rivka | Pictures from the past.

I never got around to presenting my dissertation data at the primary conference in my field - mostly because by the time I finished the damn thing, the research I was doing was completely separate from my dissertation topic. I always had HIV stuff to present at the Society of Behavioral Medicine. Besides, it's not a conference that tends to bring in many people with either child/developmental interests, or disability interests, so my dissertation topic was off the beaten track for the meeting.

But this year I thought, what the hell. I submitted an abstract based on my dissertation research, and it was accepted for presentation as a poster. (I knew I wasn't going to be offered an oral presentation, given the off-the-beaten-trackness.) Now I'm putting the poster together, which means, among other things, that I pulled out the photos of misbehaving children which I used for our analog measure of abuse potential.

There's a lot more information about the analog task at that link, but essentially, we showed parents slides of various child behaviors and asked them how they would respond. Some of the photos are normal kid stuff, and some of them are really not. There's a mix of normal behaviors, rule violations, destructive behaviors, and dangerous behaviors.

[photos removed]

I thought people might be interested in seeing the photos, so I uploaded about a dozen of them to my Flickr account. You ~~can see the whole set here.~~ (Photos have been taken down.)

Because they're research items, I'm only going to leave them up for a few days - so look now, if you're curious.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Interesting. I found it a bit odd that all the children were white, but you mentioned in earlier comments that the instrument is older which might explain that. But similar to the gender discussion from the first set of comments, I wonder if parental reactions might differ if the race of the children differed (either to be like that of the parents or different), but I think that might be an entirely different topic. *smile*

I'm not a parent, and I think because of that had a more intellectual approach to the photos. The gun photo, I have to admit, made me sigh with a bit of resignation and disappointment. Having been raised in a home with guns and taught proper gun safety from the time I was 5 (yes, really; I shot my first gun at age 5, with full parental supervision), it sometimes really irritates me that people automatically assume that a child doesn't understand the power of a gun or how to handle it appropriately.

By the same token, I'm often surprised to find how many adults are actively afraid of firearms in any context - a gun is a tool and, like most tools when used inappropriately, can be dangerous, even fatal. But that doesn't mean people should be afraid of the tool, just that they need to learn how to use it appropriately. How many times have you heard passionate cries for limiting the availability of chain saws because some people use them inappropriately? (Yes, I know it's not that simple, but it is a phenomenon that I find contradictory in our society.)

I found it a bit odd that all the children were white, but you mentioned in earlier comments that the instrument is older which might explain that.

Developed in Iowa, for use in Iowa. It's not the age of the measure, it's the geography.

I'd love to do discipline research on the population of clients I work with now (inner-city, disadvantaged African-Americans), but it sure as hell couldn't be done with this measure.

Really? Huh.. for use in mostly rural Iowa? And the gun picture is still considered "dangerous"? I wonder if it weren't a handgun if it would still ellicit the same respone.

I was raised in suburban Minnesota and I think a fair number of my contemporaries were schooled in gun safety sometime between the ages of 10 and 12. Going hunting is often considered to be a bonding experience between a young boy (usually) and his father/uncles/etc. But even so, I'm somewhat surprised that a photo of a kid just loading (properly from what I can tell) a handgun is expected to be considered dangerous. If he were brandishing it or pointing it at someone, I can see that. But nothing about that photo strikes me implicitly or inherently dangerous.

Really? Huh.. for use in mostly rural Iowa? And the gun picture is still considered "dangerous"? I wonder if it weren't a handgun if it would still ellicit the same respone.

I think that responses to the picture would vary if the gun were a rifle and/or if there were a supervising adult visible in the picture. And of course there will be a range of responses in any case.

But please also note that the only responses to this item that you're privy to are those of people on my friends list, very few of whom are from rural Iowa.

I can also assure you that many of the people commenting here with a negative reaction to the gun photo aren't gun-phobic, as you seem to assume -

wcg is a retired Marine Corps Master Sargeant who was certified as an expert marksman, and I myself am an excellent shot with a pistol.

But nothing about that photo strikes me implicitly or inherently dangerous.

In my opinion, a loaded gun itself is inherently dangerous. If my child were about ten years older (i.e., the age of the kid in the picture) and had a legitimate purpose for using a handgun (such as target shooting), I would expect her to keep the gun unloaded and secured until she was at the range and ready to fire it.

I really can't think of a good reason for a kid to be loading a handgun, unsupervised, at what looks like the kitchen table. (

wcg, you want to weigh in on that one?)

N.B.: If this thread becomes a gun-control flame war, I will freeze responses and/or delete comments without warning or compunction.

I wasn't meaning to imply that any of the commenters here were gun-phobic and I apologize if I came across that way. It just seems to be a very common reaction among many adults I've interacted with, many of whom are from more urban areas where guns are more directly associated with crime and not with "sports" or hunting.

I also wasn't meaning to seem combative about parent's views of what is dangerous for their children. I was simply providing another viewpoint as a non-parent who apparently was raised in quite a different setting. I again apologize if I offended you; it was not my intent.

With respect to loading the gun at the kitchen table, as I mentioned, I was raised in in household with guns and was taught proper gun safety and control; my father taught gun safety for well over 25 years and both his daughter were raised with a healthy respect for firearms.

However, in a rural household during hunting season, loading a weapon while at home before heading out to hunt was not that uncommon in my experience. And yes, my father often included a handgun in our group when hunting, as a precaution or protection in case we ran across an unnaturally aggressive or diseased animal; in closer quarters, for instance if a hunting party startled an unnaturally aggressive animal, a handgun may be more easily aimed and controlled than a hunting rifle and allows for the possibility of multiple shots without reloading if needed.

I really can't think of a good reason for a kid to be loading a handgun, unsupervised, at what looks like the kitchen table. (wcg, you want to weigh in on that one?)

Nothing comes to mind. I can remember sitting around the table in a hunting lodge loading rifles before heading out for some small game hunting, but there were adults present. Handguns are notoriously inaccurate as hunting weapons, so even if the youngster is a good enough hunter to be regularly going out on his own it'd still be odd to go with a handgun instead of a long gun.

The thing about a handgun that sets off my alarms is that it's concealable. If a child is loading a handgun, it suggests to me that he feels the need for a loaded gun and he wants to conceal it.

Pictures from the past.

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