The relation between abuse and violent delinquency: the conversion of shame to blame in juvenile offenders

Objective

While the relationship between abusive parenting and violent delinquency has been well established, the cognitive and emotional processes by which this occurs remain relatively unidentified. The objective of this work is to apply a conceptual model linking abusive parenting to the conversion of shame into blaming others and therefore to violent delinquency.

Methods

A retrospective study of 112 adolescents (90 male; 22 female; ages 12-19 years; M = 15.6; SD = 1.4) who were incarcerated in a juvenile detention facility pending criminal charges, completed measures of exposure to abusive and nonabusive discipline, expressed and converted shame, and violent delinquency.

Results

Findings tend to confirm the conceptual model. Subjects who converted shame (i.e., low expressed shame, high blaming others) tended to have more exposure to abusive parenting and showed more violent delinquent behavior than their peers who showed expressed shame. Subjects who showed expressed shame (i.e., high expressed shame, low blaming others) showed less violent delinquency than those who showed converted shame.

Conclusions

Abusive parenting impacts delinquency directly and indirectly through the effects of shame that is converted. Abusive parenting leads to the conversion of shame to blaming others, which in turn leads to violent delinquent behavior.

Practice implications

For juvenile offenders, the conversion of shame into blaming others appears to contribute to pathological outcomes in relation to trauma. Translation of this work into clinical practice is recommended.     

PARTY IDENTIFICATION AND ATTITUDES TOWARDS HOMOSEXUALS IN GREAT BRITAIN

Legislative activity and controversy concerning the issue ofhomosexual rights and practices has intensified in Britain overthe last decade. Despite this increase in intensity, however,the question of mass public opinion in relation to homosexualrights and practices has received little empirical investigation.In an effort to remedy this situation, this paper focuses onthe influence of party identification in determining publicattitudes towards homosexuals. Using data from the British SocialAttitudes Surveys, the results suggest that although party identificationexerts an independent and statistically significant effect onattitudes towards homosexuals, in all cases, however, theseeffects are both secondary and variable. Other equally, if notmore salient, determinants include: gender, education, age,occupation, and type of homosexual relationship. Of these varioussocio–demographic variables, both age and education standout as having the strongest and most consistent effect. In otherwords, at least as far as current British society is concerned,anti-homosexual views are most prevalent among both older individualsas well as the lesser educated.     

Metacognitive activities in text-studying and problem-solving: Development of a taxonomy

This article describes the construction of a hierarchical taxonomy of metacognitive activities for the interpretation of thinking-aloud protocols of students in secondary education, who studied texts on history and physics. After testing an initial elaborate taxonomy on a restricted number of protocols by multiple raters, it appeared that the interrater correspondence was well below par. The categories in the taxonomy were too highly specified. Categories were combined and tested on new protocols in a cyclic fashion. The revised taxonomy was then used for coding 16 history protocols and 16 physics protocols. Frequencies of occurrence of metacognitive activities were obtained, as well as judgements of the quality of the metacognitive activities of the participants. There is a reasonable correlation between the frequency method and the quality method for coding thinking-aloud protocols. Also, there is a substantial covariation of the number of metacognitive activities across both tasks.     

Using pictorial mnemonics in the learning of tax: a cognitive load perspective

The scope and complexity of the Australian taxation system (as with other tax regimes) is daunting for many accounting students. This paper documents the implementation of new practices that were initiated in an effort to address some of the challenges faced by undergraduate students studying taxation. Based on the principles of cognitive load theory, summaries of the lecture material became the focus of tutorials. These summaries provided the impetus for teaching staff to experiment with illustrations as a strategic means of delivery. Drawing diagrams and presenting them in the form of pictorial mnemonics proved to be effective tools in helping students understand and synthesize basic taxation concepts, thereby promoting effective deep learning. Both formal and informal feedback was overwhelmingly positive and affirming of this innovative approach to the subject. A selection of the pictorial mnemonics we designed is provided.     

Individual Differences in Adapting to Three Different Tasks of Selecting Information from Texts

This study examined individual differences in selecting main points according to three types of tasks. In all, 133 students (10th-graders) participated. Each student studied three instructional texts, and each text was preceded by one instruction. In the linguistic task, the students had to underline the author's main points. In the educational task, students had to underline text elements considered to be important by a portrayed teacher. And in the interest task, interesting text fragments had to be underlined. The students were divided into five groups identified by a typical selection pattern. Only 24 students adjusted their selection of main points to each of the tasks (the adaptive group). This group differed in some study strategies and learning conceptions from the nonadaptive groups. In all, this study begins to give more insight into individual differences in selecting main points.     

Didactic and technical considerations when developing e-learning and CME

Several usability issues were encountered during the design of a blended e-learning program for a course in evidence-based medicine for general practice trainers. The program was developed in four steps. We focused in this article on step 2 and 3. Step 2 focused on which educational principles to apply, that is, which learning theories, instructional designs and other theories should influence the program. Step 3 focused on the design elements, namely whether to use hypermedia and/or multimedia, and what screen design and which font to use. This article presents the important issues in designing an e-course and provides an impression of the complexity of designing high quality e-learning in particular for continuing medical education (CME).     

Support Teams in New Zealand Schools: A National Survey of Establishment and Practice

Two and a half years after the initial funding allocation for teacher release hours to establish Support Teacher positions in New Zealand schools, 63 (91%) of the schools with a Support Teacher funding allocation completed a questionnaire on the establishment of the position in the school. Information derived from the questionnaire included qualifications and experience of teachers appointed to the role of Support Teacher, and detail regarding the establishment, practice, and degree of adherence to the Support Team model of operation. Significant difficulties with Support Team establishment and program adherence are reported, notably in selection, training, organizational support, and form of service delivery. The results are discussed in terms of the speed of drift from the model, differences between primary and secondary schools in implementation of the program, the importance of training, and the presence of an active Support Team Management Committee in ensuring effective service delivery.