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Psychology Stage 2 > Forensic Psychology > Flashcards

Forensic Psychology Flashcards

1
Q

antisocial behaviour

A

deviates from social norms and violates others’ rights

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2
Q

psychopathology

A

scientific field examining psychological disorders, or the manifestation of emotions and behaviours which may be indicative of psychological impairment

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3
Q

what is a mental disorder?

A

a cluster of ‘abnormal’ thoughts, emotions and behaviours

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4
Q

Voyeurism

A

Sexual pleasure from watching others engage in private things when they’re unaware they’re being watched

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5
Q

Exhibitionism

A

Intentional exposure of one’s genitalia so they can be seen by others

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6
Q

Telephone scatalogia

A

Sexual gratification through making obscene phone calls

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7
Q

Non-contact sex crimes

A

Voyeurism
Exhibitionism
Telephone scatalogia
Possession, manufacture or distribution of illegal pornography
Theft of items for sexual fantasy
Grooming

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8
Q

Contact sexual crimes

A

Rape
Sexual assault
Assault by penetration

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9
Q

Definition of rape

A

Penile penetration of the vagina, anus or mouth when the person has not consented

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10
Q

Sexual assault

A

Intentionally touching someone sexually without their consent

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11
Q

What did Abel et al. (1984) first examine?

A

The concept of offence-supportive cognitions/ cognitive distortions

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12
Q

When were cognitive distortions first discussed in terms of sexual offending?

A

Abel et al. (1984)

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13
Q

How have cognitive distortions been used to explain sexual offending?

A

Cognitive distortions or offence-supportive cognitions may be developed by sexual offenders due to inappropriately channelled sexual interests regarding children that developed during adolescence
They aim to justify their ‘deviant’ sexual arousal
Distorted beliefs develop when individual acknowledges their sexual interest are at odds with societal norms (adolescence)
Abel et al. (1984)

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14
Q

How did Ward (2006) develop Abel’s theory of cognitive distortions to explain sexual offending?

A

Developed his theory of sexual offenders cognition
Proposed that their beliefs come from higher order schemes
He termed these ‘implicit theories’
He proposed the sexual offenders would draw upon these to ‘explain, predict and interpret interpersonal phenomena’ (Ward 2000)

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15
Q

Which implicit theories have been found to be relevant to child molestation?
(Ward,2000)

A

Entitlement
Children as sexual beings
Uncontrollable
Nature of harm
Dangerous world

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16
Q

Which implicit theories have been found to be relevant to rape?
(Ward, 2002)

A

Entitlement
Women as sex objects
Male sex drive is uncontrollable
Women are unknowable
Dangerous world

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17
Q

What did Mann et al. (2007) propose about offence-supportive attitudes?

A

2 factors for offensive-supportive attitudes with children:
1. Sex with children is harmless
2. Some children are sexually provocative

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18
Q

Support for Mann et al. (2007) offensive-supportive attitudes?

A

Whitaker et al. (2008) found that child molesters endorsed more of these attitudes that were described than non-offenders

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19
Q

Who found that attitudes supportive of sexual offending had a small but consistent relationship with sexual offending?

A

Helmus et al. (2012)

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20
Q

Who discussed how the statistics on rape incidence are highly controversial and that it is difficult to know the true figures?

A

Howitt (2018)

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21
Q

What did Howitt (2018) describe about the incidence of rape?

A

Difficult to know the true figure as is very underreported, so controversial number
But among the victims they are:
Mostly female (80%)
Mostly young - average 16-34
Mainly committed by someone that they know, most commonly a partner or ex-partner

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22
Q

What is the most recent figure of the incidence of rape in the UK?

A

In the 12 months ending September 2022, the police recorded 70,633 rapes
Charges were brought in 2,616 of these

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23
Q

What did the Office for National Statistics estimate was the number of adults that experienced sexual assaults over the year ending March 2022

A

1.1 million adults
- 798,000 of those being women

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24
Q

How many victims report sex crimes committed against them?

