School predictors of alcohol use in high school Hispanic and non-Hispanic youth

Many youth alcohol prevention programs are not culturally sensitive and have focused on avoidance tactics. Given the differences in alcohol use and the possibly differing intervention strategies for Hispanic and non-Hispanic youth, this study aims to analyze the contributing factors of alcohol use within these two groups. Two hundred and one high school students participated in a survey. Findings indicate that prevention programs should focus on situational opportunities to use alcohol for both Hispanic and non-Hispanic youth. For Hispanic students, school management skills did not relate to less alcohol use, as expected. There should be less emphasis on how risky drinking can be, and more emphasis on the moral implications or “wrongness” of drinking, particularly for non-Hispanics. The discussion includes some possible interpretations of the relationship between skill management skills and heightened alcohol use for Hispanic students.     

Family Functioning and Adolescent Internalizing and Externalizing Problems: Disentangling between-, and Within-Family Associations

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - Adolescence is often a period of onset for internalizing and externalizing problems. At the same time, adolescent maturation and increasing autonomy from parents...     

The Role of Legitimizing Ideologies as Predictors of Ambivalent Sexism in Young People: Evidence from Italy and the USA

The studies presented here focus on the relationship between legitimizing ideologies and ambivalent sexism. 544 Italian students (Study 1) and 297 US students (Study 2) completed several scales: social dominance orientation (SDO), system justification (SJ), political orientation, religiosity, and the Glick and Fiske (J Pers Soc Psychol 70(3):491–512, 1996) Ambivalent Sexism Inventory. Zero-order correlations revealed all facets of ideological attitudes to be positively related to each other and correlated with ambivalent sexism. In particular, the SDO was related to both ideology components of SJ and political orientation and to ambivalent sexism (hostile and benevolent). Moderated regressions revealed that SDO has a positive impact on hostile sexism for men only, while SJ has a positive impact on hostile sexism for women only. While the first result was stable across the two studies, the last moderated effect has been detected only in Study 1. We discuss the results with respect to different facets of social ideologies and cultural differences between the two countries.     

Cyberstalking versus off-line stalking in a forensic sample

There is relatively little empirical research into cyberstalking and most published research reports data from samples of cyberstalking victims. The current study aimed to fill a gap in the literature by comparing 36 cyberstalking offenders with an age and gender matched sample of 36 off-line stalkers (average age 37 years, 94% male) to investigate differences in demographic, clinical and behavioural characteristics. Non-parametric analyses showed few between-group differences, although cyberstalkers were more likely to be ex-intimate partners (75% vs. 47%, χ² = 5.84, p = .02, φ = .28) and less likely to approach their victims (56% vs. 78%, χ² = 4.00, p = .05, φ = ?.24). The majority of cyberstalkers also used off-line stalking tactics. Examination of specific cyberstalking behaviours suggested that cyberstalkers with different motivations used the Internet in distinct ways. These results support broad conclusions from previous research indicating that there are relatively few differences between cyberstalkers and off-line stalkers. Once the motivation of the stalker is considered, treatment and management strategies for cyberstalking and off-line stalking are likely to be similar.     

Differential adoption of modern rice technology and regional wage differential in Nepal

In Nepal, which consists of ecologically distinct regions, the concentration of the adoption of modern rice varieties in the favourable rice growing areas of the country has raised fears that regional income disparities have widened. This study shows that greater demand for hired labour due to the adoption of modern rice varieties has induced permanent and seasonal migration from unfavourable to favourable areas. This appears to have largely equalised average wage rates across different production environments. Thus, as far as labour income is concerned, benefits from the modern varieties have been widely shared.     

Transparency and Political Budget Cycles at municipal level

We analyze the effect of municipal financial transparency on the magnitude of political budget cycles. Our sample covers the Spanish largest municipalities in the period 1999‐2009. While the impact of transparency on the electoral cycle has been studied at the international and regional level, there is no empirical evidence of its effect at the local level. Using the financial transparency index made by Transparency International Spain, we show that municipalities with lower levels of financial transparency present an electoral cycle in total spending, whereas such an electoral impact on total spending does not appear in high transparent municipalities. Furthermore, the magnitude of cycles in capital spending and taxes does not vary among low‐transparency municipalities and high‐transparency municipalities.     

Are ICTs Changing Parliamentary Activity in the Portuguese Parliament?

This article looks at the extent to which the introduction of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) has brought changes to parliamentary activity in the Portuguese parliament. It explains the process through which ICTs have been introduced in this parliament, as well as looking at MPs' perceptions of ICT. It assesses the impact of ICTs on two key areas of parliamentary activity: the relationship between parliament and citizens and internal parliamentary work. The article is based on research by documentary analysis, interviews, questionnaires and web surveys. The research shows that the main area where ICTs have made a difference is in the relationship with citizens, making the Portuguese parliament a more open institution.