POWRE: Assessing Validity of Self-Reported Antisocial Behaviors and Delinquency Among a Sample of Filipino Youth

关于犯罪和犯罪行为的知识的增长一般集中在西方社会，特别是美国。 这些社会中用来理解暴力、犯罪和违法行为的理论和技术很少在非西方环境中得到评估。 在这个POWRE项目中，提出了一个研究和教育活动方案，以制定方法和研究协议，帮助产生有关菲律宾社会中反社会行为和犯罪的有用和有效的信息。 该项目以一项试点研究为基础，该研究开发了一种工具，并测试了对菲律宾小学生进行自我报告调查的可行性。 拟议的项目以这项研究为基础，具体做法是：（a）对试点研究作出答复的青年进行抽样后续调查;（B）与青年的父母和教师进行访谈，以核实他们自我报告的行为;（c）为选定的教师、家长，和社区利益攸关方（如警察和镇官员）提供文化背景，更好地了解调查结果，并为今后的研究提供信息;以及（d）举办教育研讨会，促进项目员工的思想交流和成长。 研讨会还将涉及感兴趣的学生，学者和社区利益相关者。 这将为调查人员提供一个渠道，传播有关犯罪理论的现有知识和西方社会在这一领域的经验发展，并通过与研讨会与会者的讨论了解这些理论在菲律宾社会的相关性。 其中至少有一个研讨会将讨论已完成的试点研究的结果。通过重新采访试点研究中的青年样本，可以对可行的跟踪方法、自然减员以及对菲律宾青年进行小组研究的可行性进行现实的评估。 由于对非西方国家犯罪的研究很少，而且这些研究中采用的方法往往以方便的技术为基础，因此本研究中对青年进行系统跟踪所获得的信息提供了相关的方法基础，可用于今后对同一或不同人口中不同样本的研究。 同样，测试使用教师和家长等信息提供者来评估自我报告的反社会/犯罪行为的真实性的实用性，增加了关于这些技术在不同文化中如何被接受以及如何使用的知识体系。该项目的筹备性质适合作为POWRE提案，并与以前通过POWRE资助的项目一致。 这项研究的结果将建立一个更明确的结构和信息，如何在菲律宾进行类似性质的研究，一般在非西方设置。 该方案的支助还将增强调查员在美国以外的环境中进行研究的知识和技能，并使她具备必要的能力和竞争力，以便获得外部资金，进一步研究非西方环境中的犯罪和犯罪行为。

The growth of knowledge about crime and criminality has focused generally on Western societies, particularly the United States. Theories and techniques used in these societies to understand violence, crime and criminality have seldom been assessed in non-Western settings. In this POWRE project, a program of research and educational activities is presented to develop methods and research protocols that will help produce useful and valid information about antisocial behaviors and delinquency in Filipino society. This project builds upon a pilot study that developed an instrument and tested the feasibility of conducting a self-report survey of grade school children in the Philippines. The proposed project builds upon this study by: (a) conducting a follow-up survey of a sample of youth who responded to the pilot study; (b) conducting interviews of the youth's parents and teachers to validate self-reported behaviors; (c) conducting focus groups on selected teachers, parents, and community stakeholders (such as the police and baranggay officials) to provide cultural context and better understanding of survey results and inform future studies; and, (d) conducting educational seminars to promote the exchange of ideas and growth among project staff . The seminars will also involve interested students, scholars, and community stakeholders. This will provide an avenue for the investigator to disseminate current knowledge about delinquency theories and the empirical development of this field in Western societies, and also learn about the relevance of these theories in Filipino society through discussions with participants in the seminar. At least one of these seminars will discuss results of the completed pilot study. Re-interviewing a sample of youth from the pilot study allows a realistic assessment of workable tracking methods, attrition, and the feasibility of conducting a panel study of youth in the Philippines. Because studies of delinquency in non-Western countries are few and far between and because methodologies employed in these studies have often been based on convenient techniques, the information that will be derived from the systematic follow-up of youth in this study provides relevant methodological groundwork that can be used in future studies of different samples in the same or different populations. Likewise, testing the utility of using informants like teachers and parents to assess the veracity of self-reported antisocial/delinquent behaviors adds to the body of knowledge on how these techniques are received in different cultures and how they can be employed. The preparatory nature of the project is appropriate as a POWRE proposal and is consistent with previous projects funded through POWRE. Results of this study will build a more definitive structure and information on how studies of a similar nature may be conducted in the Philippines, and generally in non-Western settings. POWRE support will also augment the investigator's knowledge and skills to conduct research in settings outside of the United States and will provide her with the competence and competitiveness necessary to obtain external funding to conduct further studies on crime and criminality in non-Western settings.