A

The crime survey for England and wales (2018) found that less than 1 in 5 (17%) of victims reported their experience to police

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25
Q

Who are the authors of the 2021 survey looking at the experiences of over 22,000 women in the UK?

A

Taylor and Shrive

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26
Q

What did Taylor and Shrive (2021) find?

A

Found 99.7% of the women they surveyed had experienced sexual violence multiple times

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27
Q

Which charitable organisation did Taylor and Shrive (2021) work with?

A

VictimFocus

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28
Q

Positive of Taylor and Shrive (2021) - ‘I thought it was just a part of life’

A

Used more specific and descriptive language in their survey so that the women would be able to answer more accurately as they might not have realised something was sexual violence when being asked in the past

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29
Q

Negative of Taylor and Shrive (2021) - ‘I thought it was just a part of life’

A

Has been argued that it can’t be applied to wider population as people who answered this survey may have just chosen to take part because they had those experiences
Was not a peer reviewed and published study

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30
Q

Definition of generalist theories of sexual offending

A

Sex crimes as part of a wider pattern of criminal and deviant activity
- often more linked to rape

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31
Q

Specialist theories of sexual offending

A

Likely to engage only in sexual crimes
- linked to sexual crimes against children

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32
Q

What did Winder and Thorne (2012) highlight?

A

That there are two different categories of adults interested in children:
Paedophiles - tend to offend against pre-pubescent children
Herbophiles - tend to offend against post-pubescent children

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33
Q

When was Finkelhor’s precondition model developed?

A

1984

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34
Q

What are the 4 preconditions in Finkelhor’s model?

A
  1. Motivation to sexually abuse
  2. Overcoming internal inhibitors
  3. Overcoming external inhibitors
  4. Overcoming the resistance of the child
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35
Q

What are the 3 factors involved in Finkelhor’s first precondition (motivation to sexually abuse)?

A

Emotional congruence
Sexual arousal to children
Blockage

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36
Q

What is emotional congruence (Finkelhor’s model)?

A

Emotional needs of the offender are met by a child
For example needing to feel powerful but may not be able to do thus within an adult relationship but children expect adults to be in charge

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37
Q

Define sexual arousal to children (in terms of Finkelhor’s model)

A

This arousal my come from a number of things such as:
Being exposed to sexual activities/media involving children
Previous sexual experiences with children that have been reinforced due to them being positive
Or possibly their own sexual abuse

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38
Q

What is blockage (in terms of Finkelhor’s model)?

A

The individual may not be blue to fulfill their sexual or emotional needs in a more socially acceptable way which may lead for them to seek to have sex with children

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39
Q

What are the approaches in Finkelhor’s model to overcome internal inhibitors?

A

Use of substances
Poor self-control
Severe stress
Socially entrenched attitudes
Cognitive distortions

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40
Q

What are the ways that offenders my overcome external inhibitors according to Finkelhor’s model?

A

Absent caregiver
Socially isolated family
Emotional neglect
Inequality/ discrimination
Time alone with the child

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41
Q

Ways that an offender may overcome the resistance of the child (in Finkelhor’s model)

A

Giving gifts
Threats
Desensitising the child to sexual activities
Developing a ‘relationship’ with the child

(All forms of grooming behaviour)

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42
Q

Positives of Finkelhor’s precondition model

A

Was one of the first ‘one size does not fit all’ approaches to offender treatment
Emphasises that offending is a process
Justifies tailored treatments as it shows that every offender may be motivated by different things and behave in different ways
It outlines simply the interactions that may lead to sexual offending
This model can be used to help educate offenders and explain their treatment to them

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43
Q

Negatives of Finkelhor’s precondition model

A

If the motives can function independently then this model does not explain why some offenders chose to carry out sexual activity rather than having non-sexual interactions with children
Lack of explanatory depth - because does not explain how the motives emerge and why they converge at a certain point to lead to offending
Hudson et al. found that the desire to have sex with children was enough and infact a lot of offenders will not have any internal inhibitors
Not a comprehensive enough explanation to be used alone in treatment
There is an overlap in the definitions of emotional congruence and blockage

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44
Q

What are the main things considered in Marshall and Barbaree’s (1990) integrated model for sexual offending?

