Executive Cognitive Functioning includes attention control, strategic goal planning, abstract reasoning, flexibility of thinking, hypothetical generation, time response sequencing, as well as the ability to organize and adaptively use information contained in working memory. Do results from previous investigations carried out on CONDUCT DISORDERED males generalize to FEMALES? This is why 249 adolescent females between the ages of 14 and 18 years were studied. (Journal of Abnormal Psychology, vol.107, no.4, pp. 629-41, 1988) Findings demonstrated that low executive cognitive functioning and difficult temperament were related to antisocial behavior in conduct disordered adolescent females. Lower executive functioning was more related to aggressive antisocial behavior, while difficult temperament more closely related to non-aggressive antisocial behavior.

Adverse life events are well documented risk factors of psychopathology and psychological dysfunction in children and adolescents. But not everyone, given a background of early tragedy or witnessing crime or an accident, is damaged. WHO BOUNCES BACK FROM ADVERSITY? (Jl Am Acad Child Adolsec Psychiatry, 37:11, pp. 1191-1200, November 1998). Columbia researchers looked for clues, in a study that defined resilience as having endured a high level of adversity and having emerged well adjusted and free of 30 specific psychiatric disorders. Cross sectional data pertinent to 1,285 pairs of youth and their caretakers were gathered. Good adjustment was related to lower levels of adverse life events, absence of maternal psychopathology, living with two biological parents, good parental marital relationship, higher socioeconomic status, higher IQ, closer parental monitoring, higher family functioning, better physical health, and higher educational aspiration.

HOMICIDE is the leading cause of INFANT DEATH due to injury. Who's responsible? 2776 homicides occurring during the first year of life between the years 1983 and 1991 were studied. (New Eng Jl Med vol.339, no.17, pp. 1211-1216, October 22, 1998) The strongest predictive factors were a maternal age of 19 years or younger, 12 years of education or less, single marital status, black or American Indian race, a first prenatal visit after the sixth month of pregnancy, and a gestation of less than 28 weeks. Other studies suggest that homicides during the first week of life are most likely to be perpetrated by the mother. After the first week, the perpetrator is usually male, and is often the father or stepfather of the victim. Infant characteristics which have been identified as risk factors include low birth weight, low gestation age, male sex, and low Apgar scores.

What is going on with INCARCERATED GIRLS, who are showing an increase n frequency and severity of crime? Stanford researchers examined the INCIDENCE OF POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER in a sample of 96 adolescent female offenders and a comparison sample of 93 males. (J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry, 37, 11; pp.1209-1216, November 1998). Results revealed that boys were more likely to be traumatized as observers of violence, whereas girls were more likely to be traumatized as direct victims. Those suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder were more likely to exhibit higher levels of distress and lower levels of self-restraint. For these offenders, therefore, perhaps PTSD is more likely a causal influence in severe offenses.

Clinically, subjects with POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER may later demonstrate PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTIVATION to reminders of the trauma and increased startle. Researchers in Michigan (Biological Psychiatry 44: 1037-1044, 1998) studied 36 participants divided into three groups, 15 with PTSD and combat experience, 10 without PTSD but with combat experience, and 11 who never experienced PTSD and with no combat exposure. Traumatization in the study consisted of highly arousing combat sound and threat protocol. A physiologic recording device was used to measure changes in response to stimuli. Heart rate was found to be the most specific indicator of PTSD. Also detected was an elevated baseline skin conductance in those with PTSD. The study found that physiologic responses are primarily trauma specific. Findings such as these support the use of medical diagnostics in bolstering or rebutting claims of PTSD in the court.