Delinquency among pathological gamblers: A causal approach

In a comprehensive research project on gamblers in self-help groups in West Germany one object of investigation was the question of whether or not pathological gambling has a criminogenic effect. 54.5% of the 437 members of Gamblers Anonymous interviewed stated that they had committed illegal actions in order to obtain money for gambling. Comparisons of this sub-group with those interviewees who did not admit having committed criminal offences show distinct differences: Those who admitted illegal action were more excessive in their gambling behavior and experienced a higher degree of subjective satisfaction through gambling. They also showed a more pronounced problem behavior and more psychosocial problems because of gambling. A multiple regression within the framework of path analysis was computed in order to explore causal links between pathological gambling and delinquency. The results support the hypothesis that pathological gambling can lead to delinquent behavior. Forensic implications are discussed.This article is a revised version of a paper presented at the Eighth International Conference on Risk and Gambling in London, U.K., August 15–17, 1990.The content and presentation of this article has benefited from the comments of Agnes Roemer, Department of Psychology, University of Bremen.     

Children of problem gamblers

An anonymous 37-item Health Survey was administered to 844 randomly selected ninth- to twelfth-grade students in four Southern California public high schools. Systematic information was gathered about their general health, quality of life, school and work adjustment, involvement with a range of potentially addictive substances and activities, and indications of psychosocial maladjustment, including difficulties with the law and suicide attempts. A series of self-ratings of students who characterized one or both of their parents as having a compulsive gambling problem (N=52) were contrasted with those of their classmates who reported no gambling problem among their parents (N=792). Findings have been grouped into three major areas: (a) comparative levels and reported effects of involvement with health-threatening behaviors (i.e., smoking, drinking, drug use, overeating, and gambling); (b) comparative incidence of psychosocial risk indicators (i.e., broken home, unhappy childhood and teenage years, legal action pending, overall quality of youth rated as poor); and (c) comparative incidence of dysphoria, school and work problems, and suicide attempts. Across each of these areas children of parents said to gamble excessively were found to be at consistently greater risk than their classmates who did not describe their parents as having a problem with compulsive gambling. These findings strongly suggest that without early and competent intervention, children of parents who gamble excessively: (a) will be seriously disadvantaged when attempting to solve their present adolescent and future adult problems of living; and (b) as a consequence are, themselves, high-risk candidates for developing one or another form of dysfunctional adjustment, including an addictive pattern of behavior.     

Mentors for adolescents in foster care

Significant numbers of adolescents in foster placement plan to live independently following discharge. Mentoring is increasingly being used as a support service to assist older foster youths to make the transition to adult living. A survey of 29 child welfare programs indicate that a variety of mentoring models are in use. The main models are transitional Life Skills Mentors, Cultural-Empowerment Mentors, and Corporate-Business Mentors. Mentoring connects foster wards with a cross-section of community citizens who provide a bridge to higher education and employment, and serve as a resource for transitional problem-solving. Information is needed on the impacts of mentor-mentee matches and efforts to sustain mentor-mentee relationships.Based on a paper presented at the Second National Child Welfare Conference, Division of Child Welfare Research, Arlington, Virginia, 1994. The research is supported by Research Grant #90CW1026 entitled Mentors as Resources for Preparing Foster Youths for Independent Living, from the Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Washington, D.C.the Principal Investigator, Foster Youth Project and Adolescent Mentor Project.     

Sozialer Einfluss in Chat-Gruppen: Geschlechtsspezifische Auswirkungen auf konversationale Partizipation und Kohärenz

This study examines gender specific differences in chat groups. It is assumed that men participate more in communication than women, that women will be perceived as less influential and will use different communication mechanisms to exert social influence. In addition, the effects of a coherence training for women will be evaluated. A 2 × 2 experimental design (topic, training) with gender as quasi-experimental variable was used to investigate 99 students in 33 triads discussing a career-choice dilemma via chat. Statistical analyses show that men participated more in the discussion and women were perceived as less influential independently from topic and training. Trained women communicated more coherently compared to untrained women. Analysis of communication mechanisms show that women differed from men in ways how to exert social influence. Practical implications as well as methodical limitations are discussed.     

Unterrichtsqualität an einer besonderen Schule: Videobasierte Evaluation eines Oberstufen-Internats für leistungsstarke und hoch motivierte Schülerinnen und Schüler

Based on theoretical constructs and empirical work on quality of instruction, this contribution reports on the evaluation of a upper secondary boarding school for highly motivated and high-achieving students. The evaluation of instructional processes is based on high-inference video ratings of aspects of instructional quality. Additionally, aspects of cognitively activating teaching that are supposed to tap the full capabilities of the students are assessed as a higher standard for upper secondary teaching. Interviews with the teaching staff show a high level of acceptance of this approach to instruction as a means to cater to the needs of the high-achieving. As expected, comparing the teaching assessments with a reference sample of TIMSS and TIMSS-R videos shows a good quality of teaching in the areas of classroom management and individual learning support. For the different aspects of cognitive activation there are some lessons at a high level, while for some aspects the variation within the school is rather large.