chapter starts with the fundamental Definition “Instrument” that provides the foundation for all other instruments. The chapter then progresses from the broad and general city-level instruments (the City-Level Instrument, the Expert Survey, and the Prevention and Intervention Inventory) to focused instruments on the individual and group level (the Youth Survey and the Ethnography Guidelines). We conclude this chapter with information about the form that users of the instruments are required to complete and give a description of the instruments’ use thus far.
This report outlines the findings of an exploratory project seeking greater understanding of the psychological processes contributing to violence carried out by prisoners identified as street-gang members. Specifically the research aims to understand participants' experiences of joining, being in, and leaving a gang - and how these experiences relate to the use of violence.
The study employed a qualitative approach in which 44 male gang-affiliated prisoners convicted of violent offences were interviewed about their own experiences and perceptions of gang affiliation. Interpretative phenomenological analysis and framework analysis was used to identify themes in participants’ accounts. These findings were then sat in relation to the extant literature to answer broader questions relevant for intervention design.
There is evidence to suggest that whole school approaches to student well-being enhance not only mental health and resilience but also promote prosocial behaviour, pupil engagement and academic learning. 'Positive education' is gaining traction in both the US and Australia, often with more privileged schools. Interventions are primarily based in positive psychology but also have elements of community psychology where they aim to give teachers and students an authentic voice. When schools focus on the well-being of the whole child, this not only benefits individuals, but the communities in which they participate. Educational psychologists are in a unique position, especially in state schools. They have opportunities for conversations on well-being at all levels, to support teachers and offer in-service training. There is also an ethical issue about whether the profession acts in a pro-active way to advocate for the needs of vulnerable young people at a systemic level or is primarily reactive to demands. This paper is based in research on school change and student well-being. It summarises what it is possible to influence and which practices and processes are effective. It takes an ecological and optimistic position on change that entails sowing seeds for growth, building a team and promoting good practice.
Background:
Lack of agreement about criteria and terminology for children's language problems affects access to services as well as hindering research and practice. We report the second phase of a study using an online Delphi method to address these issues. In the first phase, we focused on criteria for language disorder. Here we consider terminology.
Methods:
The Delphi method is an iterative process in which an initial set of statements is rated by a panel of experts, who then have the opportunity to view anonymised ratings from other panel members. On this basis they can either revise their views or make a case for their position. The statements are then revised based on panel feedback, and again rated by and commented on by the panel. In this study, feedback from a second round was used to prepare a final set of statements in narrative form. The panel included 57 individuals representing a range of professions and nationalities.
Results:
We achieved at least 78% agreement for 19 of 21 statements within two rounds of ratings. These were collapsed into 12 statements for the final consensus reported here. The term 'Language Disorder' is recommended to refer to a profile of difficulties that causes functional impairment in everyday life and is associated with poor prognosis. The term, 'Developmental Language Disorder' (DLD) was endorsed for use when the language disorder was not associated with a known biomedical aetiology. It was also agreed that (a) presence of risk factors (neurobiological or environmental) does not preclude a diagnosis of DLD, (b) DLD can co-occur with other neurodevelopmental disorders (e.g. ADHD) and (c) DLD does not require a mismatch between verbal and nonverbal ability.
Conclusions:
This Delphi exercise highlights reasons for disagreements about terminology for language disorders and proposes standard definitions and nomenclature.
This is the Guest Editorial of a special issue of 'Educational and Child Psychology' on research methods in educational psychology, edited by Tommy MacKay, James Boyle and Rachel Cole.
Aim
This study aimed to investigate the experiences of children and young people being educated in residential special schools, with a particular focus on how their rights and wellbeing were being promoted by their schools.
Method
The study was conducted using participatory research principles and aimed to develop techniques and approaches that would support the inclusion of all children.
Findings
The findings indicated that the techniques developed during this study helped to provide insight into the experiences of pupils with a wide range of special needs, and facilitated their voices. The piloting of a method that integrated ethnographic observation techniques with checklists adopted from the SCERTS framework (developed by Prizant and colleagues) provided important insights into the experiences and preferences of children with the greatest learning and communication needs, and is an approach worthy of further development.
