Monitor on Psychology - June 2012 - (Page 8)

Letters continues from page 4 of Spirituality in Mental Health, 2012). Contrary to that research, the results of my dissertation study indicated age differences in the life satisfaction levels of this nationwide sample (N=1116). It was the application of generation theory that guided the sampling methodology and the assignment of cutoff scores, in regard to age ranges for the various comparative research groups in this study that can explain these findings. MARIA CLARA KREIS, PHD Pittsburgh Juvenile justice Millennia ago Herodotus noted “history repeats itself.” Much research about homicide is wrong. So is Steinberg and Piquero’s amicus brief in the April Monitor article “APA weighs in the on the constitutionality of life without parole for juvenile offenders.” We’ve shown with 234 killers at the “first” juvenile court that poor executive function is a predictor of homicide contrary to Steinberg’s “teenagers are less able to control impulses.” (Predicting & Preventing Homicide: A Cost Effective Empirical Approach from Infancy to Adulthood, Psychological Reports, February 2009). Youth homicide results from combined measurable risks, not some “heat-of-the-moment” act. Using Shao’s bootstrapped logistic regressions, we demonstrated 14 predictors for violent youth (AUC=0.91) and 11 for adults (AUC=0.99) (Violence Risk Appraisal for Male & Female Youth, Adults & Individuals, Psychological Reports, December 2010) contradicting Piquero’s “predicting violent behavior is not always possible.” Our in- and out-of-bag techniques provide crossvalidated sensitivity and specificity, 8 minimizing over- or under-identification like Burgess (1928) probation-parole decision-making tools accepted globally in the courts. Results of Chicago Mayor Daley’s Youth Violence Task Force mentoring, anger management, and jobs for 350 highest at-risk (dropouts, addicts-alcoholics, career delinquents, homicidal-prone) in 38 areas where shootings went down 44 percent and fighting decreased 77 percent (Ahmed, 2010; Rossi, 2010; Saulny, 2009; Shelton & Banchero, 2009). Incentives for this policy are $3.9 million cost per homicide. President Clinton found this “persuasive and convincing,” forwarding it to U.S. Attorney General Holder. Using this approach Cook County President Preckwinkle saved millions with electronic surveillance instead of jail. Random sampling, multitraitmultimethod, experimental design, and robust statistics provide a better picture of violence to save lives and expenses. ROBERT JOHN ZAGAR, PHD Chicago abolished the juvenile death penalty in 2005 and banned the use of life without parole as a sentence for juveniles convicted of non-homicides. As for the prediction of homicide, the issue is not whether violence in general can be predicted over a two-year period (which is the focus of the article Dr. Zagar cites), but whether the commission of homicide as a 14-year-old is a reliable and robust predictor of violence in adulthood. As Dr. Piquero rightly noted in the APA brief, it is not. LAURENCE STEINBERG, PHD Temple University ALEX PIQUERO, PHD Florida State University Click here for references to this letter. Response from Drs. Steinberg and Piquero Dr. Zagar’s assertion that impaired executive function is a consistent predictor of homicide does not contradict the many studies that find developmental differences in impulse control and decision-making, both of which are aspects of executive functioning. The point is that the “impaired” impulsivity and poor decision-making exhibited by many juvenile offenders, even those who have committed homicide, is often developmentally normative, and therefore a mitigating factor in sentencing decisions. This is precisely why the Supreme Court Misdiagnosis of ADHD In response to the two articles on adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in the March Monitor, the widespread notion that ADHD is a biologically driven attention problem is scientifically problematic because we know little about basic mechanisms of attention and its normal variations. Further, by assuming biological causation, professionals are more likely to recommend medication as part of the treatment. Recent research has shown that the long-term benefits of medication for treating ADHD are not superior to psychological treatments. In a recent study of nearly 1 million children, the youngest boys in a classroom (birthdates in December) were 30 percent more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD and the youngest girls, 70 percent more likely. This raises the alarming possibility that hundreds of thousands of children are being misdiagnosed with ADHD and placed on medications simply because continues on page 72 MONITOR ON PSYCHOLOGY • JUNE 2012 http://staging.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/apa/monitor_201206/src/Zagar.pdf

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Monitor on Psychology - June 2012

Monitor on Psychology - June 2012
Letters
President’s column
Contents
From the CEO
Give an Hour founder is one of Time magazine’s ‘most influential’
APA treatment guidelines panels are being formed
APA supports ‘Speak Up For Kids’
In Brief
Time Capsule
Random Sample
Judicial Notebook
Questionaire
APA honors Howell
Science Watch
Science Directions
What you should know about online education
Speaking of Education
Psychologist Profile
Redefining masculinity
Miscarriage and loss
Something for everyone
Candidates weigh in
Division Spotlight
American Psychological Foundation
Personalities

Monitor on Psychology - June 2012