A

Biological factors
Childhood experiences
Sociocultural features

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45
Q

Who developed an integrated theory of sexual offending in 1990?

A

Marshall and Barbaree

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46
Q

What is an example of an integrated theory of sexual offending?

A

Marshall and Barbaree (1990)

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47
Q

What are some key biological factors Marshall and Barbaree discuss in their integrated theory?

A
  • Biological factors are important in aggression and there is no dispute that men are capable of using aggression, threats or coercion in sexual contact
  • but a biological ability to do something does not make it inevitable so why do some men do this?
  • Biological influences are significant when learning these aggressive behaviours but have minimal influence once learning has established the aggressive behaviour patterns
  • Having high levels of sex hormones may make it difficult for someone to acquire constraints against sexual aggression
  • Biological factors may make it difficult for growing males to appropriately separate sex and aggression and inhibit aggression in a sexual context
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48
Q

Which childhood experiences do Marshall and Barbaree refer to in their model of sexual offending?

A
  • Poor socialisation and a violent parenting style will facilitate the use of aggression and cut off the youth from access to appropriate sociosexual interactions
  • self esteem in young males is largely determined by their beliefs of their sexual ability so if they can not develop a sexual relationship they may turn to aggressive sex or sex with children to prove their masculinity
  • weak interpersonal skills may lead to a failure to engage in intimate relationships, this may mean they have anxiety around sexual interactions and feelings of inadequacy, they may have anger towards those they see as the problem (often women) which may then lead to sexual aggression/ offending
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49
Q

Key sociocultural factors that are mentioned in Marshall and Barbaree’s integrated model of sexual offending

A
  • One indicator of high rape incidence in a culture is the accepted use of violence to solve interpersonal problems
  • Burt (1980) found that men’s acceptance of violence against women was related to their acceptance of rape myths
  • Another feature associated with high rape incidence is the acceptance of male dominance and negative attitudes towards women
  • Burt (1980) also found that men who believed in male dominance was associated with negative views towards women, an acceptance of rape myths and even an admittance of rape or that they would if they knew they wouldn’t be punished
  • Violent TV shows are more popular in the US than other Western cultures and rape incidence is also higher
  • It has been found that rape desensitises people to violent sex which could lead to dehumanised sexual violence against women
  • Been found that socially restricted men are more behaviourally affected by exposure to porn
  • Early exposure to porn (ages 6-10) has been shown to indicate later sexual deviance
50
Q

What is the definition of a confession according to the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984?

A

Any statement wholly or partly adverse to the person who made it, whether made to a person in authority or not and whether made in words or otherwise

51
Q

Quote from Williamson (1993) that describes the big issue with police interviews in the UK?

A

“Unethical behaviour by interrogators has undermined public confidence and left the police service with a serious skills deficit in its ability to obtain evidence through questioning”

52
Q

Why do people confess?

A

Authorities in the criminal justice system look more favourably towards those who cooperate and save time and money. For example, in England and Wales, one third of the sentence is taken off.
Mitigating circumstances will mean that the outcome will be much less serious than feared
They may think once a confession has been made, the suffering of the interrogation might end then and there
If there is a lot of evidence against the person

53
Q

Which individuals may be more vulnerable to giving false confessions?

A

Children, adolescence, neurodivergent individuals.
They may not understand the consequences of confessing and may be more susceptible to persuasion

54
Q

What did Vennard (1984) find were the three most common reasons, given by suspects, for having made a false confession?

A
  1. A promise from the police of early release.
  2. Prolonged detention in the cells.
  3. Actual or threatened violence.
55
Q

What were the three types of false confessions outlined by Kassin and Wrightsman (1985)?

