Michael Sylvester reported: > According to CNN researchers went into a prison housing violent > criminals. (I guess one could not find a better place to select violent > criminals). Half of the group selected was given Omega 3 fish capsules > and the other half received placebo.A decline in violent behavior was > observed in those taking the Omega 3. I wonder what is wrong with this > picture.
This is probably Gesch et al (2002), Influence of supplementary vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids on the antisocial behaviour of young adult prisoners, British Journal of Psychiatry, 181, 22-28 [available free at http://bjp.rcpsych.org/cgi/reprint/181/1/22 ] It's not a new study, but it's the first I've heard of it. The participants were not selected for violence, just volunteers, with presumably the usual level of violence to be found in young adult offenders. I assume they were all male, but this information appears curiously to have been omitted (I couldn't find it, anyway). Also, the diet supplementation included more than fish capsules, summarized as "vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids". The study is well-designed and executed. It's a randomized, placebo- controlled, double-blind study and the subjects couldn't tell if they were getting placebo. The outcome measure of anti-social behaviour was objective and meaningful, prison reports on adjudicated incidents of violence. Aside from some fancy-pants regression analysis to obtain measures of rate of anti-social behaviour, the statistical test was a refreshingly simple two-tailed contrast between the placebo and treatment groups (no tortured sub-group analyses and suspicious one-tailed tests in order to find an effect). They found that the treatment "caused a reduction in antisocial behaviour to a remarkable degree" (26% percent fewer incidents on an intention-to- treat basis). Remarkable seems a good word for that outcome. Stephen ----------------------------------------------------------------- Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. Department of Psychology Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Lennoxville, QC J1M 1Z7 Canada Dept web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy TIPS discussion list for psychology teachers at http://faculty.frostburg.edu/psyc/southerly/tips/index.htm ----------------------------------------------------------------------- --- To make changes to your subscription go to: http://acsun.frostburg.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=tips&text_mode=0&lang=english
