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Original Article

Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) Goes to Jail

Capturing Daily Antisocial Behavior in its Context, a Feasibility and Reliability Study in Incarcerated Juvenile Offenders

Published Online:June 30, 2015https://doi.org/10.1027/1015-5759/a000275

Abstract

Abstract. Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) involves the repeated collection of data in everyday life. This method has helped uncover underlying mechanisms in several mental disorders. EMA studies are still scarce in adolescent patients and particularly incarcerated juvenile offenders (IJO), possibly due to their frequent rule-breaking and high impulsivity. This study evaluated the feasibility and reliability of EMA in IJO. One hundred three antisocial adolescents (mean age 14.8, 78% boys, including 52 IJO and 51 institutionalized antisocial adolescents, IAA) answered four times a day during 8 days questions about their antisocial behavior, negative affect, impulsivity, and fear of punishment, on a handheld computer. Staff members also regularly reported on each participant’s antisocial behavior. This first application of EMA in IJO overall supported its feasibility, with an excellent participation rate (95%) and a good compliance in completers (84%). About one-third of IJO participants dropped out, with no evidence of sampling bias across a wide range of indicators, while 96% of IAA completed EMA. No reactivity or lack of objectivity was observed. One- to two-thirds of the variance was within-person and reliability was acceptable to good. EMA can thus be reliably used in IJO to study the dynamics of daily antisocial behavior as it naturally unfolds in its context.

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