Abstract
With the aim of ascertaining if child-to-parent offenders have impairments in the executive functions and psychological maladjustment, and to quantify the potential harm and epidemiology, a field study was designed. As for this, 76 juvenile offenders sentenced for child-to-parent violence were assessed in executive functions (Stroop tasks) and psychological adjustment (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescent, MMPI-A). The results showed valid responses for 75 juveniles and that data were not generally biased in line with defensiveness or malingering (differential diagnosis in justice juvenile evaluations). In psychological adjustment, the results revealed a significantly higher maladjustment among offenders on all the basic clinical scales with 23% more symptoms of hysteria than the normative population, 37% more of depressive symptoms, 44% more of hypochondriac symptoms, 68% more of psychopathic deviation symptoms, 46% more of paranoid symptoms, 26% more of psychasthenic symptoms, 24% more symptoms of schizophrenia, 17% more symptoms of hypomania, and 13% more symptoms of social introversion. Epidemiologically, the prevalence rates of clinical deterioration were significantly greater than expected (0.05 in normative sample) in hypochondria (28.0%), depression (29.3%), hysteria (29.3%), psychopathic deviation (60%), paranoia (30.7%), psychasthenia (22.7%), and schizophrenia (25.3%). As for the cognitive functions, the offenders exhibited impairments estimated at 62.0% in word reading, 47.9% in color naming, 45.8% in color-word, and 11.9% in interference and a significantly higher prevalence of caseness than expected in word reading (65%), color naming (71%), and color-word (70.2%). The implications of the results for intervention are discussed.
Highlights
Over 60 years after Sears et al (1957) drew attention to child-toparent violence (CPV), there is a wealth of literature on domestic violence, intimate partner violence, but research on CPV is paradoxically scarce
The protocols of the MMPI-A were scrutinized to determine if they had been subjected to extreme acquiescence (TRIN T ≥ 80), random responses (VRIN T ≥ 80; F, F1, or F2 T ≥ 120), lack of collaboration (>10 did not respond or double response items) or outliers [L raw score > 12 or K rs > 29, i.e., percentile 99.9], in order to eliminate these from the study (Graham, 2011; Greene, 2011; Arce et al, 2015)
A case was excluded from the study as the Variable Response Inconsistency (VRIN) and True Response Inconsistency (TRIN) were over a T score of 80
Summary
Over 60 years after Sears et al (1957) drew attention to child-toparent violence (CPV), there is a wealth of literature on domestic violence, intimate partner violence, but research on CPV is paradoxically scarce. On the ground of these limitations, Morgan and Lilienfeld (2000) reviewed the well-validated tests for measuring EF impairment (i.e., the category test of the Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Battery, the qualitative score on the Porteus Maze Test, the Stroop Interference Test, Part B of the Trail Making Test, the perseverative error score on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, and Verbal Fluency Tests) and found the highest sensitivity for the Stroop and Mazes tests Bearing this context in mind, a field study was carried out on juveniles convicted of CPV in order to ascertain if the deficits in executive functioning observed in individuals exhibiting antisocial behavior were observable in CPOs and to quantify the potential harm and epidemiology. The psychological adjustment of this population of juveniles was assessed, the harm to mental health quantified, and the clinical epidemiology examined
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
