Are teenage delinquent acts impulsive or planned? This is the question being asked in an innovative research project currently being undertaken by Dr Annemaree Carroll.
Dr Carroll, a lecturer in the University's Schonell Special Education Research Centre in the Graduate School of Education, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Science, has been awarded $60,000 through the Inaugural University of Queensland Foundation Research Excellence Award.
"This new project is an extension of my work on the impulsive and deliberate actions of young offenders," Dr Carroll said. "While a lot of delinquency has its origins in early patterns of impulsive and undercontrolled behaviour, there is also a group of adolescents who show no signs of problems prior to about the age of 11 or 12 but who still come under the scrutiny of the criminal justice system later in their teenage years."
"One of the most exciting aspects of the project will be the involvement of young offenders in the development of scenarios that accurately depict the lead up to potentially criminal acts," Dr Carroll said. "Together we will produce an interactive multimedia program to track and evaluate young offenders' thinking processes as they make choices and critical decisions that lead them to, or not to, commit a crime."
This is the first project of its kind to use such realistic decision-making situations to gather information from young people and to extend current theories on the neuropsychological deficits and the self-regulation of delinquent adolescents.
Dr Carroll said that "the project will result in a counselling and rehabilitation tool to help change the way that young people make important decisions. I also hope that the outcomes may provide an example about how to overcome other adolescent trauma such as severe depression or futility that might prompt a suicide attempt."
Dr Carroll has developed an impressive research profile in children and adolescents at-risk since joining the University of Queensland in 1995 after receiving her PhD in Educational Psychology at the University of Western Australia.
She has received more than $300,000 in research funding which has been gained from the large and small schemes of the Australian Research Council (ARC) and also from the Commonwealth Department of Health, Housing, Local Government and Community Service, the Rotary Foundation, and Healthway (the Western Australian Health Promotion Foundation).
The outcomes of a $110,000 ARC large grant (1997-1999) in collaboration with her colleagues Associate Professor Stephen Houghton from the University of Western Australia and Professor Robert Wood from the University of New South Wales have demonstrated that some adolescents (even children as young as 9 years) build up a portfolio of criminal acts to fulfil personal and challenging goals.
"These challenging goals are closely related to the establishment of kudos and status among peers. By enhancing their reputation through criminal activities, the young person ensures acceptance among peers."
Dr Carroll's academic excellence was recognised twice last year by the University of Southern Queensland. She was awarded a University Medal for outstanding academic performance throughout her Bachelor of Science (first class honours) studies, and awarded the Faculty of Sciences Prize.
Dr Carroll's research is receiving international acclaim through publication in first rank journals such as The Journal of Educational Psychology (USA) and The British Journal of
Educational Psychology.
She said she was honoured to have been chosen for the award.
"It's a great privilege to be a recipient of the University of Queensland
Foundation Research Excellence Award. This is a most prized honour,
particularly since this is the Inaugural award."
"I am very impressed that the University of Queensland has such an
outstanding commitment to advancing and facilitating the research profile
of early career researchers. The award recognises the contribution I and my
colleagues have made to research on adolescents at risk and, at the same
time, acknowledges my potential as a researcher."
.jpg)
