Actuarial versus clinical assessments of dangerousness.

In their book, Violent Offenders, V. L. Quinsey, G. T. Harris, M. E. Rice, and C. A. Cormier (1999) proposed the "complete replacement" of clinical assessments of dangerousness with actuarial methods, such as the Violence Risk Appraisal Guide (VRAG). In this article, the author argues that (a) research to date has not demonstrated that actuarial methods of risk assessment are superior to clinical methods; (b) because most clinical determinations of dangerousness are not "predictions" of violence, as well as for other reasons, it is very difficult to meaningfully compare clinical and actuarial assessments of dangerousness; and (c) even the best researched and validated actuarial tool for assessing dangerousness to date, the VRAG, has not yet been validated in a manner that would make it appropriate for use in determining when individuals should be confined on the grounds of their dangerousness. Therefore, although clinicians who engage in risk assessments certainly should be knowledgeable about arguably relevant actuarial assessment schemes and other assessment guides (e.g., the HCR-20), it is premature, at best, to replace clinical risk assessments with actuarial assessments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Preventing violence in relationships: Psychological science addressing complex social issues.

This paper traces the development of a universal violence prevention initiative from its early roots in the dynamics of child abuse developmental psychopathology. My research has been devoted to preventing violence in relationships, including physical and sexual abuse of children, children who witness domestic violence, woman abuse, and dating violence in adolescence. A central theme throughout this work has been to integrate psychological knowledge about healthy, non-violent relationships with knowledge of risk factors for abuse and violence. As laws and public sentiment have challenged the generations- old status quo of family privacy and personal rights, psychology has risen to this challenge by studying aspects of abuse and violence in the lab, in analog situations, in the home, and in the clinic. This paper reflects how knowledge about the causes and consequences of violence in relationships is leading to promising educational and prevention initiatives such as the Fourth R, a universal school-based initiative aimed at early adolescence to reduce relationship violence and related risk behaviours. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Violence Risk Assessment: Getting Specific About Being Dynamic.

Substantial strides have been made in the field of violence risk assessment. Numerous robust risk factors have been identified and incorporated into structured violence risk assessment instruments. The concepts of violence prevention, management, and treatment have been infused into contemporary thinking on risk assessment. This conceptual development underscores the necessity of identifying, measuring, and monitoring changeable (dynamic) risk factors--the most promising targets for risk reduction efforts. However, empirical investigation of dynamic risk is virtually absent from the literature. In this article, the authors (a) differentiate risk status (interindividual risk level based largely on static risk factors) from risk state (intraindividual risk level determined largely by current status on dynamic risk factors), (b) analyze the relevance of contemporary risk assessment measures for capturing dynamic risk, and (c) distill potentially important dynamic risk factors from the literature in order to facilitate future research. Suggestions for theory development and research design are provided. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Child abuse: New directions in prevention and treatment across the lifespan.

Reviews the book, Child abuse: New directions in prevention and treatment across the lifespan by David A. Wolfe, Robert J. McMahon, and Ray DeV. Peters (see record 1997-30225-000). This edited book offers a diverse collection of chapters that describe innovative approaches to the treatment and prevention of child physical and sexual abuse. Readers can peruse contributions from leaders in the field that depict recent efforts to address the complexity of these problems. This book is a valuable addition to the libraries of researchers, clinicians, and students who are interested in issues related to the treatment and prevention of the physical and sexual abuse of children. It will be especially useful to those already acquainted with the characteristics and consequences of child abuse, who will find their understanding of this topic broadened by its contributions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship characteristics and sexual risk-taking in young men who have sex with men.

Objective: Young men who have sex with men (MSM), particularly young men of color, are experiencing the largest increase in HIV incidence of any risk group in the United States Epidemiological research suggests that the majority of transmissions among MSM are occurring in the context of primary partnerships, but little research has been done on the processes within these dyads that increase HIV risk behaviors. The aim of this study was to use longitudinal partnership-level data to explore the effects of partner and relationship characteristics on the frequency of unprotected sex within young MSM relationships. Method: One hundred twenty-two young MSM (age 16–20 at baseline) were assessed at three time-points six months apart, with 91% retention at the 12-month follow-up wave. Over 80% were racial/ethnic minorities. At each wave, participants reported on characteristics of the relationships and partners for up to three sexual partners. Hierarchical linear modeling was used for analyses. Results: The largest effect was for considering the relationship to be serious, which was associated with nearly an eightfold increase in the rate of unprotected sex. Other factors that increased risk behaviors included older partners, drug use prior to sex, physical violence, forced sex, and partnership lasting more than six months. Partners met online were not associated with significantly more sexual risk. Conclusions: These data provide insight into the relationship processes that should be addressed in prevention programs targeted at young MSM. Relationships may serve as a promising unit for HIV prevention interventions, although more formative research will be required to address potential logistical obstacles to implementing such interventions. The partner-by-partner analytic approach (i.e., evaluating situational variables associated with several partners for a given participant) holds promise for future HIV behavioral research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

An ecological-transactional understanding of community violence: Theoretical perspectives.

