Science Current Events | Science News | Brightsurf.com
 
Email a Friend Send to a friend
Printer Friendly Print Anger, depression much higher among jailed teen girls than boys

Anger, depression much higher among jailed teen girls than boys

July 25, 2007

A new study reveals that girls in juvenile detention centers face surprisingly different psychological issues than average teen girls and, in some ways, more severe problems than incarcerated boys.

In a four-state survey, researchers found that girls are twice as likely as boys to be aggressive, and just as likely as boys to have problems with alcohol or drug use - findings that surprised psychologist Elizabeth Cauffman, who has worked for years with troubled teens in California and Pennsylvania.




"The psychological issues we found with girls in detention centers are nothing like what we expected - not compared to boys in juvenile hall, not compared to average girls in the community," said Cauffman, associate professor of psychology and social behavior at UC Irvine. "Girls in the correctional system are just different."

The study appears in the July issue of Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice.

For the study, researchers gave psychological evaluations to more then 800 teens and then compared the results of teens in juvenile detention facilities to those who had never been incarcerated but shared similar backgrounds, race and socioeconomic status.

Psychologists know that in general, teen girls are more likely to internalize problems while boys act out through yelling or hitting. But Cauffman found that among incarcerated youths, teen girls are twice as likely as the boys to externalize their problems through aggression. For example, they describe themselves as having a "short fuse" or admit a desire to get back at someone.

The researchers were also surprised to find that among the jailed teens, the girls are just as likely as the boys to report worrisome levels of alcohol and substance use. In the general population, teen girls report lower alcohol and substance use than boys.

In addition, incarcerated girls were two and a half times as likely as boys to describe levels of depression and anxiety that may require treatment, and twice as likely to have a number of somatic complaints, such as physical aches and pains.

Although fewer than 200 girls are detained by the California Youth Authority, Cauffman said the findings help validate concerns raised by staffers who work with the girls.

"The staff is working with really difficult kids," Cauffman said. "We often point the finger at the system and say 'fix it,' but that's not really fair to the system. If we don't understand where the problems are and don't give facilities the resources needed to improve the situation, we won't be able to 'fix' anything."

One helpful change, Cauffman said, would be to evaluate the mental health issues of teens - both male and female - when they enter the correctional system. The Massachusetts Youth Screening Instrument, Version 2, which Cauffman used as the evaluation tool for her study, was designed specifically for juvenile offenders and can be administered by staff at juvenile detention centers. The screening flags areas for concern - such as depression, drug use, or aggression - that may require further evaluation by a mental health professional. Cauffman has already visited several teen correctional facilities in California to train staff to use the test.

The next step would be training additional prison staff to deal with psychological issues incarcerated teens bring with them to the facilities.

"Everyone, including front-line staff, could benefit from understanding these kids' psychological issues," Cauffman said. "For a guard, this could mean learning different techniques for diffusing a tense situation with a teen with post-traumatic stress disorder, compared to dealing with a teen who has a tendency toward acting out."

The study was co-authored by Frances J. Lexcen, Child Study & Treatment Center; Thomas Grisso, University of Massachusetts Medical School; and Asha Goldweber and Elizabeth Shulman, UCI.

This research was an initiative of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Research and Network on Adolescent Development and Juvenile Justice and was supported by grants from the MacArthur Foundation and the Open Society Institute.

University of California, Irvine



Related Depression Current Events and Depression News Articles Depression Current Events and Depression News RSS Depression Current Events and Depression News RSS
Two From One-Pitt Research Maps Out Evolution of Genders From Hermaphroditic Ancestors
Research from the University of Pittsburgh published in the Nov. 20 edition of "Heredity" could finally provide evidence of the first stages of the evolution of separate sexes, a theory that holds that males and females developed from hermaphroditic ancestors.

Prognosis after attempted suicide impaired by psychiatric disorder
People who have attempted suicide at some point in their lives are more likely to actually succeed in committing suicide at a later date.

Routine Testing After Aneurysm Coiling Carries Low Risk
A very low risk of complication is associated with a routine test that determines whether a brain aneurysm treated with endovascular coiling has started to recur, a study led by the University of Cincinnati Neuroscience Institute has shown.

Methamphetamine abuse linked to underage sex, smoking and drinking
Teens who have never done drugs, but engage in other risky behaviours such as drinking, smoking and being sexually active, are more likely to use crystal meth, medical researchers at the University of Alberta have concluded.

Physical activity after bariatric surgery improves weight loss, quality of life
A new study by researchers from The Miriam Hospital's Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine suggests increased physical activity after bariatric surgery can yield better postoperative outcomes.

