Public attitudes towards sex offenders are believed to play a key role in the development of legislation and public policy designed to manage the risks posed by known sex offenders who live in the community. There have, however, been few previous attempts to validate methods by which public attitudes can be measured. The current study aims to address this issue by establishing the factor structure of the Community Attitudes Towards Sex Offenders (CATSO) scale with an Australian community sample and examine the extent to which demographic variables and support for sex offender management policies influence these attitudes. A sample of 552 participants recruited through online social media sites completed the CATSO as well as a number of items developed by the researchers designed to assess individuals' support for specific sex offender policies. Results of an exploratory factor analysis suggested the presence of four distinct factors which were labelled 'social tendencies', 'treatment and punishment', 'crime characteristics' and 'sexual behaviour'. Individuals with higher levels of educational attainment rated sex offenders less negatively than those with lower educational attainment, while those who reported being supportive of community notification reported more negative attitudes towards sex offenders.
Encouraging child and family involvement, facilitating hospital redesign and improving communication could help to reduce the harm associated with medication errors.
Pharmacists made a substantial and highly valued contribution to pediatric inter-professional medication decision making. These results provide new knowledge that informs theoretical developments of pharmacists' role in decision making.
Objectives
Young people accessing mental health treatment in Australia frequently engage in dysregulated behaviours, such as substance misuse, deliberate self‐harm (DSH), and binge eating and purging. Rumination has been identified as a correlate of behavioural dysregulation; however, a qualitative examination of the functional relationship between ruminative processes and distress and subsequent engagement in dysregulated behaviours has not yet been conducted. This study aimed to explore the characteristics of rumination in young people and examine how this process relates to engagement in DSH, binge eating and purging, and substance misuse in a sample of treatment‐seeking young people.
Design
A qualitative research methodology was used gain an in‐depth understanding of participants’ experience of rumination as it relates to their engagement in dysregulated behaviours.
Methods
Twelve treatment‐seeking young people were interviewed about their experience of rumination in the context of a recently recalled situation where they engaged in a dysregulated behaviour. Interview data were analysed using thematic analysis.
Results
Themes included the following: (1) triggers to behavioural dysregulation; (2) characteristics and content of rumination; (3) key precipitants to dysregulated behaviours (rumination, distress, and prior ineffective were at managing rumination); and (4) distraction from rumination and regulation of distress as short term, positively reinforcing consequences of dysregulated behaviours, while ongoing cycles of rumination and psychological distress were identified as long‐term consequences.
Conclusions
DSH, binge/purge behaviours, and substance misuse represent maladaptive ways to distract from intense and pervasive rumination in this cohort of young people. Theoretical and treatment implications pertaining to these findings are discussed.
Practitioner points
Rumination is a common experience in young people who engage in dysregulated behaviours including deliberate self‐harm, binging and purging, and substance misuse
Engagement in behavioural dysregulation functions to distract from rumination, which negatively reinforces further engagement in dysregulated behaviours.
Interventions in this population should focus on the development of adaptive skills that provide the same level of distraction provided by the physical sensations associated with engaging in a dysregulated behaviour.
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