Limitations
The study was conducted over a very short time frame, one academic term, which influenced the time available to refine techniques and work with our young researchers’ group. Whilst every residential special school in England was invited to participate, the sample was based on those schools that volunteered, many with good and outstanding Ofsted ratings. Therefore, the sample may not be fully representative of the range of experiences provided by residential special schools in England.
Conclusions
The development of specific techniques to facilitate an understanding of the views and experiences of children who experience significant challenges in communication is possible. The knowledge, skills and expertise of educational psychologists and other professionals can be harnessed to respond creatively to this challenge and it is important to acknowledge the reciprocal value of professional practice and research skills.
Mõttus alerts us to the widespread predictive heterogeneity of different indicators of the same trait. This heterogeneity violates the assumption that traits have causal unity in their developmental antecedents and effects on outcomes. I would go a step further: broader traits are useful units for description and prediction but not for explaining personality development and personality effects. In most cases, the measured trait indicators are closer to relevant causal mechanisms, and within a network perspective on personality, broader traits as entities with causal potential can be dismissed completely. Copyright © 2016 European Association of Personality Psychology
New technology has made pornography increasingly accessible to young people, and a growing evidence base has identified a relationship between viewing pornography and violent or abusive behavior in young men. This article reports findings from a large survey of 4,564 young people aged 14 to 17 in five European countries which illuminate the relationship between regular viewing of online pornography, sexual coercion and abuse and the sending and receiving of sexual images and messages, known as “sexting.” In addition to the survey, which was completed in schools, 91 interviews were undertaken with young people who had direct experience of interpersonal violence and abuse in their own relationships. Rates for regularly viewing online pornography were very much higher among boys and most had chosen to watch pornography. Boys’ perpetration of sexual coercion and abuse was significantly associated with regular viewing of online pornography. Viewing online pornography was also associated with a significantly increased probability of having sent sexual images/messages for boys in nearly all countries. In addition, boys who regularly watched online pornography were significantly more likely to hold negative gender attitudes. The qualitative interviews illustrated that, although sexting is normalized and perceived positively by most young people, it has the potential to reproduce sexist features of pornography such as control and humiliation. Sex and relationships education should aim to promote a critical understanding of pornography among young people that recognizes its abusive and gendered values.
The objectives of this study were to examine (a) the effect
of dynamic assessment (DA) in a 3D Immersive Virtual Reality
(IVR) environment as compared with computerized 2D and noncomputerized
(NC) situations on cognitive modifiability, and (b) the
transfer effects of these conditions on more difficult problem solving
administered two weeks later in a non-computerized environment. A
sample of 117 children aged 6:6-9:0 years were randomly assigned
into three experimental groups of DA conditions: 3D, 2D, and NC, and
one control group (C). All groups received the pre- and post-teaching
Analogies subtest of the Cognitive Modifiability Battery (CMB-AN).
The experimental groups received a teaching phase in conditions similar
to the pre-and post-teaching phases. The findings showed that cognitive
modifiability, in a 3D IVR, was distinctively higher than in the two
other experimental groups (2D computer group and NC group). It was
also found that the 3D group showed significantly higher performance
in transfer problems than the 2D and NC groups.
Systematic reviews should build on a protocol that describes the rationale, hypothesis, and planned methods of the review; few reviews report whether a protocol exists. Detailed, well-described protocols can facilitate the understanding and appraisal of the review methods, as well as the detection of modifications to methods and selective reporting in completed reviews. We describe the development of a reporting guideline, the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses for Protocols 2015 (PRISMA-P 2015). PRISMA-P consists of a 17-item checklist intended to facilitate the preparation and reporting of a robust protocol for the systematic review. Funders and those commissioning reviews might consider mandating the use of the checklist to facilitate the submission of relevant protocol information in funding applications. Similarly, peer reviewers and editors can use the guidance to gauge the completeness and transparency of a systematic review protocol submitted for publication in a journal or other medium.
Systematic reviews and meta-analyses have become increasingly important in health care. Clinicians read them to keep up to date with their field [1],[2], and they are often used as a starting point for developing clinical practice guidelines. Granting agencies may require a systematic review to ensure there is justification for further research [3], and some health care journals are moving in this direction [4]. As with all research, the value of a systematic review depends on what was done, what was found, and the clarity of reporting. As with other publications, the reporting quality of systematic reviews varies, limiting readers' ability to assess the strengths and weaknesses of those reviews.
