This study explored the prevalence of violent behaviors in patients who are addicted to drugs. A sample of 252 addicted patients (203 male and 49 female) who sought outpatient treatment was assessed. Information on violent behaviors, sociodemographic factors, consumption factors (assessed by the European version of the Addiction Severity Index…

Eighty-one 13- to 14-year-old boys at risk for delinquency (target boys) engaged in brief dyadic conversations with their peer friends. The target boys' verbal behavior was coded into two mutually exclusive content categories, rule-break talk and normative talk. Positive social responses from peer boys for each category of talk were also recorded,…

Interventions that are based on scientific principles of applied behaviour analysis (ABA) are recognised as effective treatments for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) by many governments and professionals (Office of the Surgeon General, 2000; Ontario IBI Initiative, 2002). However, many still view ABA as one of many treatments for…

Pioneers in reclaiming youth sought to build relationships and environments that responded to the needs of "wayward youth." Now, neuroscience and trauma research show the primacy of human connections in assessment, treatment, and youth development. Interventions with challenging children and youth are now being evaluated against principles…

Social learning theory provides a useful conceptual framework for understanding abuse and the teaching and learning of antisocial or criminal behavior in young offenders. This article examines social learning theory and the quality of parent-child relationships from the perspective of behavioral analysis, and provides a rationale for a…

Transactional theories of development suggest that displaying high levels of antisocial behavior early in life and persistently over time causes disruption in multiple life domains, which in turn places individuals at risk for negative life outcomes. We used longitudinal data from 1,137 primarily African American urban youth (49.1% female) to…

This paper discusses how the "at risk" and "what works" approach that drives the management of youth criminal justice systems produces little knowledge that informs practitioners how best to work with young people who offend and how to design effective crime prevention programmes. An alternative approach that is more informative for the…

Incorporating elements from broadband theories of psychological adaptation to extreme adversity, including Summit's (1983) Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome, Finkelhor and Browne's (1986) Traumagenic Dynamics Model of sexual abuse, and Pyszczynski and colleagues' (1997) Terror Management Theory, this paper proposes a unified theoretical…

Given the rapid increase in studies of bullying and peer harassment among youth, it becomes important to understand just what is being researched. This study explored whether the themes that emerged from "children's" definitions of bullying were consistent with theoretical and methodological operationalizations within the research…

Critiques the frustration-aggression hypothesis, which was developed in 1939 concerning the interplay of cognitive and motivational processes in aggressive behavior. The hypothesis suggested that frustration leads to aggression. The author's experiments show that the aversive experiences, not necessarily frustration, lead to aggression. (Author/AV)

Two experiments investigated whether adolescents who are considered persistently anti-social by their teachers are generally inferior in acquiring avoidance behavior. (DP)

This investigation used a convergent measures design to explore the relationship of television viewing habits and preferences to experimentally emitted aggressive behavior. The catharsis argument posits that watching programs high in aggressive content provides a socially adaptive outlet for involvement with aggression. Groups of college and…

Based on Zimbardo's (1970) theory of deindividuation and Duval and Wicklund's (1972) theory of "objective self-awareness" it was predicted that self-awareness would lead to a decrease in transgressive behavior. (Editor)

Addresses the ubiquitous practices of trait inference and labeling, inference of motives, and the conceptual division of prosocial and antisocial behavior into dichotomous entities. In the case of children who are "acting-out" at an excessively high frequency, these alternatives are more humane and useful in a pragmatic, scientific sense.…