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主要集中在西方社会，特别是美国。在这些社会中用来理解暴力、犯罪和犯罪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计划，以制定方法和研究方案，帮助产生关于菲律宾社会中反社会行为和犯罪的有用和有效的信息。该项目建立在一项试验性研究的基础上，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：(A)对对试点研究作出答复的青年样本进行后续调查；(B)对青年的父母和教师进行访谈，以证实其自我报告的行为；(C)对选定的教师、家长和社区利益攸关方(如警察和乡村同性恋官员)开展重点小组，以提供文化背景，更好地了解调查结果，并为今后的研究提供信息；(D)举办教育研讨会，促进项目工作人员之间的思想交流和成长。研讨会还将有感兴趣的学生、学者和社区利益相关者参加。这将为调查人员提供一个渠道，传播当前关于犯罪理论的知识和这一领域在西方社会的经验发展，并通过与研讨会参与者的讨论了解这些理论在菲律宾社会的相关性。这些研讨会中至少有一个将讨论已完成的试点研究的结果。重新采访试点研究中的青年样本，可以对可行的跟踪方法、自然减员和在菲律宾开展青年专题研究的可行性进行现实评估。由于非西方国家关于犯罪的研究很少，而且这些研究中采用的方法往往基于方便的技术，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学基础，可用于今后对同一或不同人群中的不同样本进行研究。同样，测试教师和家长等告密者评估自我报告的反社会/犯罪行为的真实性的效用，也增加了关于这些技术如何在不同文化中被接受以及如何使用的知识体系。该项目的筹备性质是适当的，是一项由世界妇女组织提出的建议，并且与以前由世界妇女组织资助的项目是一致的。这项研究的结果将建立一个更明确的结构和信息，说明类似性质的研究如何在菲律宾以及通常在非西方环境中进行。POWRE的支持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，并将为她提供必要的能力和竞争力，以获得外部资金，以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.