European Journal of Psychology Applied To Legal Context最新文献

The aim of this study is the development and analysis of the psychometric properties of a new instrument to assess the possible psychological abuse experienced in a group setting. The Psychological Abuse Experienced in Groups Scale was administered to 138 people who self-identified as former members of abusive groups. An exploratory factor analysis revealed a common factor, which showed appropriate reliability. The scale scores were correlated with a prior measure aimed to assess group abusiveness, providing evidence of external validity. Participants reported a higher degree of psychological distress than normative samples, and those who requested psychological counseling after leaving the group had suffered group psychological abuse to a greater extent. The scale covers a wide range of subtle and explicit abusive behaviors and overcomes the limitations of previous instruments, being useful in both research and applied settings.

The aim of this study was to characterize young dating violent offenders (DVO), and to compare them to the general population and to young offenders with violent crimes directed against other victims. We have used data from the Development of Aggressive Antisocial Behaviour Study, in all 262 young men, 18 to 25 years, convicted of violent crimes and imprisoned in the Western Region of the Swedish Prison and Probation Services. We found that young DVO offenders differed from the general population in all investigated areas; however, the group did not differ in comparisons to other young violent offenders. Our results highlight the antisocial aspects of dating violent crime being rooted in aggressive antisocial behaviour, lacking signs of any specific offender type characteristics, thus questioning the validity of crime specific treatment programs in prison for young offenders of dating violence.

The aim of this study was to analyse the cognitive processes (prosocial moral reasoning, perspective taking) and emotional processes (empathic concern, emotional instability, state-trait anger) which interact in predicting aggressive behaviour and prosocial behaviour of adolescents who have committed a crime and those who have not, for the purpose of establishing the predictor variables in both groups. Participants were 440 adolescents, 220 of them young offenders residing in four youth detention centres in Valencia, in which they were serving court sentences (67.3% men and 32.7% women). The other 220 were enrolled in public and private schools within the metropolitan area of Valencia (65.9% men and 34.1% women). The two subsamples were equated in age (15-18 years) and sex, controlling the representation of social classes. Prosocial moral reasoning, empathy, emotional instability, state-trait anger, prosocial behaviour, and physical and verbal aggression were assessed. Hierarchical regression analyses show the differential weight of positive emotions (empathic concern) and negative emotions (emotional instability and anger) in relation to prosocial moral reasoning in predicting aggressive behaviour in adolescents, especially offenders. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for prevention and re-education oriented to social reinsertion of young offenders.

Though it has been the most extensively used instrument for forensic evaluation, the MMPI-2 is being gradually replaced by the MMPI-2-RF version, requiring evidence research to support it. A malingering design was implemented to assess the efficacy of the overreporting validity scales in discriminating between a group of malingerers and the general and clinical populations in a forensic context. Of a total of 878 subjects, 309 were from the general population, 308 from the clinical population, and 261 were instructed to malinger a psychological injury. The results showed that malingerers scored significantly higher than the clinical and general population on the F-r, Fp-r, FBS-r, Fs and RBS scales. As for the classification of cases, the F-r, Fp-r, FBS-r, Fs, and RBS scales classified correctly and significantly between malingerers and honest respondents from the general population, and the F-r and Fp-r scales between malingerers and clinical population. Additionally, the results showed F-r incremental validity over Fp-r, and vice versa. Thus, F-r and Fp-r scales are independent and may be accumulated to detect malingering. Forensic practical implications from the results were derived and discussed.

The present study aimed to cross-validate Holtzworth-Munroe and Stuart's typology in a Spanish sample of court-referred intimate partner violence batterers. The study also analyzed the typology's capability to predict treatment attendance, completion, and IPV recidivism two years after the treatment. The sample consisted of 210 batterers court referred to a batterer intervention program. Using cluster analysis, three batterer subtypes were identified in accordance with the original typology: family-only batterers, borderline/dysphoric, and generally violent-antisocial. The typology predicted program attendance, completion, and recidivism. Batterers from the generally violent-antisocial group attended a significantly lower number of sessions, presented the highest dropout levels, and had the highest recidivism rate followed by borderline/dysphoric and family-only batterers. These findings suggest that in order to increase the effectiveness of batterer intervention programs, batterers’ different needs and risk profiles should be taken into account.