Community violence has emerged as a major risk factor for the development of mental health problems in children and adolescents. If mental health providers are to meet the needs of children and communities dealing with community violence, then they will need to integrate principles from various subdisciplines in psychology (e.g., developmental psychology, school psychology, developmental psychopathology) as well as disciplines outside of psychology (e.g., sociology, public health, medicine) to understand fully the developmental impact of exposure to community violence. The development of such a model is necessary to identify the pathways, risk, and protective factors on which prevention and intervention programs can be built. The goal of this article is to present an ecological-transactional model of community violence as a conceptual framework for understanding the existing literature and for guiding future research on community violence exposure and child development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prognosis of dangerousness in adolescent psychiatry expert assessment

The clinical assessment and prediction of violent behavior are two of the most important, but also most difficult tasks for child and adolescent psychiatrists who work in the forensic psychiatric area. The purpose of this article is to give an overview about the most prominent aspects of this problem. Therefore the judicial, methodological and methodical basis of the prediction of dangerous behavior is discussed as well as different methods that are used to predict dangerous behavior. It is shown that "dangerousness" is in most cases the result of an interaction between the individual dispositions of a person and a violence-prone situation. Furthermore it is put emphasis on the fact that many psychiatrists are not aware of their own cognitive processes that lead them to a conclusion concerning the dangerousness of a person and also do not use the bulk of the information that is available to them; so many studies showed that dangerousness is judged in the first line in the light of former delinquency and much less in the light of other anamnestic data or the actual behavior. Finally some proposals are made concerning the improvement of the quality of the clinical prediction of dangerousness.     

Review of The diagnosis and treatment of alcoholism (second edition).

Reviews the book, The diagnosis and treatment of alcoholism (second edition) edited by Jack H. Mendelson and Nancy K. Mello (1985). This text is designed to be an authoritative handbook for practitioners in the field of alcohol abuse or a comprehensive textbook for graduate students. The target audience is physicians, nurses, psychologists, alcoholism counselors, social workers, and others involved in assessing and treating alcohol abuse. One way in which this text differs from many on the market is in its reliance on methodologically sound research as the basis for the recommendations and conclusions in most of the chapters, including objective discussions of controversial issues where the research data challenge commonly accepted assumptions in the alcohol field. The second edition of this volume provides valuable updating and expansion of the information presented in the widely used first edition. Overall, the second edition of this volume remains a leader in the field and will be valuable as a handbook for the clinician or textbook for the graduate seminar. The strengths of this volume are in the chapters that rely on a thorough knowledge of methodologically sound research, presented in a way that will be acceptable to clinical practitioners. Paraprofessionals may find this hard to read but advanced professionals will find the text useful. This edition remains superior to any other single resource which I can think of in the field. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Methodological issues in evaluating the effectiveness of aversion therapies for institutionalised child molesters.

Child molesters confined to secure settings because of their dangerousness present those responsible for their release with thorny problems of assessment. Penile volume measurements can provide valuable information regarding the sexual preferences of these persons but such information is not an infallible predictor of a child molester's dangerousness. Similarly, the fact he has received aversion therapy does not make the decision regarding his release appreciably easier because success rates with this therapy are not high enough to allow confidence in making individual decisions. Further research is needed to determine the relation of penile volume and other measures to recidivism in this population, to clarify the theoretical nature of aversion therapy and to develop more effective methods of therapy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Understanding psychological research: An introduction to methods.

Reviews the book, Understanding psychological research: An introduction to methods by Richard St. Jean (2001). Richard St. Jean's book has the stated goal to be a brief text that presents essential concepts in a concise but interesting format. In this the author succeeds admirably. The nine short chapters and three appendices present the basic content that any method course needs to cover. The chapters are centred around lively research examples, often from the author's own work. Each chapter is followed by a brief summary and a glossary of key terms. The examples are used to introduce the methodological question and to illustrate various solutions. If the book suffers from a drawback, it is that it is too good at what it wants to be: an easily accessible, succinct introduction. The author visibly aims to make the issues as clear and understandable as possible, even if this implies glossing over details and leaving out more difficult aspects. The book does not want to be, nor is it, a manual for people who actual want to do research. In sum, this book will be most useful for those who teach introductory methods courses aimed at students who want to "consume" research rather than pursue it themselves. For these students, the book will be a valuable resource to better understand pertinent issues and to be alert towards methodological problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Pornography and sexual aggression.