A
  1. The voluntary confession.
  2. The coerced–internalised confession.
  3. The coerced–compliant confession.
56
Q

What may the voluntary false confession be due to? (Kassin and Wrightsman, 1985)

A
  • a morbid desire for notoriety
  • an unconscious need to expiate guilt over past transgressions via self punishment
  • inability to distinguish fact from fantasy
  • A desire to aid and protect the real criminal
  • The hope for a recommendation of leniency
    This shows the need to withhold case details, so a fake confession is more difficult
57
Q

What may the coerced-compliant confession be due to? (Gudjonsson (2003))

A
  • Gudjonsson (2003) proposed that coerced compliant confessions occur when:
  • There is an eagerness to please the interrogator and preserve their self-esteem by complying through the interrogator’s positive feedback
  • to avoid further contact in terms of both custody and interrogation with the feared authority and to avoid threats or physical harm
  • to fulfil a bargain with the interrogator that offers a reward for compliance
58
Q

What may the coerced-compliant confession be due to? (Kassin and Wrightsman, 1985)

A
  • The person comes to accept the interrogators version as the true one, and they believe themselves that they are responsible
  • Through personal experience
59
Q

What is an interrogation?

A

An interrogation is always accusatory in nature and the person being interrogated (usually the suspect) is told they committed the offence, and they are presented with various ‘facts’ and/or ‘evidence’ to elicit a confession

60
Q

What is an investigative interview?

A

It is designed to develop sufficient rapport to prompt the suspect to disclose valuable information. It is not necessarily to force a confession, but rather to search for the truth and obtain accurate and reliable information.

61
Q

Extensive research suggests that effective interviewers are those who:

A
  1. Have a knowledge of the psychology of interviewing and scientific experimentation.
  2. Have received a thorough grounding in a wide range of theoretical and practical techniques to draw on in interviews when appropriate.
  3. Have had the opportunity for substantial practice in a learning environment.
  4. Are supervised and given feedback on their real life interviews.
62
Q

What can investigators in a lot of states in the US still do during interviews?

A

Lie to the suspect to try and get them to confess

63
Q

Four false premises in the Inbau, et al. (2013) Reid technique of interrogation?

A
  1. The interview is there only aspect of the investigation.
  2. That a confession has to be obtained.
  3. That only the guilty confess, Kassin (2005) shows this to be an unsupportable statement
  4. Police officers are expert at telling the difference between the guilty and non-guilty.
64
Q

What percentage of wrongful convictions did the innocent project find had confessed?

A

Around 25%

65
Q

What is the Reid technique of interrogation?

A

It is described in the Criminal Interrogation and Confessions book (Inbau et al. 2013)
It is a 9 step approach
It is not a good method of interviewing, there is no scientific evidence that this technique works
That includes confrontation, handling the suspects denials and the passive mood, for example

66
Q

What research comes from Alison et al. (2020)?

A

ORBIT (Observing Rapport Based Interpersonal Techniques)

67
Q

What is ORBIT? (Alison et al.,2020)

A

It is aimed to be used for law enforcement , security and military
It was developed from the analysis of almost 2000 hours of recorded interrogations.
The data shows that rapport-based methods work but coercion, persuasion and threats do not.
It was all using real life examples
This shows that methods with compassion and establishing mutual respect should be used and harsh methods rejected

68
Q

What are the Mendez principles?

A

Principles on effective interviewing for investigations and information gathering
Developed by Juan E. Mendez. He works in the UN and was tortured himself.
Looked at how different countries gather information and want to encourage better treatment of those in custody.
Provides a comprehensive guide to authorities to implement measures to help prevent torture, ill-treatment and forced confessions

69
Q

The PEACE model of interviewing

A

This was designed as the framework for interviewing in any situation with any type of interviewee
It was developed by and for police in England and Wales and has now been endorsed in other countries around the world
There is a set framework to use

70
Q

The PEACE model of interviewing framework

A

Pre-interview phase:
- planning and preparation
- may decide here if you want to withhold anything
Interview phase:
- engage and encourage
- account, clarify and challenge
- closure
Post-interview phase:
- evaluation
- to look over the evidence gathered and their performance from the interview

71
Q

Equifinality

A

Diverse number of pathways may lead to the same outcome

72
Q

Multifinality

A

One factor main function differently, depending on the broader system, meaning that I may have multiple outcomes

73
Q

Adversity can be defined as

A

All forms of physical and/or emotional ill-treatment, sexual abuse, neglect, or negligent treatment, or commercial or other exploitation, resulting in actual potential harm to the child’s health, survival, development or dignity in the context of a relationship of responsibility trust or power

74
Q

Neglect

A

Involves failure to provide for the child’s basic physical needs for adequate food, clothing, shelter and medical treatment. As well as inadequate attention to physical needs, forms of this sub type include lack of supervision, moral-legal neglect and educational neglect.

