COVID-19 frauds: An exploratory study of victimization during a global crisis.

Research Summary: The COVID-19 pandemic threated public health and safety and led to a number of virus-related fraud schemes. We surveyed over 2,200 American adults to investigate their experiences with COVID-19-related frauds. Our goals were to better understand fraud targeting and victimization, as well as the impacts of fraud on victims. Over a quarter of our sample reported purchasing either a COVID-19-related product or a service, yet 42.5% reported feeling targeted for fraud. Being a target of COVID-19 frauds is significantly linked to one's routine activities, however it is one's level of self-control that more strongly predicts victimization. COVID-19 anxieties mediate the impact of self-control on purchasing. Policy Implications: Legal interventions and increased regulations surrounding advertising are a potential mechanism for protecting consumers, yet "soft" interventions that interrupt routine activities might be more useful and applicable. The use of white-lists and publicly available websites that allow e-commerce sites and sellers to be verified would help enable higher levels of self-guardianship. It is also important to provide continuous and clear messaging about what is being done to protect consumers.

PROTOCOL: Protocol for corporate crime deterrence: An updated systematic review.

This is the protocol for an updated Campbell review on corporate crime deterrence. Our overall objective is to identify and synthesize the extant empirical literature on formal legal and administrative prevention and control-that is, the actions and programs of government law enforcement agencies, legislative bodies, and regulatory agencies within a specific focus, as further discussed in this study. This review will consider all types of legal and regulatory practices as long as corporate crime prevention is part of the outcome. Other outcomes and information, if relevant, will also be collected.

Structure and deviancy training in after-school programs.

Evidence regarding the effectiveness of after-school programs (ASPs) for reducing problem behaviors is mixed. Unstructured ASPs may increase antisocial behavior by increasing "deviancy training" opportunities, when peers reinforce deviant attitudes and behaviors. This research analyses approximately 3000 five-minute intervals from 398 observations of activities delivered as part of an ASP in five public middle schools. Analyses of peer and group leader responses to deviant behavior in the context of ASP activities indicated that while peer responses are generally reinforcing, group leaders typically do not respond to deviance. Multi-level analyses of the association between activity structure and deviant behavior indicate that higher levels of structure in the activity as a whole decrease levels of violence and counternormative behavior. As the level of structure in five-minute intervals within the activity increases, the level of violent behavior declines, but violent talk (e.g., threats to commit violence) increases. Implications for after-school programming are discussed.

Implementation quality and positive experiences in after-school programs.

Data collected during an evaluation of a multi-site trial of an enhanced after-school program were used to relate quality of program implementation to student experiences after school. The enhanced after-school program incorporated a drug use and violence prevention component that was shown to be effective in previous research. Building on Durlak and Dupre's (Am J Community Psychol 41:327-350, 2008) dimensions of implementation, we assessed the level of dosage, quality of management and climate, participant responsiveness, and staffing quality achieved at the five program sites. We evaluated how these characteristics co-varied with self-reported positive experiences after-school. The study illustrates how multiple dimensions of program implementation can be measured, and shows that some but not all dimensions of implementation are related to the quality of student after-school experiences. Measures of quality of management and climate, participant responsiveness, and staffing stability were most clearly associated with youth experiences. The importance of measuring multiple dimensions of program implementation in intervention research is discussed.

An experimental evaluation of the All Stars prevention curriculum in a community after school setting.

This study tested the effectiveness of a prevention curriculum, All Stars, as implemented in a year-long school-based after school program and provides an independent replication of the effects of All Stars on targeted mediators and problem behaviors using an experimental methodology. Middle school students (N = 447) who registered for the after school program were randomly assigned to the experimental or control condition. The sample included approximately equal proportions of males and females, was 70% African American, and 59% of the students received subsidized meals at school. All Stars was delivered with reasonable integrity to the program design, although with lower quality than reported in earlier efficacy trials. However, actual student exposure to the program was lower than expected due to low levels of attendance in the after school program. Students who ever attended received an average of 16 h of All Stars instruction. Results showed no differences between the treatment and control students at post-test on any of the outcomes or mediators. Further, no positive effects were found for youths receiving higher dosage, higher quality program delivery, or both. Insufficient time to achieve high quality implementation in the after school context and potential deviancy training are suggested as reasons for the failure to replicate positive program effects.