Needs analysis for the personal, social, and psychological adjustment of adolescents at risk of delinquency and juvenile offenders

Abstract

La literatura ha encontrado que las necesidades no-criminogénicas también son un factor de riesgo de delincuencia juvenil y, por tanto, han de ser objeto de intervención. Se diseñó un estudio de campo con el objetivo de conocer si el ajuste individual, social y psicológico (necesidades no-criminogénicas) difieren entre menores infractores, menores de protección y normalizados. Para ello se evaluó a 450 adolescentes (150 menores de reforma, 150 de protección y 150 normalizados) en el ajuste individual, social y psicológico. Los resultados mostraron un efecto significativo en el ajuste individual, social y psicológico para el factor población. Sucintamente, los menores de protección y reforma manifestaron un mayor desajuste individual en los niveles personal y familiar que los normalizados, y, adicionalmente, los de reforma a nivel social. Asimismo, los menores de protección e infractores exhibieron un mayor desajuste social consistente en más retraimiento social, ansiedad social/timidez y liderazgo que los normalizados, y los menores infractores un menor ajuste social en la consideración hacia los demás que los normalizados. En el ajuste psicológico, los menores de reforma y protección informaron de más sintomatología obsesivo-compulsiva, de sensibilidad interpersonal, depresiva, de hostilidad, de ansiedad-fóbica y psicótica que los normalizados, y los de protección más somática, ansiosa (generalizada) y paranoide que los normalizados. Se cuantificaron los déficits en estas dimensiones para estimar la magnitud de las necesidades. Se discuten las implicaciones teóricas de los resultados y para el diseño de programas de prevención de la delincuencia y de recaídas. Literature has found that non-criminogenic needs also are a juvenile delinquency risk factor and, consequently, should be target of intervention. With the aim of knowing if individual, social and psychological adjustment differ between juvenile offenders and foster care adolescents with normal adolescents was designed. A total of 450 adolescents (150 juvenile offenders, 150 foster care adolescents, and 150 normal adolescents) were evaluated in individual, social and psychological adjustment. The results showed a significant effect in the individual, social and psychological adjustment for the population factor. Succinctly, juvenile offenders and foster care adolescents displayed a higher individual maladjustment in the personal and family level than normal adolescents, and, additionally, juvenile offenders in the social level. Likewise, juvenile offenders and foster care adolescents exhibited a higher social maladjustment consisting in more social withdrawal, social anxiety/shyness, and leadership than normal adolescents; and juvenile offenders revealed less consideration for others than normal adolescents. In psychological adjustment, juvenile offenders and foster care adolescents reported more obsessive-compulsive, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, hostile, phobic-anxiety, and psychotic symptomology than normal adolescent; and foster care adolescent more somatic, anxiety (generalized) and paranoid symptoms than normal adolescents. The deficits in these needs were quantified as to estimate the magnitude of the intervention. Theoretical and practical implications for intervention of the results are discussed

Modification of hostile interpretation bias and self-reported aggression in juvenile delinquents: A randomized controlled trial

“…Another limitation is what aggressive behavior was estimated with self-reported measures, which might be affected by response bias and social desirability. A tendency toward deception has been reported in the forensic population ( Mayorga-Sierra, Novo, Fariña, & Seijo, 2020 ; Novo, Fariña, Seijo, & Arce, 2012 ). Future researchers are encouraged to use multi-method assessment to circumvent subjectivity and mono-method biases.…”

Adolescent-to-Parent Violence: Psychological and Family Adjustment

“…Nevertheless, the findings underscored the need for multimodal and multilevel prevention, in accordance with the non-model approach (Arce et al, 2014;Basanta et al, 2018). Thus, it is of vital importance to determine the precise personal, family, and social needs for the psychological adjustment of adolescents involved in APV, and to estimate the magnitude in order to design and develop efficacious prevention programs and interventions (Mayorga et al, 2020).…”

Evaluation of the Executive Functioning and Psychological Adjustment of Child-to-Parent Offenders: Epidemiology and Quantification of Harm

“…Remarkably, the contents of treatments for CPOs have been barely assessed, even though CPO interventions should be the primary objective according to judicial sentences. Of the array of needs identified in the literature on adult and juvenile violence and delinquency, psychological adjustment (Mayorga et al, 2020;Beaudry et al, 2021) and cognitive competency (Arias et al, 2020;Beelmann and Lösel, 2020) in CPOs have received little attention, and the results on CPV are inconsistent (Simmons et al, 2018).…”