Search

Retaining participants in longitudinal studies is important but challenging when retracing them after a substantial gap between study phases. Utilising our nine year mixed-methods longitudinal study of 54 families affected by paternal imprisonment, we qualitatively analysed our processes and experiences of retracing participants after a seven year gap in contact. Paying attention to the spatio-temporal features that are traditionally an analytical focus of qualitative longitudinal research helped to enhance our retention rates, and our fieldwork strategies can be more deeply understood as part of the 'timescape' of qualitative longitudinal research. In this paper, we describe the spatio-temporal contours that shaped our efforts, successes and failures, and distil the material practices that they led to during our 'tracking treks' through the timescape of longitudinal fieldwork.

Most research on developmental prevention programs stems from Anglo-American countries. However, in German-speaking European countries, there is also a broad range of family-oriented programs to promote child development and prevent behavioral problems. This article presents a meta-analysis of n = 79 studies on family-based prevention that had a comparison group and were performed in Germany, Austria, or Switzerland. Overall, the data contained 10,667 parents and showed a significant positive mean effect of the programs (d = 0.31). The mean effect for parent related outcomes (d = 0.40) was larger than for measures of child behavior (d = 0.20). There was much heterogeneity across studies and very few had follow-ups of more than one year. Moderator analyses revealed particular influences of methodological study characteristics, e.g. larger effects in smaller samples and less well-controlled studies. Most results of our meta-analysis are similar to what has been found in the English-speaking world. However, as in international practice, the evaluated programs seem to be not representative for everyday prevention reality where many programs are not evaluated at all. Our study confirms the need for more high-quality and long-term evaluation as well as cross-national comparisons and replicated moderator analyses.

Copyright of Monatsschrift fuer Kriminologie und Strafrechtsreform is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The main aim of this article is to investigate whether there is a significant long-term association between bullying at school and drug use later in life. A meta-analysis is presented based on results from major prospective longitudinal studies with available unadjusted and adjusted effect sizes. Results are based on thorough systematic searches of the literature across 19 databases and 63 journals. The unadjusted summary effect size suggests that youth who bully are at least twice as likely compared with noninvolved students to use drugs later in life (OR = 2.22, 95% CI: 1.60-3.07). The adjusted summary effect size is markedly reduced to an OR of 1.41 (95% CI: 1.20-1.66) suggesting that a lot of variation in the final model is explained by other contributing factors, while bullying has a significant yet small effect over and above the contribution of these factors. Contributing factors include childhood risks falling within the individual, family, and school domains that are significantly associated with both the predictor and the outcome. It is concluded that school bullying, drug use, and other problem behaviors are intercorrelated; thus, highlighting the need to create a meaningful holistic framework for the prevention of drug problems and other associated mental, emotional, and behavioral maladies. Implications for policy and practice arising from these findings are discussed.

Dichotomous recidivism criteria are the main measure of success in forensic treatment studies. However, there is wide agreement that binary outcome measures are too undifferentiated, particularly when official reoffending rates are rather low. Considering previous research on offense severity and the Cambridge Crime Harm Index, we addressed this issue by developing a severity index based on sentencing provisions in the German law. Based on a large dataset of males convicted of sexual crimes who had been released from Bavarian prisons between 2004 and 2008, we analyzed the subgroup of n = 48 individuals who recidivated with a sexual offense. About half of the sample had received treatment during imprisonment. Whereas prior analyses did not reveal a significant treatment effect on dichotomous sexual reoffending, the present harm analyses showed a stronger decrease of sex offense severity for treated compared to untreated participants. Despite some limitations of our study, the results indicate that prison-based treatment might decrease the severity of sexual reoffending in males convicted of sexual offenses. From a harm reduction perspective, our findings support the use of severity measures complementary to dichotomous outcome criteria. The applicability of our severity index and implications for future research on prison-based treatment are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Retaining participants in longitudinal studies is important but challenging when retracing them after a substantial gap between study phases. Utilising our nine year mixed-methods longitudinal study of 54 families affected by paternal imprisonment, we qualitatively analysed our processes and experiences of retracing participants after a seven year gap in contact. Paying attention to the spatio-temporal features that are traditionally an analytical focus of qualitative longitudinal research helped to enhance our retention rates, and our fieldwork strategies can be more deeply understood as part of the 'timescape' of qualitative longitudinal research. In this paper, we describe the spatio-temporal contours that shaped our efforts, successes and failures, and distil the material practices that they led to during our 'tracking treks' through the timescape of longitudinal fieldwork. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bullying perpetration at school is a long-term predictor of aggression, delinquency, and violence. Most research concentrates on risk factors for such developments, whereas protective factors have been rarely addressed. Therefore, the present study investigates potentially protective effects of family and child characteristics in a prospective longitudinal design. The sample contained 519 youngsters (253 boys and 266 girls) from the Erlangen-Nuremberg Development and Prevention Study. Bullying perpetration was measured at age 9.0 years, mothers' and children's reports on family and individual characteristics were collected at age 10.6, and outcomes in self-reported aggressive/violent offending and mother-reported aggressive and delinquent behavior were collected at age 13.7. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed main effects and interactions. The latter suggest buffering protective effects of consistent discipline in parenting and children's intelligence, positive attitude to school, prosocial behavior skills, low hyperactivity/inattention, and an anxious/depressive mood. The findings varied across the two outcome measures and with regard to gender. Implications for further research and prevention practice are discussed.