Sexual Betrayal Among Late Adolescents: Perspectives of the Perpetrator and the Aggrieved

The present study investigates the occurrence and experience of sexual betrayal in adolescents and young adults from the perspectives of both the perpetrator and the aggrieved. Subjects (N = 216) who had been in monogamous relationships were asked whether they had ever cheated on their partner (by petting or having sexual relations with another) and whether their partner had ever cheated on them. Subjects also reported their motives and reactions and the consequences associated with these betrayals. Approximately two-thirds of the sample had experienced betrayal, as the perpetrator, the aggrieved, or both. Perpetrators typically know their betrayal partners and are motivated by sexual attraction, the regular partner's absence, and the influence of drugs or alcohol. Although 42% of betrayals are not discovered by the aggrieved, the majority of those that are discovered result from confessions by the perpetrator. As expected, those who are betrayed generally react with anger or sadness. Perpetrators often feel guilty, but also report a number of positive emotions, suggesting that betrayal may play an important role as adolescents struggle to establish their identities. Gender differences were absent in the incidence, motives, and experience of sexual betrayal. Results are interpreted in terms of competing demands of intimacy and identity formation.     

Conflict Negotiation Tactics in Romantic Relationships in High School Students

To investigate how teenagers deal with conflict in romantic relationships, 869 high school students (mean age 16, range 14–19), experienced in romantic relations, completed a conflict tactic scale (adapted from Rands et al., 1981, and Straus, 1979). A principal components analysis revealed six factors, which in descending frequency of use were Compromise, Distraction, Avoidance, Overt Anger, Seeking Social Support, and Violence. Conflict tactics varied as a function of demographic characteristics. Specifically, older teens used Compromise more than younger; girls used Compromise and Overt Anger more and Distraction less than boys; African-Americans used Violence more and Compromise less than European-Americans, whereas Asian-Americans used Distraction and Avoidance more than European-Americans. To assess predictors of conflict tactics, teens also completed scales assessing self-esteem (Rosenberg, 1965), immature and mature defense mechanisms (Araujo and Steiner, 1998, under review) and internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors (Achenbach, 1966). Each of these was singly and jointly associated with the use of conflict tactics. In multiple regression analyses, the externalizing problem score best predicted Overt Anger and Violence in dealing with romantic conflict, the internalizing problem score best predicted Avoidance and Distraction; whereas the mature defense mechanism score was the best predictor of seeking Social Support and Compromise.     

Contact Disputes: Narrative Constructions of `Good' Parents

This paper explores contact disputes in England and Wales. We discuss the legal background as well as separating parents' experiences of contact disputes. Contact has been high on the agenda since the U.K. Government report, Making Contact Work, (2002) examined various means for facilitating contact between non-resident parents and their children. More recently, the issue has featured prominently in the headlines, largely as a result of the campaigning efforts of fathers' rights groups who complain of injustice and demand changes in the law. The idea that contact is necessary for children's well-being seems to have acquired the status of uncontestable truth. This paper examines the ways in which these ideas about children's interests have become embodied in adominant welfare discourse that is embedded in law and informs policy thinking. Family law has long abhorred parental conflict, particularly that which involves the children. It is frequently assumed that conflict can be reduced if parents could be persuaded to accept the premises of the welfare discourse. In this paper, we consider how parents themselves, in talking about their experiences of contact disputes, makes sense of family law. We found that parents regularly invoke the welfare discourse in their talk, but they interpret it in unexpected ways. Often these interpretations fuel conflict rather than reducing it.     

The Right to Do Wrong: Lying to Parents Among Adolescents and Emerging Adults

In this study, 229 high school students and 261 college students evaluated the acceptability of lying to parents under 19 different circumstances where a person's motive for lying differed. Students also indicated the frequency with which they had lied to their parents about diverse issue such as friends, dates, and money. Results indicated that adolescents and emerging adults quite commonly lied to their parents, and that in part they framed lying to parents as a way to assert the right to autonomy. Emerging adults were less accepting of lying and reported less frequent lying, compared to adolescents. Results also showed the association of sex, personality (self-restraint and tolerance of deviance), and family environment (control and cohesion) upon adolescents' and emerging adults' acceptance of lying to parents and lying behavior.     

STATE LEGISLATORS AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: UNIVERSITY-INDUSTRY RELATIONSHIPS AND THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT IN BIOTECHNOLOGY

This article presents a detailed examination of some key political dimen- sions underlying cooperative research in agricultural biotechnology among state land-grant universities, state legislatures, and biotechnology corpora- tions. Factor analysis and path analysis methods are employed to assess differences in the perceptions of university administrators, biotechnology corporation researchers, and state legislators, using national and state survey data. Two attitudinal dimensions, one regarding cooperation among university and corporate researchers, and the other regarding barriers to joint research, are extracted. Generally similar attitudes are shared by university and legislative respondents, who are concerned over the prospects of market-oriented university research. In contrast, corporate respondents are more concerned with reducing barriers to cooperative research and the need for more open communication between academia and industry, and with issues of patent rights. Extensions of this work to other states and to other high-technology industries are considered.