Several early studies evaluated the quality of review reports. In 1987, Mulrow examined 50 review articles published in four leading medical journals in 1985 and 1986 and found that none met all eight explicit scientific criteria, such as a quality assessment of included studies [5]. In 1987, Sacks and colleagues [6] evaluated the adequacy of reporting of 83 meta-analyses on 23 characteristics in six domains. Reporting was generally poor; between one and 14 characteristics were adequately reported (mean = 7.7; standard deviation = 2.7). A 1996 update of this study found little improvement [7].
In 1996, to address the suboptimal reporting of meta-analyses, an international group developed a guidance called the QUOROM Statement (QUality Of Reporting Of Meta-analyses), which focused on the reporting of meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials [8]. In this article, we summarize a revision of these guidelines, renamed PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses), which have been updated to address several conceptual and practical advances in the science of systematic reviews (Box 1).
Box 1: Conceptual Issues in the Evolution from QUOROM to PRISMA
Completing a Systematic Review Is an Iterative Process
The conduct of a systematic review depends heavily on the scope and quality of included studies: thus systematic reviewers may need to modify their original review protocol during its conduct. Any systematic review reporting guideline should recommend that such changes can be reported and explained without suggesting that they are inappropriate. The PRISMA Statement (Items 5, 11, 16, and 23) acknowledges this iterative process. Aside from Cochrane reviews, all of which should have a protocol, only about 10% of systematic reviewers report working from a protocol [22]. Without a protocol that is publicly accessible, it is difficult to judge between appropriate and inappropriate modifications.
The precise nature of the relationship between language and thought is an intriguing and challenging area of inquiry for scientists across many disciplines. In the realm of neuropsychology, research has investigated the inter-dependence of language and thought by testing individuals with compromised language abilities and observing whether performance in other cognitive domains is diminished. One group of such individuals is patients with aphasia who have an impairment in speech and language arising from a brain injury, such as a stroke. Our previous research has shown that the degree of language impairment in these individuals is strongly associated with the degree of impairment on complex reasoning tasks, such as the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task (WCST) and Raven’s Matrices. In the current study, we present new data from a large group of individuals with aphasia that show a dissociation in performance between putatively non-verbal tasks on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) that require differing degrees of reasoning (Picture Completion vs. Picture Arrangement tasks). We also present an update and replication of our previous findings with the WCST showing that individuals with the most profound core language deficits (i.e., impaired comprehension and disordered language output) are particularly impaired on problem-solving tasks. In the second part of the paper, we present findings from a neurologically intact individual known as “Chelsea” who was not exposed to language due to an unaddressed hearing loss that was present since birth. At the age of 32, she was fitted with hearing aids and exposed to spoken and signed language for the first time, but she was only able to acquire a limited language capacity. Chelsea was tested on a series of standardized neuropsychological measures, including reasoning and problem-solving tasks. She was able to perform well on a number of visuospatial tasks but was disproportionately impaired on tasks that required reasoning, such as Raven’s Matrices and the WAIS Picture Arrangement task. Together, these findings suggest that language supports complex reasoning, possibly due to the facilitative role of verbal working memory and inner speech in higher mental processes.
In the present study, the author conducted 3 experiments to examine the dynamic testing of potential intelligence. She investigated the relationship between dynamic measures and other factors such as (a) static measures of intelligence (Raven's Colored Progressive Matrices Test [J. C. Raven, J. H. Court, & J. Raven, 1979] and the D48 [J. D. Black, 1961]) and (b) codifying speed, codifying accuracy, and school performance. The participants were kindergarten children (n = 150), primary school children (n = 287), and teenaged students (n = 198) who were all trained to master problem solving tests with dynamic measures of intelligence. The results showed that dynamic measures predict more accurately the relationships of codifying speed, codifying accuracy, and school performance.
