Teresa Silva

Since 2000 I have been researching in three areas of knowledge, (a) public health, (b) psychology/psychiatry, and (c) criminology. The main topics on which I focused my work were, chronologically, (1) physical and psychiatric problems and criminality in young individuals with alcohol and substance misuse problems, (2) risk assessment of youth offenders, and the use of 4th generation tools on the management of violence and reoffending risk in these individuals, (3) psychopathic traits and its relation with delinquency and violence during adolescence and young adulthood, (4) different parenting components as risk factors for antisocial behavior among adolescents, and (5) the design, implementation, and evaluation of multilevel crime prevention strategies by different authorities and organizations.

Bakgrund

I started my career as a young research assistant in Spain, where I was able to analyze the physical and mental health and crime-related problems in samples of young adult heroin users from a public health perspective. Simultaneously, in collaboration with other research groups, I worked as a forensic psychology researcher in the translation and implementation of the Youth Level of Service/Case Management Inventory (YLS/CMI), the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (PCL:YV), and the Antisocial Process Screening Device (APSD) to the Spanish juvenile criminal justice system. During my years in Canada, as a postdoc researcher, I had the opportunity to study the impact on individuals’ lives of one of the most important risk factors for violence and delinquency – childhood maltreatment – which I analyzed in a disadvantaged community sample (Québec) and a juvenile delinquent sample (Madrid). The focus of this line of research was the impact of youths’ psychopathic traits on the association between parental maltreatment and antisocial behavior. During my postdoctoral years in Sweden, I was able to broaden this line of research by incorporating other parenting factors and by studying the parenting conditions that determine whether psychopathy is strongly or weakly related to delinquency. In this case, the study was performed on a school sample of adolescents.
In 2014, my research career expanded knowledge frontiers when I was appointed as an assistant professor in criminology at Mid Sweden University. Since then, I have incorporated a criminological perspective into my work through two main areas (1) knowledge and attitudes of normalized youths (i.e., school samples of adolescents) toward criminality and victimization and, (2) the design, implementation, and evaluation of prevention programs and strategies against juvenile delinquency and drug-related crime, and general crime.

Forskningsområden

Crime prevention, evaluation research, juvenile delinquency, substance abuse, psychopathy, violence, victims and victimization processes

Forskning

Currently, I have one active project funded by the Swedish Knowledge Foundation: "Business crime prevention: Prioritizing necessities for strategy development" (Reference: 20220114-H-01)

Undervisning

Ph.D in Psychology (2009).
Master of Public Health (2008)
Master of Research, [Cognition, Emotion, and Stress] (2003)
Master of Science, [Clinical and Forensic Psychology] (2002)
Bachelor of Science in Psychology (1999)
Bachelor of Nursing Sciences (1990)

Övrigt

Member of the advisory board for the European Crime Prevention Network

Associate Editor - Current Psychology (Springer)

Associate Editor - Psychology, Public Policy & Law (APA)

Forskningsprojekt

Avslutade

Förebyggande arbete för att motverka destruktivt beteende hos unga: Situationsanalys och utvärdering av nuvarande åtgärder

Illegal droghandel i Sundsvall

Utvärdering av handlingsplan för brotts- och drogförebyggande arbete