Posts by James Liddell

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  • Hard News: Death Spiral!,

    Hi Max, in answer to your questions:

    Do you have any references regarding why 'teenagers' exist in our society (and not in others)? Also if deliquency is normal for a teenager (for the reasons you have outlined) what happened in our society before this demographic existed? (and in other societies where it does not exist).

    Unfortunately I'm not all that au fait with evolutionary psychology and can't answer this in full. All I can say is what I found for that submission: that some researchers have observed risk taking behaviour as normative in adolescents of other species too (primates and even non-primate mammals such as rats). There is no definitive answer to my knowledge, but it is theorised this helps the adolescent break away from the parental / familial group (through rule testing and breaking), and enables the establishment of a number of psychological coping mechanisms - essentially the maturity to act as an adult without relying on the role of parents. It appears to be a natural and normative mechanism for a number of species. For this, I'd suggest checking out:
    L.P Spear. 2000. "THe Adolescent brain and age-related behavioral manifestations." Neuroscience and Behavioral REviews 24:417-463. (This is a good comprehensive review of the literature.)

    Also very good is Arnett, J. 1992. "Reckless behavior in adolescence: a developmental perspective." Developmental Review 12:339-373

    In terms of the normative role of risk-taking, definitely check out Terrie Moffit's work. She has been on the forefront for the last 15 years or so (and much of her work has been based on interpretation of the CHristchurch and Dunedin longitudinal studies). Best starting place for her stuff is Moffit, T. E. 1993 "Adolescence-limited and Life-Course-Persistent Antisocial Behaviour: a developmental taxonomy." Psychological Review 100:674-701. THis is a seminal article on the topic.

    Do you think the widening gap between sexual/physical and mental maturity is having an impact on these things too?

    It would certainly make sense, but I'm unaware of studies that demonstrate this. What I would really like to know is whether a girl who hits puberty at 9 is also undergoing those rapid physiological changes in the neural substrates responsible for her thinking as well as the systems responsible for her becoming sexually mature. There must be some info on that about, but I haven't seen it (because I haven't looked for it. Yet!) Because if she is socially and psychologically immature but the pathways are being laid down, then perhaps it's the social interactions with her that need to be changed and tailored.

    i am currently looking at risk-taking behaviour in teenagers with regards to alcohol in particular.

    Awesome! What's the study for?

    And thanks for the positive comment - I really enjoyed researching and writing the submission. Looking back, it's a bit repetitive in places (mainly because the short time frame didn;t give me much time to edit it).

    Wellington • Since Jul 2007 • 102 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Death Spiral!,

    Judge Becroft's argument makes the assumption that the Youth Justice System is working OK currently, and why would you want to chuck it out? Ron Mark is coming at it from another direction i.e. It is broken and we need to "get tough". (Death Penalty, anyone?)

    As always, the truth may be somewhere in between (but I'm not clever enough to know where that truth is. Sorry)

    IMO the truth is certainly somewhere in between, but much closer to Becroft's position than to Mark's. The basics of the system (rehabilitation instead of punitive treatment for most offenders) is spot on and in accordance with the overwhelming majority of research into what works to reduce rates of recidivism in young offenders. The changes that need to be made are more tweaking of the current provisions in the CYFP Act (e.g. lengthening of youth justice orders, ability to sentence to longer treatment programmes etc.) Mark's approach, however, throws the baby out with the bathwater and would see us go down the path of the US. And believe me, we don't want hundreds of kids being sent to juvey where they learn how to be better criminals.

    A little disclaimer: I work in the youth mental health / justice sector as a policy consultant (although only for a week and a half longer :) ) and wrote a submission against the Bill last year on behalf of my (then) organisation. Feel free to have a read of it here if you're interested. It covers the major bases (physical and psychological maturation, competency, punitive vs rehabilitation etc.) quite well if I do say so myself! :)

    Wellington • Since Jul 2007 • 102 posts Report Reply

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