75
Q

Emotional maltreatment

A

Involves extreme thwarting of children’s basic emotional needs for psychological safety and security, acceptance and self-esteem, and age-appropriate autonomy.

76
Q

Physical abuse

A

Involves the non-accidental infliction of physical injury on the child

77
Q

Sexual abuse

A

Involves attempted or actual sexual contact between the child and the caregiver for purposes of the caregivers of sexual satisfaction or financial benefit by forced prostitution.

78
Q

In the UK, how many people have experienced at least one form of child abuse before the age of 16?

A

1 in 5 adults, so approximately 8.5 million people

79
Q

What are some sociodemographic predictors of maltreatment?

A

Family poverty
Young motherhood
Parental history of antisocial behaviour
Perpetrators history of maltreatment. For example, if you’ve experienced maltreatment yourself, you’re more likely to maltreat your own children in the future.

80
Q

What are the 3 main categories in the HiTOP dimensions of psychopathologies model?

A

Emotional dysfunction
Psychosis
Externalising

81
Q

What are internalising psychopathologies broken down into?

A

Sexual problems
Eating pathology
Fear
Distress
Mania

82
Q

What are externalising psychopathologies broken down into?

A

Disinhibited externalising - substance abuse and antisocial behaviour
Antagonistic externalising - antisocial behaviour and personality disorders

83
Q

Which psychopathologies are victims of maltreatment at a higher risk for?

A

Range of externalising problems in childhood, adolescence and adulthood:
ADHD
Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD)
Conduct disorder
Substance misuse
Antisocial personality disorder
Psychopathy
Criminal arrest

84
Q

What did Weiler and Widom (1996) find?

A

Adults with an official documented, history of child abuse, or neglect scored significantly higher on the PCL-R (psychopathy checklist) than those without an official record of maltreatment

85
Q

What did Widom et al. (2009) find?

A

Victims of maltreatment or an elevated risk for a range of personality disorders and psychotic symptoms
For example, borderline personality disorder, psychotic symptoms, schizoaffective, disorder, and schizophrenia

86
Q

What are the three different models of adversity?

A

Specificity
Cumulative risk
Dimensional approach

87
Q

What is the specificity model of adversity?

A

Suggests that specific maltreatments lead to specific outcomes through a specific mechanism

88
Q

What are the problems with the specificity model of adversity?

A

The don’t take into account that people may experience more than one maltreatment
And the mechanisms that lead to the different outcomes may be similar, but this model says that they’re all distinct

89
Q

What is the cumulative risk model of adversity?

A

It counts, the number of adverse experiences that a person has gone through to calculate a risk score
It generally proposes that more adverse experiences leads to a greater adverse outcome

90
Q

What is Felitti et al. (1998)?

A

The ACEs study

91
Q

What is the ACEs study?

A

Felitti et al., 1998
Looked at 13,000 adults and a range of health behaviours and medical history among them

92
Q

What did the ACE study find? (Felitti et al. 1998)

A

Among those who had adverse childhood experiences, the most prevalent was substance abuse (within the household) with 25.6% and the least prevalent was criminal behaviour within the household with 3.4%.
52% experienced at least one the first childhood experience and 6.2% reported experiencing more than 4.
Call Amor adverse childhood experiences, when compared to those with none had a 4-12 times increased risk of alcoholism, drug abuse depression, and suicide attempts

93
Q

What did Hughes et al., 2017 do?

A

Completed a meta analysis looking at 37 studies with 233,000 participants

94
Q

What did Hughes et al., 2017 find?

