Discriminant Factors for Adolescent Sexual Offending: On the Usefulness of Considering Both Victim Age & Sibling Incest

Understanding the pathways and circumstances of juvenile sexual offending is of utmost importance. However, juvenile sexual offenders (JSO) represent an especially diverse group of individuals, and several categorizations have been proposed to obtain more homogeneous subgroups. Victim age-based and family relation-based categorizations are particularly promising because they seem theoretically and clinically relevant. Empirical results however are still inconsistent, and most studies have not considered these two dimensions jointly. 

The first goal of this study was to further examine the value of subgrouping JSO according to the age of their victim. A second goal was to determine the supplementary value, if any, of considering sibling incest. Based on a sample of 351 male JSO, it was first confirmed that sexual abuse of children was more strongly related to asociality (social skill deficits) than sexual abuse of peers, the latter being more closely associated with antisociality (general delinquency). 

The relevance of considering mixed-type JSO (with both child and peer victims) separately was also confirmed. More importantly, multivariate statistical analyses demonstrated that adding sibling incest to the equation was useful. JSO of intra-familial child were significantly more likely to have been victimized during their own childhood compared to JSO with extra-familial victims. Nevertheless, adolescents who had committed sibling incest obtained middle ground results on most variables (except for crime severity), suggesting that they constitute a distinct but not extreme, subgroup. 

This study confirmed the utility of using both the age and the family relation with the victim in characterizing juvenile sexual offending.

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By:  Joyal CC1, Carpentier J1, Martin C1.

• 1Psychology Department, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, C.P. 500, Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Canada, G9A 5H7; Research Center, Institut Philippe-Pinel de Montréal, Quebec, Canada; International Center for Comparative Criminology, Université de Montréal, Quebec, Canada. 
• Child Abuse Negl. 2016 Feb 19;54:10-22. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2016.01.006.

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Long-Term Prevention of Criminality in Siblings of Serious and Violent Juvenile Offenders: A 25-Year Follow-Up to a Randomized Clinical Trial of Multisystemic Therapy

OBJECTIVE:

Family-based treatment models that have shown effectiveness with juvenile offenders may also lead to reduced criminality in siblings of those offenders. However, the lasting effects of such treatments on siblings have not been evaluated. In the present study, the authors examined criminal outcomes for siblings of serious and violent juvenile offenders who had participated on average 25.0 years earlier in a clinical trial of multisystemic therapy (MST; Borduin et al., 1995).

METHOD:

Participants were 129 closest-in-age siblings of individuals who were originally randomized to MST or individual therapy (IT) during adolescence. Arrest and incarceration data were obtained in middle adulthood when siblings were on average 38.4 years old.

RESULTS:

Intent-to-treat analyses showed that arrest rates were significantly lower for siblings in the MST condition than in the IT condition (43.3% vs. 72.0%, respectively). In addition, siblings in the IT condition were about 3 times as likely to be convicted of a felony and more than twice as likely to be sentenced to incarceration and probation.

CONCLUSION:

The present study represents the longest follow-up to date of sibling participants in an MST clinical trial and demonstrates that the positive impact of an evidence-based treatment for serious and violent juvenile offenders can extend to other family members. Implications of the authors' findings for policymakers and service providers are discussed.

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By:   Wagner DV1, Borduin CM1, Sawyer AM1, Dopp AR1.

• 1Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri. 

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Evaluation of Social & Demographic Characteristics of Incest Cases in a University Hospital in Turkey

BACKGROUND:

Incest is defined as any sexual activity between close blood relatives including step relatives and family members who are forbidden by law to marry. It is a problem that can be seen in all the social classes in developed and undeveloped societies. The World Health Organization classifies this problem as a silent health emergency. Father-daughter incest is reported to be the most common incest type followed by the other types like brother-sister, sister-sister and mother-son incest.

MATERIAL AND METHODS:

Subjects for this study were recruited from a sample of incest cases referred to Forensic Medicine Department of Gaziosmanpasa University Medical Faculty Hospital between 2008 and 2012. Data involved social and demographic characteristics and clinical features of victims, perpetrators and the families. The ethical committee of the faculty of medicine approved the study.

RESULTS:

The study sample consisted of 43 incest cases (36 females and 7 males) with an age rage 4-40 years. Two third of the victims were under 18 years old. All perpetrators were males. Father - daughter incest (34.9%) was found to be most common incest type followed by brother - sister incest (14%). 75% of the perpetrators were family members and relatives with consanguinity while 25% of them were not consanguineous but faithful and intimate relatives to victims.

CONCLUSIONS:

Increasing awareness about incest and its damaging effects is so important and clinicians should keep in mind sexual abuse or incest when examining the risky population. Multidisciplinary approach is necessary for determining short term or long term results and preventing the negative consequences of incest.