Reviews the book, Pornography and sexual aggression by N. M. Malamuth and E. Donnerstein (1984). Malamuth and Donnerstein are well qualified to prepare a book on pornography by virtue of their extensive research on the topic over the last several years. In 1970, the United States Commission on Obscenity and Pornography concluded that there was no evidence that pornography had adverse effects on the incidence of violence toward women. It is clear from Malamuth and Donnerstein's chapters that they believe the evidence now points to radically different conclusions and that a book summarizing all of the evidence was warranted. In the opening chapters, Malamuth and Donnerstein present summaries of their respective lines of research. Malamuth has concentrated primarily on the effects of aggressive pornography on men's sexual arousal to portrayals of coercive sexual interactions, their self-reported likelihood to rape, their acceptance of rape myths, their acceptance of interpersonal violence, and the belief that women enjoy being raped. Donnerstein discusses the effects of aggressive pornography on men's aggression toward females in a laboratory situation. The evidence presented in the book points to three main conclusions: (a) portrayals of sex and violence in the media have important effects on at least some people; (b) it is possible to formulate general theories to account for most of the results presented; and (c) the results present serious problems for society. This book is an important contribution to the literature on the effects of pornography. Put together in one volume, the evidence on the effects of pornography, especially violent pornography, is very convincing. The theoretical aspects of why this should be so are much less convincing. But the authors have made a good beginning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Capital jury decision-making: The limitations of predictions of future violence.

The U.S. Supreme Court in Jurek v. Texas (1976) affirmed that capital juries are able to identify those capital offenders who will commit serious violence in the future. The capability of capital juries to accurately make these judgments as a means of deciding which capital offenders should receive the death penalty has been widely endorsed in both statute and case law, as well as embraced by jurors. A growing body of research on rates and correlates of prison violence, however, points to this confidence being misplaced. Prior investigations of the accuracy of these capital jury predictions, though limited in number, have found alarming error rates. The current study retrospectively reviewed the post-trial (M = 5.7 years) prison disciplinary misconduct of federal capital offenders (N = 72) for whom juries considered “future dangerousness” as an aggravating factor at sentencing. These jurors’ predictive performance was no better than random guesses, with high error (false positive) rates, regardless of the severity of the anticipated violence. In light of prior studies, it is concluded that juror predictions of future violence lack sufficient reliability to play a role in death penalty determinations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The complexities of domestic violence.

Comments on the article by Robert Bornstein, "The complex relationship between dependency and domestic violence: Converging psychological factors and social forces," (see record 2006-11202-003). Although a more focused examination of the psychological factors involved in domestic violence is welcome, there are some factual errors in Bornstein's article that need attention and represent a general problem in reports of domestic violence. Bornstein wrote, "Studies indicate that more than 95% of abuse perpetrators are men" (p. 595) and then proceeded to assess dependency in male perpetrators and female victims of intimate partner violence (IPV). The study indicating that more than 95% of IPV perpetrators are men was not cited and is, in fact, fictitious. The best empirical evidence indicates an entirely different finding. Clinical predictions of dangerousness made in psychiatric emergency rooms often underestimate female dangerousness. Risk of harm to children has often been based on wife abuse-child abuse incidence co-occurrence estimates from shelter house samples of women and erroneously generalized to community samples. For these reasons, regeneration of the gender paradigm by Bornstein, or others, serves to misinform the profession. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Multidimensional assessment of criminal recidivism: Problems, pitfalls, and proposed solutions.

All states have statutes in place to civilly commit individuals at high risk for violence. The authors address difficulties in assessing such risk but use as an example the task of predicting sexual violence recidivism; the principles espoused here generalize to predicting all violence. As part of the commitment process, mental health professionals, who are often psychologists, evaluate an individual's risk of sexual recidivism. It is common for professionals conducting these risk assessments to use several actuarial risk prediction instruments (i.e., psychological tests). These tests rarely demonstrate close agreement in the risk figures they provide. Serious epistemological and psychometric problems in the multivariate assessment of recidivism risk are pointed out. Sound psychometric, or in some cases heuristic, solutions to these problems are proffered, in the hope of improving clinical practice. The authors focus on how to make these tests' outputs commensurable and discuss various ways to combine them in coherent, justifiable fashions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The domestic assault of women: Psychological and criminal justice perspectives.