There is a growth in literature on the presence of gangs in metropolitan areas across the UK (e.g., Bennett and Holloway 2004; Sharp et al. 2006). To date, gang research has been primarily criminological and sociological in nature (Wood and Alleyne 2010), yet psychological findings have highlighted the individual differences that distinguish gang and nongang youth with similar social and environmental circumstances. Also, there is an abundance of psychological literature examining group processes, and considering that the gang is in fact, a group phenomenon, the literature linking group psychology and gangs is scant. The purpose of this chapter is to shed light on the psychological group processes that underpin gang membership and gang-related crime by presenting recent findings from research conducted in the UK. These findings, grounded within the framework of interactional theory, cover four main themes (1) the psychological effects of neighborhood gangs, (2) gang structure and intragroup processes, (3) the role of antiauthority attitudes in gangs, and (4) the role of psychology in gang-related behaviors. These four themes are discussed in the context of theory development and further study.
This paper describes the fundamental features of Functional Behaviour Assessment (FBA). Single case studies are used to provide examples of particular elements of this approach.
Children with severe, complex and enduring needs present significant challenges to the ability of professionals to understand and respond to their unique difficulties. It is suggested that FBA provides a powerful tool for understanding challenging behaviour and designing efficient and effective interventions to address these behaviours. Further, since FBA is not a standardised, norm-referenced, rigid assessment tool we suggest it is uniquely suitable to address the myriad needs of pupils with severe, complex, and enduring needs. Effective individualised intervention plans and consideration of means of reviewing the environmental contingencies which support and maintain behaviours are discussed. Ways to identify the function of a particular challenging behaviour and create an intervention plan that honours the function of a behaviour while replacing it with a more appropriate alternate behaviour are also described.
There is evidence for the effectiveness of parent–training programmes in improving parents’ mental wellbeing and parenting skills and their perceptions of their children’s behaviour. Group-based parent-training programmes are regarded as particularly cost-effective, though need to be supplemented with individualised work for highly-stressed families, and there is little evidence for their long-term effectiveness. There have been no evaluations of such programmes for parents of children with intellectual disabilities. This paper describes the content and long-term evaluation of a group-based parent-training programme for parents and carers of children with severe and complex learning disabilities, presenting with challenging behaviour.
The programme uses videotaped modelling of children with their parents and teachers, with feedback from the group facilitators and other parents in the group. Parents often join groups expressing feelings of loneliness and guilt and with little confidence in their parenting skills. A postal evaluation questionnaire to parents who had attended groups over an eight-year period identified that 64 per cent thought that the groups had made a difference to their children’s behaviour and almost 90 per cent thought that the groups had made a difference to them. Most commonly, parents reported that the groups helped them to feel less alone. Inspection of referral rates to the local clinical psychology service indicated that only 31 per cent of parents who attended groups, subsequently required any further individual help with behaviour. It is hypothesised that the groups were particularly popular and effective as they reduced social isolation of carers.
This paper describes an empirical research study designed to explore the lived experience of mainstream secondary school for young people with a diagnosis of Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Within the existing research base, the voices of these young people have often been missing or overshadowed. This research sought to privilege the voice of young people; acknowledging them as experts in their own lives and as competent contributors to the research process. A creative approach to data collection was adopted, seeking to empower these young people to tell their stories through the provision of research tools that would facilitate their engagement with the process. The young people were tasked with taking photographs of aspects of school life that were important to them, these subsequently forming the central focus of discussions.
Six young people from two mainstream secondary schools participated in the study. Data was analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, this methodology being chosen to allow for the representation of different realities, whilst also searching for shared themes. The themes that emerged for the group were: sanctuary, anxiety and young people as active agents. The potential to incorporate the tools used in this project to facilitate person-centred planning is highlighted.
Following the economic recession and resulting financial cuts to English education budgets introduced in 2010, the number of local authority educational psychology teams adopting a partially or fully-traded model of service delivery began to gain momentum. This study sought to investigate the response to trading and its impact on the role of the educational psychologist. A multiple-case study design was implemented. Two partially-traded local authority educational psychology services were recruited, one established and one emerging. Participants from the emerging services included six educational psychologists and three small-scale service commissioners. Participants from the established service included three educational psychologists, three small-scale service commissioners and two large-scale service commissioners. Focus groups, interviews and service brochures provided qualitative data. All qualitative data were transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic analysis. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics to describe trends in service use. Findings show a largely positive impact of trading on the role and contribution of the educational psychologist.