Equal employment opportunities for women are a legal requirement in many legal environments, including the United States (US) and European Union (EU) legislations. In this context, indirect discrimination in the access to jobs is an illegal practice. For this reason, personnel selection procedures must be fair for protected-by-law groups. Specifically, gender discrimination is the focus of research on employment interviews. This article presents a meta-analysis of gender differences in the scores in structured behavioral interviews (SBI). A database was created consisting of studies conducted with real candidates and employees. Psychometric meta-analysis methods were applied. The results showed that the SBI is fair for women and men and does not show evidence of adverse impact and indirect discrimination. Implications for the practice of personnel selection are discussed and future research is suggested.

This study explored the relationship between sexual double standard and rape supportive attitudes in regard to an individual's likelihood to perpetrate sexual aggression. We examined an adolescent sample of 448 boys from Peru, of whom 148 (33.3%) reported to have committed sexual aggression. Sexual contact with an unwilling partner was perpetrated by 24.8% of the total sample, sexual coercion by 14.3%, attempted rape by 12.5%, and finally, rape was perpetrated by 10.3%. In all these types of aggression, the most frequent victim was a dating partner. Compared to non-aggressors, male aggressors reported more sexual double standard and supportive attitudes towards rape. Logistic regression analyses revealed that the most relevant variable in the prediction of sexual aggression was the subject having been a victim of sexual abuse during adolescence and having rape supportive attitudes. Our findings suggest that violent attitudes are more important than the endorsement of non-egalitarian beliefs (sexual double standard) in the perpetration of sexual violence. These findings provide data from Peru, which contribute to the worldwide data on risk factors for sexual aggression in adolescent males.

False allegations constitute a problem since they may cause harm. To study the difference between true and false allegations we used a quasi-experimental approach. In the control condition likely true allegations were retrieved from criminal files. The victims, all female, were between the ages of 17 and 53 (M = 28.0, SD = 10.6). In the experimental condition women were invited to file a false allegation. Participants, all female, in the experimental conditions were between the ages of 18 and 52 (M = 28.0, SD = 10.6). We constructed a list of 187 variables based on our theory of fabricated rape. All items in the list were coded dichotomously. All variables that were coded as ‘present’ within cases were summed to obtain a total score; an independent t-test was used. The results of the control condition (N = 30) were compared with the experimental condition (N = 35) by use of chi-square tests. A Holm-Bonferoni method with Šidák correction was used to correct for the increased family-wise error rate. The independent t-test showed a significant difference between the mean number of present-coding of likely true allegations, (M = 59.13, SD = 11.00) and of false allegations (M = 35.74, SD = 9.33), t(63) = 9.28, p < .0001, d = 2.34. Thus, significantly more variables were coded ‘present’ in likely true allegations. Fabricated stories of rape lack pseudo-intimate behavior and a wide variety of sexual acts. Also, in almost all fabricated stories of rape the attack was completed in less than 15 minutes while in likely true allegations the attack sometimes took over 60 minutes before it was completed. In conclusion, true and false allegations diverge from each other in essentials of the story told by the complainant. The differences could be used to predict the true nature of a rape allegation.

Workplace violence is present in many work sectors, but in the area of mental health, nurses have a higher risk due to the close relationship they have with users. This study analyzed hostile user statements against nursing professionals of Mental Health Services and Emergency Units in Health Service (MHS) hospitals in Murcia, Spain, and determined the frequency of exposure to the different violent user behaviors. The study was carried out with a sample of 518 nursing professionals from four hospital services: Mental Health, Emergency Units, Medical Hospitalization, and Maternal-and-Child. The nursing staff of Mental Health and Emergency Units was the most exposed to violence. Non-physical violence was more frequent in Emergency Units, whereas physical violence was more frequent in Mental Health. Among the consequences of exposure to non-physical violence are workers’ emotional exhaustion and the presence of psychological distress.