Adalimumab may reduce health-care costs for Crohn's disease patients
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a term that refers to both ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD). IBD occurs most frequently in people in their late teens and twenties. There have been cases in children as young as two years old and in older adults in their seventies and eighties; men and women have an equal chance of getting the disease.

Pivotal Emory study focuses on teens at risk for psychosis
Emory University in Atlanta is playing a key role in the largest, most comprehensive study ever funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) of adolescents and young adults at risk for developing a psychotic disorder.

SNPs affect folate metabolism in study of Puerto-Rican adults
Researchers at Tufts University have gained further understanding of the genomic basis for altered folate metabolism and the content of uracil in blood DNA.

Babies placed in incubators decrease risk of depression as adults
Babies who receive incubator care after birth are two to three times less likely to suffer depression as adults according to a new study published in the journal Pyschiatry Research.

Mental health linked to stillbirth and newborn deaths
Women with a history of serious mental illness are much more likely to have babies that are stillborn or die within the first month of life, new research reveals.
More Depression Current Events and Depression News Articles


The Mindful Way through Depression: Freeing Yourself from Chronic Unhappiness
by J. Mark G. Williams, John D. Teasdale, Zindel V. Segal, Jon Kabat-Zinn

The Mindful Way through Depression draws on the collective wisdom of four internationally renowned cognitive therapy and mindfulness experts, including bestselling author Jon Kabat-Zinn, to help you break the mental habits that can lead to despair. This authoritative, easy-to-use self-help program is based on methods clinically proven to reduce the recurrence of chronic unhappiness. Informative...



The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression
by Amity Shlaes

In The Forgotten Man, Amity Shlaes, one of the nation's most-respected economic commentators, offers a striking reinterpretation of the Great Depression. She traces the mounting agony of the New Dealers and the moving stories of individual citizens who through their brave perseverance helped establish the steadfast character we recognize as American today....



Rethinking the Great Depression (American Ways Series)
by Gene Smiley

Drawing upon recent economic scholarship to present a clear and nontechnical analysis, Mr. Smiley offers new insights and some surprising conclusions about the causes of the Great Depression, the consequences of the New Deal, and the economic effects of World War II. An accessible survey...challenges the popular belief that the Great Depression demonstrates the instability of markets and the need...



Essays on the Great Depression
by Ben S. Bernanke

Few periods in history compare to the Great Depression. Stock market crashes, bread lines, bank runs, and wild currency speculation were worldwide phenomena--all occurring with war looming in the background. This period has provided economists with a marvelous laboratory for studying the links between economic policies and institutions and economic performance. Here, Ben Bernanke has gathered...



The Great Depression: America 1929-1941
by Robert S. Mcelvaine

A perennial backlist...



The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008
by Paul Krugman

In 1999, in The Return of Depression Economics, Paul Krugman surveyed the economic crises that had swept across Asia and Latin America, and pointed out that those crises were a warning for all of us: like diseases that have become resistant to antibiotics, the economic maladies that caused the Great Depression were making a comeback. In the years that followed, as Wall Street boomed and financial...



Unstuck: Your Guide to the Seven-Stage Journey Out of Depression
by James S. Gordon M.D.

A groundbreaking, inspiring, and practical guide to healing depression without the use of antidepressants, from world-renowned, Harvard trained psychiatrist Dr. James S. Gordon Each year, as many as twenty million Americans are diagnosed with clinical depression. Tens of millions more have low energy or feel unhappy and dissatisfied with their lives. And each year, American doctors write 189...



The Great Depression and the New Deal: A Very Short Introduction: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)
by Eric Rauchway

The New Deal shaped our nation's politics for decades, and was seen by many as tantamount to the "American Way" itself. Now, in this superb compact history, Eric Rauchway offers an informed account of the New Deal and the Great Depression, illuminating its successes and failures. Rauchway first describes how the roots of the Great Depression lay in America's post-war economic policies--described...



The Great Crash of 1929
by John Kenneth Galbraith

Of Galbraith's classic examination of the 1929 financial collapse, the Atlantic Monthly said:"Economic writings are seldom notable for their entertainment value, but this book is. Galbraith's prose has grace and wit, and he distills a good deal of sardonic fun from the whopping errors of the nation's oracles and the wondrous antics of the financial community." Now, with the stock market riding...



Undoing Depression
by Richard O'Connor

For some people, depression has been a part of their experience for so long that they've begun to believe it's what they are. They become experts at "doing" depression--hiding it, working around it, even achieving great things (but at the price of great struggle, and little satisfaction). In this book, psychotherapist Richard O'Conner shows us how to "undo" depression, by replacing depressive...

© 2008 BrightSurf.com