This paper aims to synthesise the literature on attachment in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), highlighting gaps in current research and applications for clinical practice. The research databases PsycINFO, Ovid Medline, and the Cochrane Library were searched for the terms “autism” and “attachment”. Forty papers investigating attachment in children with ASD were identified and narratively reviewed. Seven samples were identified that reported attachment classifications using the Strange Situation Paradigm, with an average of 47% of children with ASD classified as secure (n = 186). With research to date concluding that children with ASD can form secure attachments, studies are now looking at risk and protective factors in the development of attachment, correlates of attachment, attachment disorders in children with ASD, and attachment-based interventions for children with ASD. Many of these studies are preliminary investigations with contradictory findings reported, highlighting important directions for future research.
Social constructionist approaches have transformed the sociology of social problems by shifting the analytic focus from social conditions to the processes by which issues come to public attention. The social problems process typically involves a series of stages: claimsmaking (involving various figures, including activists and experts, as claimsmakers); media coverage; public reactions; policy-making; the social problems work of implementing policy; and policy outcomes. At each of these stages, individuals reconstruct the troubling condition to reflect their cultural and structural circumstances, so that social problems and social policies can be understood as products of continually shifting arguments and interpretations, emerging through interactions between those making claims and their audiences. Scholars of communications may find the literature on social problems theory useful in their own research.
This book assesses existing and emerging practice frameworks in educational psychology and their relation to theory. Covering current frameworks such as the Problem Solving Framework and the Constructionist Model as well as approaches such as systemic, solution focussed models, consultation models and positive psychology frameworks, a range of contributors explore how they support educational psychology. The editors consider how frameworks address current demands for professional accountability, transparency and effectiveness. They conclude with an exploration of the complex methodology and highly integrated approach required of contemporary educational psychologists.
Clear explanations of the terminology and theory behind self-esteem are offered, as well as many practical examples and useful activities to use with children.
The Dyslexia Debate examines how we use the term “dyslexia” and questions its efficacy as a diagnosis. While many believe that a diagnosis of dyslexia will shed light on a reader’s struggles and help identify the best form of intervention, Julian G. Elliott and Elena L. Grigorenko show that it adds little value. in fact, our problematic interpretation of the term could prove to be a major disservice to many children with difficulties learning to read. This book outlines in detail the diverse ways in which reading problems have been conceptualized and operationalized. Elliott and Grigorenko consider the latest research in cognitive science, genetics, and neuroscience, and the limitations of these fields in terms of professional action. They then provide a more helpful, scientifically rigorous way to describe the various types of reading difficulties and discuss empirically supported forms of intervention.
This article outlines the nature and functions of dynamic assessment within education settings, an approach that has great appeal for many psychologists and educationalists, but is yet to take root in mainstream practice. Different forms of dynamic tests are outlined. In particular, the distinction is made between those who advocate a standardized approach and others who maintain that flexibility of response is essential for maximizing the child's performance. It is argued that dynamic tests should not be seen primarily as superior IQ tests but, rather, as tools with the potential to aid education professionals in devising appropriate classroom-based interventions.
Development of the frontal lobes of the brain is known to continue through late adolescence, in contrast to the earlier maturation of other cortical regions. Because conical regions appear to mature at different rates, neuropsychological tests that are differentially sensitive to functioning of specific cortical regions were used to examine developmental trends in cognitive performance. Seventy-two participants were classified into 3 stages of development: prepubertal, pubertal, and postpubertal. The results demonstrated that performance improved throughout adolescence on 9 of the 11 neuropsychological tasks. The few sex differences that were identified primarily consisted of male participants performing better than female participants on visual-spatial tasks. Results from the a priori comparisons indicate that the tasks associated with frontal lobe functioning showed more improvement across maturational stages than tasks associated with parietal lobe functioning. Results are discussed in terms of the relation between brain development and cognitive development.
Whilst outcomes for looked after children (LAC) have been extensively discussed, less attention has been paid to the experiences of teachers of this group of children. It is accepted that Emotional Labour (EL) is commonplace in the teaching profession but no research has investigated how, and to what extent, teachers experience emotional labour during interactions with LAC. Fourteen Key Stage Two teachers of LAC participated in the current study by completing semi-structured interviews. Results indicate that participants experience emotional labour during interactions with LAC and that this may be mediated, to a degree, by factors including role constructions, perceptions of support and self-perceived role facilitators such as perception of a professional duty. The potential benefit of educational psychologists understanding better, and supporting, the impact of emotional labour on teachers of LAC is subsequently discussed.
