Problematic Behaviors and Predicting Online Risk Behaviors in High School Students.

Adolescent behavior now occurs offline and online. Frequently studied and treated independently, the relationship between offline problem behaviors and online risk taking is not well understood. This study asked whether there are any problematic behaviors predictive of online risk taking by high school students. Using a 2009 dataset of 2,077 high school students grades 9-12, five areas of offline problematic behaviors were examined: Academic problems, anxiety, behavioral wrongdoing, bullying, and social-emotional. Nine binary results were classified as online risk: Sexting, online harassment (perpetrating and experiencing), visiting sex sites, talking about sex, receiving sexual pictures, meeting offline, anything sexual happened, feeling nervous or uncomfortable. Behavioral wrongdoing (fighting, school suspension, trouble with police, theft), emerged as a significant predictor appearing in all nine models, followed by bullying experience (bully or victim) in six models. Identifying common problem behaviors that predict online risk taking are key components in developing strategies to promote adolescent health and well-being.

Sexual reoffense trajectories with youths in the child welfare system.

The present study sought to determine whether the persistence of problematic sexualized behaviors (PSBs) committed by boys in the Massachusetts child welfare system would lend support to previous taxonomies categorizing offenders as early-onset/life course-persistent, adolescence-onset/adolescence-limited, or childhood-limited in their offending behavior. We examined the persistence of PSBs in a male sample (N=638; age range: two to 17), using a retrospective longitudinal archival design. Procedures involved a comprehensive archival review of records from the Department of Children and Families. Subsamples were established by trifurcating the sample based on age at the time of the boys' first documented PSB, resulting in age cohorts reflecting early childhood (age two to seven), middle childhood (age eight to 11), and preadolescence/adolescence (age 12-17). Results supported the hypothesis that youths who first exhibited PSBs in early childhood would produce higher sexual reoffense rates during each of three follow-up windows (i.e., three years, five years, and seven years) than youths who first exhibited such behaviors in middle childhood, or preadolescence/adolescence (p<0.01 for all group contrasts). Findings supported the distinctions of several taxonomies classifying youthful offenders in the juvenile justice system. Abuse reactivity, coping ability, and vulnerability to iatrogenic intervention effects are considered as some of many possible contributing factors.

Sexualized behaviors in cohorts of children in the child welfare system.

The current retrospective archival study investigated the patterns of normative sexualized behavior (NSB), problematic sexualized behavior (PSB), and sexual perpetration for three age cohorts of boys and girls in a high-risk child welfare sample. All children in the present sample had exhibited some form of PSB in the past. We hypothesized that the incidence rates (IR) of NSBs would increase linearly from the early childhood cohort (Ages 2/3-7) to the middle childhood cohort (Ages 8-11) to the preadolescence/adolescence cohort (Ages 12-17), for girls and boys. Although the base rate of sexual behaviors generally increases as children age, children tend to hide sexual behaviors starting at an early age. We therefore hypothesized that a concave quadratic trend would be evident for most PSBs. We further predicted that older children would have a greater incidence of PSB, as well as more victims, compared with younger children. We found the predicted upward linear trend for NSB for both girls and boys, with minimal IR differences between the early childhood and middle childhood cohorts. IRs were remarkably high and comparable across age groups for both boys and girls, with respect to the same three PSBs. For the two perpetration history variables, there was a concave effect, with girls and boys in the middle childhood cohort exhibiting the lowest IR. Results are explained in the context of previously established patterns of sexualized behavior, as well as the reporting of such behaviors.

Assessing risk of sexually abusive behavior among youth in a child welfare sample.

Statutory management of juvenile sexual offenders demands reliable, valid methods for assessing the risk posed by these youth. This study examined the predictive validity of the J-SOAP-II using samples of adolescent and pre-adolescent boys who were wards of the Massachusetts Department of Social Services. The base rate for sexual recidivism among the adolescents (14-16%) is generally in line with what has been reported. The equivalent base rate for the pre-adolescents (25-28%), however, was notably higher. Although the J-SOAP-II was developed for adolescents, the scale also worked with the pre-adolescents in predicting sexual recidivism over 7 years, with AUC values of 0.77, 0.74, 0.77, and 0.80 for Scales 1, 3, 4, and Total among the pre-adolescents and AUC values of 0.80, 0.82, and 0.83 for Scales 1, 4, and Total among the adolescents. Discussion focuses on extant J-SOAP research and sample dependent variability, as well as social policy implications.