A

Across all studies 4 or more ACEs was associated with physical or psychological outcomes
With substance misuse, depression and anxiety appearing frequently

95
Q

What is the dimension of approach to adversity?

A

Based on the idea that is possible to identify mediators between experiences and outcomes

96
Q

What are some of the suggested mediators in the dimensional approach to adversity?

A

Hypervigilance to threat
Deficits in emotion recognition
Poor emotional regulation
Insensitivity to reward
Faster life history

97
Q

What are some of the moderators of adversity, according to the dimensional approach?

A

Genetic moderators
Psychosocial moderators

98
Q

Explain hypervigilance to threat as a mediator of adversity (according to the dimensional model)

A

Hypervigilance to threat is an attention bias that describes the tendency to devote disproportionate attention to relatively mild threats
Physically abused children are attentive to anger cues, have difficulty disengaging from anger cues, and are more likely to identify ambiguous facial expressions as angry.
Excessive attention to anger, explains why physically abused children may have more symptoms of anxiety than non-abused children
(Shackman et al., 2007)

99
Q

Explain the dot probe task used to measure hypervigilance to thread

A

Pairs of faces are shown on either side of a monitor
One face displays an angry, happy or sad expression and the other first displays a neutral expression
A dot appears on either side of the screen
Scores for attention bias to anger are higher when the participant takes longer to identify the data location when it appeared on the same side of the screen as the neutral face
If the participant is fixated on an angry face, they will take a lot longer at responding to the dot in the area where the neutral face is

100
Q

What did Tottenham et al., (2011) do?

A

Study showing that individuals with histories of maltreatment exhibit biased attention to angry, but not sad or happy faces
Explains increased rate of aggressive behaviour in maltreated youth as these individuals are more likely than non-maltreated children to have social information processing styles characterised by a tendency to attribute hostile intent to others whose behaviour is ambiguous which is ‘hostile attribution bias’

101
Q

Who first coined the term ‘hostile attribution bias’ ?

A

Nasby et al., 1980

102
Q

What is hostile attribution bias?

A

The tendency to interpret other’s behaviour as being hostile when the behaviour is ambiguous

103
Q

Describe how deficits in emotion recognition act as a mediator in the dimensional model of adversity

A

The ability to accurately recognise and understand emotions as a key developmental task that facilitates social interactions
Research has shown that individual differences in children’s recognition and understanding of emotions party derives from parents efforts to model and explain emotions known as emotion socialisation
Physically abusive mothers have been shown to produce less prototypical, facial expression of anger and less prototypical vocal expressions of anger, fear and happiness than nonabusive mothers

104
Q

What did Shenk et al. (2013) find?

A

Maltreated individuals are less accurate at recognising emotions than non-maltreated individuals

105
Q

Describe poor emotion regulation as a mediator for adversity, according to the dimensional approach

A

Emotion regulation is critical for both initiating, motivating and organising adaptive behaviour and improvement in stressful levels of negative emotions and maladaptive behaviour
Physically abuse, children exhibited greater negative affect and more aggressive behaviour compared to non-maltreated children, and this relationship was mediated by children’s allocation of attention to angry faces.

106
Q

What did Shackman and Pollak (2014) find?

A

Findings suggest that physical abuse leads to the dysregulation of both aggression and negative affect and that this increases the likelihood that physically abuse children will develop externalising behaviour disorders

107
Q

Describe in sensitivity to reward as a mediator for adversity, according to the dimensional model

A

Maltreated children and adults who were maltreated as children are less sensitive to cues for reward than non-maltreated controls
Mesolimbic dopaminergic circuitry that projects to the basal ganglia is involved in responsivity to reward, and particularly in anticipation of reward

108
Q

Describe a method to assess the mediator insensitivity to reward

A

Monetary incentive delay task:
- Trails began with queues signalling potential rewards, losses or no incentive
- Participant press the button in response to a briefly presented target, and they are instructed that rapid reaction times increased the chances of receiving gains and avoiding penalties
- Feedback indicated where the money was gained or lost
- The maltreated individuals reacted significantly less to the reward

