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Since the beginning of the twentieth century, criminology has attempted to identify ecological factors affecting the rise or the decrease in crime rates. In this framework, concepts of “social disorganization”, “collective efficacy”, and “social capital” have been coined. Particularly in recent years, the perspective of “social capital” has attracted the interest of criminologists, but, despite the numerous studies conducted in this field, some issues remain open. Firstly, studies conducted outside the US context are few. Secondly, even in North American studies, there is a disagreement over the impact of social capital on crime, in particular on violent crimes. The results of this study, conducted on data obtained by the ISRD3 survey in 23 countries around the world, and addressed to 7th, 8th, and 9th grade students (N = 55,201), try to address such issue: they show a negative correlation between social capital and self-reported crime also outside North America, both for violent crimes and general delinquency. The preventive role played by social capital on crime is also confirmed considering the self-reported data on victimization.

PERSONALITÀ E RIABILITAZIONE PSICHIATRICA INTRODUZIONE: i percorsi riabilitativi delle comunità terapeutiche sono mirati a riacquisire un’adeguata funzionalità personale, relazionale e lavorativa, consentendo il reinserimento sociale dei pazienti. Tuttavia in letteratura non sono presenti dati sulla predisposizione alla partecipazione alle attività previste dai piani di cura individualizzati. Pertanto si indaga la relazione tra i tratti di personalità dei pazienti della Comunità Terapeutica per borderline “Villa Ratti”, valutati tramite MMPI 2, e le percentuali degli interventi realizzati nella struttura. METODI: Si considerano per 62 pazienti (27 M, 35 F, età media=28, DS=6,6) 14540 attività svolte nel biennio 2009-2010, suddivise in 24 categorie. Per 50 di questi pazienti (20 M, 30 F) sono disponibili titolo di studio e punteggi alle scale MMPI-2. 4 donne risultano chiaramente outlier per i punteggi estremamente bassi su tutte le scale. Per i rimanenti 46 (20 M, 26 F) si analizzano le correlazioni e le regressioni multiple per valutare la predittività dei punteggi mmpi-2 sulle percentuali di interventi. RISULTATI: alcune scale mmpi-2 correlano significativamente con 8 dei 24 interventi (espressi in percentuale). Inoltre, i valori di R2 delle regressioni multiple vanno da 0,1 a 0,4. Tuttavia non tutte le scale risultano predittive: Menzogna (L), Ipocondria (Hs) e Deviazione Psicopatica (Pd) non mostrano effetti significativi sulla partecipazione agli interventi. CONCLUSIONI: Sono state trovate relazioni significative tra i punteggi mmpi 2 e le percentuali di interventi effettuati. Questi risultati fanno luce sulle caratteristiche di personalità che possono influenzare la tendenza dei pazienti a partecipare o meno alle attività, indipendentemente da ciò che è concordato nel Progetto Terapeutico Riabilitativo individualizzato per ogni ospite della Comunità Villa Ratti. I limiti e le prospettive future sono discussi., PERSONALITY AND PSYCHIATRIC REHABILITATION INTRODUCTION: psychiatric rehabilitation in Therapeutic Communities is aimed to let in care patients regain an adequate relational and occupational functionality, allowing their social reintegration. However, there are no reports in the literature concerning the predisposition to participate to the activities that have been previously agreed upon, according to patients’ individual care plans. Therefore, the relationship between personality traits of borderline inpatients of the Therapeutic Community “Villa Ratti”, assessed using MMPI-2, and percent of interventions performed, is investigated. METHODS: 62 patients (27 Men, 35 Women, mean age=28, sd=6,6) have performed a total of 14540 interventions, comprising 24 categories, between January 2009 and December 2010. MMPI-2 scores and school degree were available only for 50 patients (20 M, 30 W). 4 women of them were clearly outliers because of their extremely low scores in all scales. For the remaining 46 patients (20 M, 26 W), correlations and multiple regressions were analyzed, in order to evaluate predictive values of mmpi 2 scores on the percentiles of interventions. RESULTS: some mmpi-2 scales were significantly correlated with 8 out of 24 percent interventions. Moreover, some scales were significantly predictive, with R2 values spanning the range 0,1 - 0,4. However, not all scales resulted to be predictive: Lie (L), Hypochondria (Hs) and Psychopathic Deviate (Pd) do not exert significant effects onto the attendance to activities. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, significant relationships between some of the mmpi-2 scores and percentiles of interventions performed, were found. These results give an indication of which aspects of personality can affect the tendency of patients to partecipate in specific activities, independently of what had been previously decided in the Therapeuthic-Rehabilitative Project. The limits of this approach and the future potential develop

This work explores the evolution of psychological variables that evaluate adolescents’ experience of school aiming to study (and prevent) drop-out. Data from a 3-wave longitudinal panel (N = 235, measured at 12, 15 and 17 years of age) were used to estimate a structural equations model with the same observed variables, scales adapted from another longitudinal study (Borricua Chidren Interview, Bird, 2006), in the three waves as indicators of risk or protection factors with the factors linked over time predicting school experience of the adolescents. A specific questionnaire, S.I.D (Self Inventory in-school drop-out) was constructed to probe the reasons for feeling uneasy at school (covert drop-out). The resulting structural equation model identified 3 scales - self-esteem, coping and social supports- as protective, and 4 scales - association with deviant peers, delinquency behaviour/attitude, and sensations seeking – as risk factors for covert drop-out in S.I.D. The loadings of the observed variables vary over time. The role of relational variables is determinant at 17 years, when peer relationships are obviously relevant, both in term of risk (deviant peers), and in term of protection (social support). Implications for current practice and future research are discussed for understanding the etiology of in-school drop-out and adopting specific prevention strategy to improve the quality of school experience during adolescence.

This working paper of the Dipartimento di Politica Sociale of the University of Trento is a slightly modified version of a paper we presented in September 1989 in Antwerpen at the congress on Gender and class. A considerably shortened version, with less technical detail and fewer tables, has appeared in Italian in Polis IV: 1: 1990. The longer version in English is meant to document our analyses in more detail than is normally possible within the compass of an article in a scientific journal, moreover we hope it will be useful to those of our colleagues who do not read Italian but who may be interested in the topic dealt with.

This working paper of the Dipartimento di Politica Sociale of the University of Trento is a slightly modified version of a paper we presented in September 1989 in Antwerpen at the congress on Gender and class. A considerably shortened version, with less technical detail and fewer tables, has appeared in Italian in Polis IV: 1: 1990. The longer version in English is meant to document our analyses in more detail than is normally possible within the compass of an article in a scientific journal, moreover we hope it will be useful to those of our colleagues who do not read Italian but who may be interested in the topic dealt with.