Effects of Awareness Programs on Juvenile Delinquency: A Three-Level Meta-Analysis

Do Meta-Analyses of Intervention/Prevention Programs in the Field of Criminology Meet the Tests of Transparency and Reproducibility?

While assessments of transparent reporting practices in meta-analyses are not uncommon in the field of health sciences interventions, they are limited in the social sciences and to our knowledge are non-existent in criminology. Modified PRISMA 2020 checklists were used to assess transparency and reproducibility of reporting for a sample of 33 meta-analyses of intervention/prevention evaluations published in scholarly journals between 2016 and 2021. Results indicate that the average rate of transparent reporting practices was 63%; adherence varied considerably across studies and subscales, with low rates of adherence for some core checklist items. Overwhelmingly, studies were not reproducible in their entirety; article word count was significantly correlated with reproducibility (r = 0.4028, p < .03). These findings suggest that substantial changes to reporting practices are necessary to meet traditional meta-analytic claims of transparency and reproducibility. Study limitations include sample size, coding instruments, and coding subjectivity.

The Association between Parental Attachment and Youth Suicidal Ideation: A Three-Level Meta-analysis

Youth suicidal ideation is regarded as a serious psychological problem that hinders their mental health development. Parental attachment is considered a critical factor linked with youth suicidal ideation, but existing findings are still inconsistent. The present study was based on the PRISMA method; it employed a three-level meta-analysis to obtain reliable estimates of effect size and examined a range of moderators (sample, publication, outcome). Through the retrieval of articles published before November 2020, a systematic search yielded 31 independent studies (N = 12848) from which 109 effect sizes could be extracted. The present meta-analysis revealed a significant negative correlation between parental attachment and youth suicidal ideation (r = -0.108, p < 0.001), implying that youths show a higher level of suicidal ideation when they experienced lower quality of parental attachment. Moreover, the overall association was influenced by different parental attachment patterns. More specifically, youth suicidal ideation was more strongly associated with parental alienation (r = 0.501, p < 0.001) than with parental communication (r = -0.173, p < 0.001). The moderator analyses also showed that the type of instrument used was a significant moderator of the association between parental attachment and youth suicidal ideation. The strength of the overall association was significantly stronger when measured with the IPPA (Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment) (r = -0.181, p = 0.003) than with the ECR (Experiences in Close Relationships) (r = 0.085, p = 0.003). These results indicate that assessing parental attachment is important in strengthening interventions that target suicidal ideation among youths.HIGHLIGHTSOur analysis revealed a significant negative association between parental attachment and youth.Specifically, the presence of a secure relationship with parents, as perceived by the youth, brings forth feelings of appreciation, acceptance, safety, and confidence, that predispose the individual to seek help in a more consistent manner and to resist to maladjusted behavior when faced with adversity. However, a low quality of attachment produces cognitions associated with perceived burdensomeness and failed belongingness, which increase a youth's vulnerability to suicidal ideation.The parental attachment pattern showed a significant moderating effect on the association between parental attachment and youth suicidal ideation.Regarding the association between parental attachment and youth suicidal ideation, we observed that the manner in which parental attachment is measured is another moderating effect.

The Efficacy of Psychological Intervention on Body Image in Breast Cancer Patients and Survivors: A Systematic-Review and Meta-Analysis

The experience of breast cancer and related treatments has notable effects on women's mental health. Among them, the subjective perception of the body or body image (BI) is altered. Such alterations deserve to be properly treated because they augment the risk for depression and mood disorders, and impair intimate relationships. A number of studies revealed that focused psychological interventions are effective in reducing BI issues related to breast cancer. However, findings are inconsistent regarding the dimension of such effects. This meta-analysis synthesizes and quantifies the efficacy of psychological interventions for BI in breast cancer patients and survivors. Additionally, since sexual functioning emerged as a relevant aspect in the BI distortions, we explored the efficacy of psychological interventions on sexual functioning related to BI in breast cancer patients and survivors. The literature search for relevant contributions was carried out in March 2020 through the following electronic databases: Scopus, PsycINFO, and ProQUEST. Only articles available in English and that featured psychological interventions for body image in breast cancer patients or survivors with controls were included. Seven articles with 17 dependent effect sizes were selected for this meta-analysis. Variables were grouped into: Body Image (six studies, nine dependent effect sizes) and Sexual Functioning Related to the Body Image in breast cancer patients and survivors (four studies, eight dependent effect sizes). The three-level meta-analysis showed a statistically significant effect for Body Image [g = 0.50; 95% CI (0.08; 0.93); p < 0.05] but no significant results for Sexual Functioning Related to Body Image [g = 0.33; 95% CI (−0.20; 0.85); p = 0.19]. These results suggest that psychological interventions are effective in reducing body image issues but not in reducing sexual functioning issues related to body image in breast cancer patients and survivors. Future review efforts may include gray literature and qualitative studies to better understand body image and sexual functioning issues in breast cancer patients. Also, high-quality studies are needed to inform future meta-analyses.