Reviews the book, The domestic assault of women: Psychological and criminal justice perspectives by Donald A. Dutton (1988). This book provides a comprehensive analysis of battered women and their husbands by integrating current theories and research on violence and victimization within a social psychological perspective. The book is divided into seven chapters. The first chapter outlines the current data on the incidence of wife assault and proposes a theoretical framework for understanding the problem. The next two chapters outline the theory and research available on men who assault their partners. Chapter four details the impact of violence on victims and provides some explanations for battered women becoming "prisoners" in their own home. Chapter five details the shortcomings of the criminal justice response to battered women. Chapter six provides some more optimistic information on treatment programs for violent husbands. The book ends with a section on future trends, including current research programs on children who witness violence in their homes. Overall, the book is well written and demonstrates Dutton's excellent analytical skills. He has an ability to integrate diverse theoretical models on family violence with current research studies in the field. His understanding of battered women and their husbands flows dramatically into the dismal record of the criminal justice system in providing a meaningful response to the problem. His analysis of current treatment programs offers some valuable insight to the reader on the most effective strategies for this population. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intimate partner violence among female sex workers in two Mexico–U.S. Border cities: Partner characteristics and HIV risk behaviors as correlates of abuse.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) has been associated with greater vulnerability to HIV infection among women. We examined prevalence and correlates of IPV among female sex workers (FSWs) in Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez, two large Mexico–U.S. border cities in which HIV prevalence is rising. Participants were 300 FSWs with a current spouse or a steady partner. Participants' mean age was 33 years, and mean number of years as a sex worker was 6. The prevalence of IPV in the past 6 months among participants was 35%. Using multivariate logistic regression, factors independently associated with IPV included having experienced abuse as a child, a partner who had sex with someone else, and lower sexual relationship power. Our findings suggest the need for previous abuse screening and violence prevention services for FSWs in the Mexico–U.S. border region. Careful consideration of relationship dynamics such as infidelity and relationship power is warranted when assessing for IPV risk. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Psychology and life (Canadian edition).

Reviews the book, Psychology and life (Canadian edition) (2009), by Richard J. Gerrig, Philip Zimbardo, Serge Desmarais, and Tammy Ivanco. As part of an effective strategy to deal with the many emerging challenges of teaching large introductory psychology classes, a modern textbook geared toward introductory psychology must keep up with these changes and offer useful features that address the needs of the student. To this end, Psychology and Life (Canadian Edition) presents an impressive update of the classic textbook by Gerrig and Zimbardo. The text continues to hit on the key principle of psychology as a science with a thorough and updated research-based presentation. The textbook is well organised into 17 chapters covering the range of typical introductory psychology topics. The chapters are written in a midlevel text that will be accessible to the broad range of students enrolled in most introductory psychology courses. While maintaining a high level of readability and interest, the work is solidly grounded in research as it highlights psychology as a science. As the title of the textbook suggests, the authors make a conscious effort to demonstrate that the research and curriculum presented in each chapter have an immediate impact on daily life. This is a well-written, organised, and appealing text that students will find engaging and instructors will find suitable for providing a solid grounding in the science of contemporary psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Communications regarding risk.

Comments on the article of J. Monahan & H. J. Steadman (see record 83-38274) on meteorology and weather prediction as analogous to violence risk assessment communication in mental health law. It is suggested that there is an impediment to developing verified probabilistic dangerousness risk assessments (DRAs) which Monahan & Steadman don't mention: unlike meteorological forecasts, which can always be assessed for their accuracy, many types of DRAs cannot be assessed for their accuracy without releasing from confinement people judged to be very seriously dangerous. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The Behavior of Animals: Mechanisms, Function and Evolution.

Reviews the book, The Behavior of Animals: Mechanisms, Function and Evolution by Johan J. Bolhuis and Luc-Alain Giraldeau (see record 2005-00777-000). Given the vastness of the phenomena now to be covered, a compelling theoretical framework is absolutely essential if a comprehensive understanding of animal behaviour is to emerge. Fortunately, Tinbergen himself provided just such a framework for organizing research on animal behaviour, and Bolhuis and Giraldeau wisely follow it in their organization of the material in this text. Thus, a short preface rehearsing the history of animal behaviour research by Robert Hinde (one of Tinbergen's students who himself became one of the foremost contemporary ethologists) is followed by 16 chapters by 23 authors. The chapters are organized into three major sections, two of which flow directly from Tinbergen's four "whys" of behaviour. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)