IRT and Psychological Disturbance in Young Offenders

IRT 与青少年罪犯的心理障碍

• 批准号: 6869718
• 负责人: GINA M VINCENT
• 金额: $ 8.1万
• 依托单位: UNIV OF MASSACHUSETTS MED SCH WORCESTER
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2005
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2005-01-01 至 2006-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/6869718
• 关键词: adolescence (12-20); age difference; archives; behavioral /social science research tag; bias; child psychology; diagnosis quality /standard; gender difference; human data; juvenile delinquency; mental disorder diagnosis; psychological tests; psychometrics; psychopathology; racial /ethnic difference

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): An overwhelming number of adolescents (approximately 60%) involved in the juvenile justice system meet Idiagnostic criteria for one or more psychiatric disorders. This poses a substantial burden for state juvenile justice systems that generally have some responsibility to care for the minors in their custody. Unfortunately, interpretation of prevalence rates for childhood mental disorders is not straightforward due to unreliable testing methods and hinderances to defining childhood abnormalities. Complications in the identification of childhood mental disorders include symptom overlap in current nosological frameworks, changes in the expression of symptoms across developmental periods, and inconsistencies between genders and across demographic groups (e.g., Hispanics vs. Whites). The proposed study was designed to improve mental health screening procedures for juvenile justice facilities, and advance understanding of juvenile psychopathology, by analyzing the perfomance of a juvenile justice screening tool using innovative test construction methods. Just over 36,000 cases from the National Norm data for the Massachusetts Youth Screening Instrument, Second Version (MAYSI-2) and item response theory will be used to (1) validate the MAYSI-2's structural validity and measurement of mental, emotional, and behavioral disturbances; (2) investigate gender and ethnic/racial-specific differences in the measurement or expression of these disturbances; and (3) investigate age-related differences in the measurement and expression of these disturbances. IRT tests for measurement bias will distinguish test items that may be seen as consistent across gender, ethnic/racial, and age groups; from symptoms that should be considered racially, developmentally, and/or gender-specific. Findings will have the immediate benefit of enhancing the utility of the MAYSI-2 by estimating group-specific cut-off scores. Indirectly, findings will work toward advancing our misunderstanding of the nature and development of child psychopathology in general.

描述（由申请人提供）：少数少数青少年（约60％）涉及少年司法系统，符合一种或多种精神病患者的IDINGNOSTIC标准。这给州少年司法系统带来了巨大的负担，通常有责任照顾未成年人。不幸的是，由于测试方法不可靠，对儿童精神障碍的患病率的解释并不是一件直接的。鉴定儿童精神障碍的并发症包括症状在当前的疾病框架中重叠，跨发育时期的症状表达的变化以及性别与人口统计组之间的不一致性（例如，西班牙裔与白人与白人）之间的不一致。拟议的研究旨在通过使用创新的测试施工方法来分析少年司法筛查工具的完善，以改善少年司法设施的心理健康筛查程序，并提高对少年心理病理学的了解。来自马萨诸塞州青年筛查工具的国家规范数据，第二版（MAYSI-2）和项目响应理论将仅36,000多个案例，用于（1）验证Maysi-2的结构有效性以及对心理，情感和行为障碍的测量； （2） 研究这些干扰的测量或表达中的性别和种族/种族特异性差异； （3）研究这些干扰的测量和表达中与年龄相关的差异。测量偏差的IRT测试将区分在性别，种族/种族和年龄段之间可能保持一致的测试项目；从种族，发育和/或特定性别的症状中。发现将通过估计特定于小组的截止分数来增强Maysi-2的实用性。间接的发现将致力于推动我们对儿童心理病理学的性质和发展的误解。