Date of Award

8-2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College/School

College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Department/Program

Psychology

Thesis Sponsor/Dissertation Chair/Project Chair

Christopher M. King

Committee Member

Nicole Lytle

Committee Member

Jazmin Reyes-Portillo

Committee Member

Robert Morgan

Abstract

Risk assessment for future criminal conduct currently relies on evaluator ratings or self-report measures, with imperfect predictive utility. A new serious (clinical) video game, Project Choices, was developed for assessment and treatment purposes with persons involved with the criminal legal system. Project Choices offers performance-based measurement of individuals’ responses to realistic scenarios relevant to overall criminogenic risk and individual risk factors. The current study aimed to pilot test the newest version of Project Choices (Version 2) using a sample of university students (N = 100), examining gameplay performance metrics (number of risky decisions overall and within individual risk domains) for one-week retest reliability and convergent validity with measures of socially desirable responding, social problem solving, performance-based decision-making, self-reported risk for future crime, and prior misconduct. Also examined were players’ ratings of the game overall; its ease of use, interestingness, and helpfulness for rehabilitation; and whether they would recommend the game. It was hypothesized that Project Choices gameplay performance metrics would demonstrate strong retest reliability, moderately relate to convergent measures, and receive favorable ratings. Exploratory analyses aimed to examine the incremental postdictive utility of the total number of risky decisions made in Project Choices for prior antisocial conduct. The retest reliability of Project Choice’s overall risky decisions index appeared the most promising, and more discrete risk factor indexes yielded effect sizes generally consistent with evaluator-rated and self-report criminogenic risk assessment tools. However, retest correlations were lower than generally considered adequate for psychological assessment instruments. Mixed support was observed for convergent validity: gameplay performance metrics significantly correlated with risk for future crime and prior misconduct, to a small to moderate degree, but not with any of the other convergent measures. Most participants rated Project Choices favorably. Exploratory results were mixed but generally unpromising regarding the incremental postdictive utility of Project Choices. The current findings support future investigation of Project Choices with a sample involved with the criminal legal system. Future research could address limitations of the current study—most notably concerning external validity—to further determine whether performance-based criminogenic risk assessment represents a worthwhile adjunct to traditional assessment methods.

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