Background

Research suggests that motor difficulties may be closely associated with severe emotional and behavioural problems in children. However, there is limited research on the role of motor function in young adults who offend.

Aims

To assess motor skills, balance, and primary reflex persistence in young people who offend, and to examine the relative association of different motor factors with self-reported levels of aggression.

Methods

We recruited three groups of males (14–18 years); young people serving custodial sentences (n = 33) in a youth justice centre, and an IQ-matched comparison group (n = 36) and an average-IQ comparison group (n = 38) of non-offenders. All completed a standardised test of motor skills, clinical assessment protocols for balance and primary reflex persistence, and a standardised self-report behavioural rating scale.

Results

The youth justice group showed significantly lower abilities in some motor skills and balance and significantly higher levels of primary reflex persistence and aggression than both comparison groups. In a multiple regression model, only manual dexterity (p = .032) and primary reflex persistence (p = .002) were significant predictors of aggression.

Conclusions

A broad range of motor difficulties are likely to occur in young people who offend. We discuss the implications of motor difficulties for approaches to rehabilitation of persistent offenders.

中文翻译：

---

冒犯年轻人的运动障碍

背景

研究表明，运动障碍可能与儿童严重的情绪和行为问题密切相关。然而，关于运动功能在冒犯的年轻人中的作用的研究有限。

宗旨

评估冒犯年轻人的运动技能、平衡和主要反射持续性，并检查不同运动因素与自我报告的攻击水平之间的相对关联。

方法

我们招募了三组男性（14-18 岁）；在青少年司法中心服刑的年轻人 ( n = 33)，以及智商匹配的对照组 ( n = 36) 和非罪犯的平均智商对照组 ( n = 38)。所有人都完成了运动技能的标准化测试、平衡和初级反射持续性的临床评估方案，以及标准化的自我报告行为评定量表。

结果

与两个对照组相比，青年正义组在某些运动技能和平衡方面的能力显着降低，初级反射持久性和攻击性水平显着提高。在多元回归模型中，只有手动灵活性 ( p = .032) 和初级反射持续性 ( p = .002) 是攻击性的重要预测因素。

结论

冒犯他人的年轻人可能会出现各种运动障碍。我们讨论了运动障碍对惯犯康复方法的影响。