Full article at:  http://goo.gl/lY7qLa

By:  Ali Yildirim,1,A,C,E,F Erdal Ozer,1,A,B,E Hasan Bozkurt,2,E Sait Ozsoy,3,F Ozgur Enginyurt,4,D,F Durmus Evcuman,5,FRiza Yilmaz,6,D and Yunus Emre Kuyucu7,C

¹Department of Forensic Medicine, Gaziosmanpasa University Faculty of Medicine, Tokat, Turkey

²Department of Child Pyschiatry, Gaziosmanpasa University Faculty of Medicine, Tokat, Turkey

³Department of Forensic Medicine, Gulhane Military Medical Academy, Ankara, Turkey

⁴Department of Family Medicine, Ordu University Faculty of Medicine, Ordu, Turkey

⁵Department of Forensic Medicine, Council of Forensic Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey

⁶Department of Forensic Medicine, Bulent Ecevit University Faculty of Medicine, Zonguldak, Turkey

⁷Department of Biostatistics, Gaziosmanpaşa University Faculty of Medicine, Tokat, Turkey

Corresponding Author: Ali Yildirim, e-mail: moc.oohay@46miridliyila

 

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Etiological Risk Factors for Sibling Incest: Data From an Anonymous Computer-Assisted Self-Interview

Retrospective data from 1,821 women and 1,064 men with one or more siblings, provided anonymously using a computer-assisted self-interview, were used to identify risk factors for sibling incest (SI); 137 were participants in SI. 

In order of decreasing predictive power, the risk factors identified by the multiple logistic regression analysis included ever having shared a bed for sleeping with a sibling, parent-child incest (PCI), family nudity, low levels of maternal affection, and ever having shared a tub bath with a sibling. 

The results were consistent with the idea that SI in many families was the cumulative result of four types of parental behaviors: 

1. Factors that lower external barriers to sexual behavior (e.g., permitting co-sleeping or co-bathing of sibling dyads), 
2. Factors that encourage nudity of children within the nuclear family and permit children to see the parent's genitals, 
3. Factors that lead to the siblings relying on one another for affection (e.g., diminished maternal affection), and 
4. Factors that eroticize young children (e.g., child sexual abuse [CSA] by a parent). 

Thirty-eight of the 137 SI participants were participants in coerced sibling incest (CSI). In order of decreasing predictive power, risk factors for CSI identified by multiple logistic regression analysis included ever having shared a bed for sleeping with a brother, PCI, witnessing parental physical fighting, and family nudity. SI was more likely to have been reported as CSI if the sibling had touched the reporting sibling's genitals, and less likely to have been reported as CSI if the siblings had shared a bed.

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By:  Griffee K1, Swindell S2, O'Keefe SL3, Stroebel SS4, Beard KW5, Kuo SY2, Stroupe W2.

• 1Concord University, Athens, WV, USA Karen.Griffee@gmail.com.
• 2West Virginia State University, Institute, WV, USA.
• 3Marshall University Graduate College, South Charleston, WV, USA Marshall University, Huntington, WV, USA.
• 4Marshall University Graduate College, South Charleston, WV, USA.
• 5Marshall University, Huntington, WV, USA. 

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Environmental Clustering of Drug Abuse in Households & Communities: Multi-Level Modeling of a National Swedish Sample

Both epidemiological and genetically informative studies indicate that shared environmental influences contribute to resemblance in siblings for drug abuse (DA). To what degree do these influences arise from living in the same household versus residing in the same community?

We performed a cross-classified multi-level logistic regression on all individuals born in Sweden 1975-1990 (N = 1558,654). We assessed the proportion of the total population variation in DA that was due to household versus community effects controlling for genetic resemblance. DA was assessed from medical, criminal and pharmacy records.

Expressed as an intraclass correlation (ICC), the combined household/community effects accounted for ~8 % of the total population variation in DA. The variance attributed to the community was greater than that seen for household (4.5 versus 3.4 %). In males, the variance components were slightly larger and nearly equal at the community (5.3 %) and household level (5.1 %). In females, household effects (4.8 %) were stronger than those arising from the community (3.2 %).

In the total population and among males, community effects on DA were somewhat more potent than household effects. However, in females, household effects on DA were stronger than community effects. In Sweden, shared environmental effects for DA arise both at the household and at the community level. Community effects on DA are more potent in males than in females.

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By:   Kendler KS1, Ohlsson H, Sundquist K, Sundquist J.

• 1Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Box 980126, Richmond, VA, 23298-0126, USA, kendler@vcu.edu. 

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Prevalence of Psychiatric Disorders among Juvenile Offenders in Malaysian Prisons & Association with Socio-Demographic & Personal Factors

The number of juvenile offenders admitted to Malaysian prisons is alarming. The purpose of this paper is to determine the presence of any psychiatric disorders and their association with personal characteristics of juvenile detainees in prisons across Peninsular Malaysia.

Detainees were recruited from five different prisons in Peninsular Malaysia and interviewed by a psychiatrist using the MINI-Kid and FACES-IV, relevant personal and family information was also collected.

A total of 105 detainees participated in the study. Almost all of the offenders (93.3%) had at least one diagnosable psychiatric disorder and more than half (76.2%) had two or more psychiatric diagnoses. Conduct disorder (CD) was the commonest disorder (59.0%), while substance use disorders (SUD) was the commonest co-morbidity. A significant correlation was found between presence of CD, education level and SUD. Almost all (98.4%) of the detainees with CD, had not completed schooling, and detainees with this disorder were more likely to use substances than detainees without CD. Detainees with any psychiatric diagnosis were more likely to have four or more siblings in their families.

There is a high prevalence of psychiatric disorders among juvenile offenders in Malaysian prisons, detection and intervention would be important.

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By: Aida SA1, Aili HH, Manveen KS, Salwina WI, Subash KP, Ng CG, Muhsin AZ.

• 1Psychiatrist and a Senior Lecturer, based at Department of Psychological Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 

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