109
Q

Describe faster life history as a mediator of adversity according to the dimensional model

A

Experiences in early life can program an individual’s developmental trajectory and pace of ageing to respond most effectively to the current environment and environmental demands they are likely to encounter in the future
In a harsh or unpredictable environment, a faster pace of development in which children, reach adult-like capabilities at an earlier age may be favoured in order to maximise reproduction prior to potential mortality

110
Q

Describe what a moderator of adversity can be according to the dimensional approach

A

Moderators of maltreatment can be conceptualised as factors that exacerbate (make worse) effects of maltreatment on risk for psychopathology, or as factors that promote competence in mental health, academic or interpersonal domains, despite exposure to maltreatment

111
Q

What is an example of a genetic moderator according to the dimensional approach to adversity?

A

The MAOA genotype moderates effect of maltreatment on risk for antisocial behaviour The MAOA gene is involved in the metabolism of dopamine serotonin and norepinephrine
Low activity MAOA gene significantly increases the chances of having a conduct disorder, being violent or having an antisocial behaviour disorder and this risk increases further when the individual has also been maltreated

112
Q

What are some examples of psychosocial moderators of adversity according to the dimensional model?

A

Individual moderators - individuals who are resilient to maltreatment tend to be characterised by high self-esteem and self reliance, and the tendency to attribute success to their own efforts
Environmental/social moderators - socially supportive relationships can buffer individuals with history of maltreatment from risk of psychopathology meaning that high levels of social support, reduce rates of psychopathology to the same low levels as children or adults without histories of maltreatment

113
Q

What did McLaughlin et al. (2012) find?

A

Children who experience high levels of adversity (6 or more events) will be almost 5 times as likely to develop some form of mental illness, compared to children who have experienced none

114
Q

What did Green et al. (2010) find?

A

Found that around one third of a mental illness that begins during adolescence are attributable to childhood adversity and almost 30% of those that begin in adulthood also

115
Q

McLaughlin et al. (2015)

A

How does adversity effect the developing brain?

116
Q

How does adversity effect the developing brain? (McLaughlin et al., 2015)

A

Threatening childhood environments influence neural system is involved in identifying threats in the environment and learning about how to predict future threats
When children exposed to violence were looking at negative emotional images they had a lot more activation in the amygdala than the control.
But there was no group difference when looking at positive images on the shoes, that children who have experienced abuse, are not just more emotional in general
After treatment, children who have been exposed to violence were using the prefrontal cortex more to try and regulate their emotions, showing that if you give the children the right tools to help them regulate their emotions they will use them
Changes in the brain of children who have experienced violence, put them more at risk of developing PTSD

117
Q

What is a transdiagnostic factor?

A

These factors underly multiple forms of psychopathology and represent key targets for prevention and treatment efforts
For example, childhood trauma

118
Q

What is trans-diagnostic mechanism?

A

trans-diagnostic mechanisms:
Have to be influenced by childhood trauma exposure
Need to predict the emergence of multiple forms of psychopathology
Explain the association between childhood trauma and later psychopathology

119
Q

What are 3 trans-diagnostic mechanisms proposed by McLaughlin et al. (2020)

A

Accelerated biological aging - when an individuals life trajectory speeds up to respond to a harsh or unpredictable environment suggested to be to maximise potential reproduction before possible mortality and is associated with risk taking, substance misuse, depression and anxiety
Difficulty with emotion processing - as children who have experienced trauma show magnified emotional responses to potential threat, and this is associated with internalising and externalising problems
Social information processing - children who have experienced trauma are more likely to perceive cues as threatening, which is associated with depression, anxiety, PTSD and psychosis

120
Q

What is a trans-diagnostic protective factor?

A

Something that can work to protect the child against the emergence of psychopathology following childhood trauma

121
Q

What are examples of trans-diagnostic protective factors according to McLaughlin et al. 2020?

A

Social support
Caregiver support

Psychology Stage 2 (6 decks)

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