Despite the advances in understanding cognitive improvements in executive function in adolescence, much less is known about the influence of affective and social modulators on executive function and the biological underpinnings of these functions and sensitivities. Here, recent behavioral and neuroscientific studies are summarized that have used different approaches (cognition, emotion, individual differences and training) in the study of adolescent executive functions. The combination of these different approaches gives new insight into this complex transitional phase in life, and marks adolescence as not only a period of vulnerabilities, but also great opportunities in terms of training possibilities and interventions.
New academic self-concept instruments were used to measure self-concepts in 13 (Grades 5-6) or 16 (Grades 7-10) school subjects and to test the structure of academic self-concept posited in the Marsh/Shavelson model. First-order factor analyses identified the scales each instrument was designed to measure, demonstrating that academic self-concept is remarkably subject-specific. As posited, two higher order factors were sufficient to explain relations among core academic subjects, but additional higher order factors were needed to explain other school subjects (e.g., physical education, art, and music). The hierarchy, however, was weak, and much of the variance in specific subject self-concepts was unexplained by the higher order factors. Researchers interested in self-concepts in particular subjects are advised to use self-concept scales specific to those subject areas in addition, perhaps, to other measures of academic self-concept.
In educational and psycho-diagnostic assessment procedures, computerised assessment is gradually replacing paper-based instruments. In computerised instruments, measuring reasoning skills, such as the ability to solve analogies, few differences are found with their paper-based counterparts; however young children may form an exception. Often in these comparisons of assessment mode, only accuracy is considered, whereas examining solution strategies and measuring learning over time are of particular interest to educational psychologists. The current study investigates whether the learning of analogical reasoning and progression of strategy change follow the same patterns in a computerised setting. The equivalence of paper-based and computerised versions of figural analogy puzzles were examined with regard to both accuracy and strategy change in 69 5-year old children (M=5.4 years). All children were asked to solve figural analogy matrices by constructing their answers from puzzle pieces. In the paper condition (N=33), the puzzle pieces could be grabbed and turned over by hand and then placed in the empty quadrant to solve the analogy. In the computer condition (N=36), the children used a computer mouse to carry out these manoeuvres. The assessment of children's solution strategy progression took place during weekly sessions over four consecutive weeks. Results indicate that the computerised figural analogy task is comparable to the original paper-based version with regard to both difficulty level and progression of strategy change. However, the computerised version took significantly less time to administer and analyse. Another advantage is that testing with computers allows for the registration of supplementary information that could prove useful for more individualised intervention. We conclude that computerised assessment is a sound method for educational psychologists to evaluate 5-year-olds' analogical reasoning ability and development.
Levels and descriptors of violence among European street gangs are summarized from studies reported primarily under the aegis of the Eurogang Program initiated in 1997 and continuing still. European gang violence is placed in the context of its American counterpart, of European non-gang youth violence, and of the definitional and structural components of the Eurogang Program. European gangs in over a dozen countries reveal a wide pattern of violent behaviour and levels of violence that are far greater than among non-gang youth, but largely less serious than in the USA. Some of these latter differences may be attributable to the recentness of the European gang development, the lower levels of firearms availability, and lower levels of gang territoriality in Europe.
A significant part of an adolescent’s day includes the use of technology, such as cell phone calls, instant messaging, and posts to social networking sites. Although studies have documented the benefits of technology use, there are significant downsides as well. For example, recent studies have shown that adolescents use technology to harass and abuse others, including dating partners. However, questions remain on how technology use and dating violence intersect at different stages in the couple’s relationship and whether this intersection is different for boys and girls. This article begins to fill these gaps by presenting the findings from focus groups with 39 high school aged adolescents, all of whom had experienced a problematic relationship in the past year. Results showed that adolescents used technology to initiate and dissolve dating relationships, often with text messages or posts to social networking sites. Technology use also caused jealousy, and it was used to monitor and isolate partners from others. Gender differences in the use of technology are highlighted. Finally, recommendations for prevention programs for adolescents and parents are discussed.