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Objective Exposure to childhood trauma is particularly prevalent among incarcerated juveniles. Although there is a growing understanding of the detrimental impact trauma exposure can have on child and adolescent development, childhood maltreatment can be very difficult to accurately measure. Integration of self-report trauma histories as well as supplemental file reports of trauma exposure may provide the most accurate estimate of experienced trauma among youth in correctional settings. Method The current study developed an expert-rated assessment of trauma that synthesizes self-report, as well as objective file information, using a sample of 114 incarcerated male juveniles. Results In addition to establishing scale factor structure, reliability, and validity, the current study provides additional evidence of the prevalence of trauma among incarcerated juveniles and reports on external correlates of the scale that are particularly relevant in correctional settings (e.g., psychopathic traits). Conclusion These results suggest that the integration of both self-report and file material can be meaningfully used to assess traumatic symptomology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

This project assessed the relationship between psychopathic traits, racial identity, and violent behavior in 257 delinquent boys. The Psychopathy Checklist–Youth Version (PCL:YV) was administered to youth across a 7-year window. The group was then followed for a mean of 14.7 years (range = 9.3 to 18.5 years), to determine if the presence of psychopathic features in adolescence predicted violent recidivism in adulthood. After controlling for race, Facet 3 was predictive of violent recidivism, whereas PCL:YV total score and all other Facets were not. Overall, African American youth obtained significantly higher PCL:YV scores and had higher rates of violent recidivism than did Caucasian youth, even when controlling for urban status. Implications for the use of the PCL:YV in clinical and legal settings will be discussed in light of the need for further research to be conducted on psychopathic traits in minority adolescents.

Youth with severe conduct problems impose a significant cost on society by engaging in high levels of antisocial and aggressive behavior. Within this group, adolescents with high levels of callous- unemotional traits have been found to exhibit more severe and persistent patterns of antisocial behavior than youth with severe conduct problems but normative levels of callous-unemotional traits. Existing neuroimaging studies, along with theoretical accounts of psychopathology, suggest that dysfunction within the paralimbic cortex and limbic system may underlie elevated levels of callous-unemotional traits. The present study examines this hypothesis by investigating gray matter correlates associated with callous-unemotional traits. A sample of incarcerated male adolescents (N = 269), were assessed using voxel-based morphometry. Callous-unemotional traits were assessed using the Inventory of Callous-Unemotional traits (Frick 2004). Total callous-unemotional traits were negatively correlated with anterior temporal lobe gray matter volume (GMV). Callous traits in particular exhibited a reliable negative correlation with gray matter volume in nearly every paralimbic brain region examined. Uncaring traits were positively correlated with GMV in the orbitofrontal and anterior cingulate cortices. These findings demonstrate specific neural features within the paralimbic cortex and limbic system that accompany elevated callous-unemotional traits and serves to expand our understanding of pathophysiological mechanisms that may give rise to severe conduct problems in youth., Highlights • Total callous-unemotional traits were negatively correlated with anterior temporal lobe gray matter volume (GMV). • Callous traits negatively correlated with GMV in nearly every paralimbic regions examined. • Uncaring traits were positively correlated with GMV in the orbitofrontal and anterior cingulate cortices.

Stimulant use is a significant and prevalent problem, particularly in criminal populations. Previous studies found that cocaine and methamphetamine use is related to impairment in identifying emotions and empathy. Stimulant users also have abnormal neural structure and function of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), amygdala, and anterior (ACC) and posterior cingulate (PCC), regions implicated in moral decision-making. However, no research has studied the neural correlates of stimulant use and explicit moral processing in an incarcerated population. Here, we examine how stimulant use affects sociomoral processing that might contribute to antisocial behavior. We predicted that vmPFC, amygdala, PCC, and ACC would show abnormal neural response during a moral processing task in incarcerated methamphetamine and cocaine users. Incarcerated adult males (N = 211) were scanned with a mobile MRI system while completing a moral decision-making task. Lifetime drug use was assessed. Neural responses during moral processing were compared between users and non-users. The relationship between duration of use and neural function was also examined. Incarcerated stimulant users showed less amygdala engagement than non-users during moral processing. Duration of stimulant use was negatively associated with activity in ACC and positively associated with vmPFC response during moral processing. These results suggest a dynamic pattern of fronto-limbic moral processing related to stimulant use with deficits in both central motive and cognitive integration elements of biological moral processes theory. This increases our understanding of how drug use relates to moral processing in the brain in an ultra-high-risk population.

A large hunk of research in moral psychology is devoted to self-reports, which represent the end product of a complex and diverse bundle of underlying cognitive processes.1 There is more to the moral processing, however, than what can be discerned from introspection or straightfor-ward paper-and-pencil methodologies. A complete account must include all of the processes — explicit or implicit, articulated or unspoken — that go into everyday moral responses.