Evidence for a heritable brain basis to deviance-promoting deficits in self-control

Purpose

Classic criminological theories emphasize the role of impaired self-control in behavioral deviancy. Reduced amplitude of the P300 brain response is reliably observed in individuals with antisocial and substance-related problems, suggesting it may serve as a neurophysiological indicator of deficiencies in self-control that confer liability to deviancy.

Methods

The current study evaluated the role of self-control capacity—operationalized by scores on a scale measure of trait disinhibition—in mediating the relationship between P300 brain response and behavioral deviancy in a sample of adult twins (N = 419) assessed for symptoms of antisocial/addictive disorders and P300 brain response.

Results

As predicted, greater disorder symptoms and higher trait disinhibition scores each predicted smaller P300 amplitude, and trait disinhibition mediated observed relations between antisocial/addictive disorders and P300 response. Further, twin modeling analyses revealed that trait disinhibition scores and disorder symptoms reflected a common genetic liability, and this genetic liability largely accounted for the observed phenotypic relationship between antisocial-addictive problems and P300 brain response.

Conclusions

These results provide further evidence that heritable weaknesses in self-control capacity confer liability to antisocial/addictive outcomes and that P300 brain response indexes this dispositional liability.     

The effectiveness of supermarket posters in helping to find missing children

One approach used to help find missing children is to place posters of them at the exits of supermarkets. The present research addresses the question of how effective that approach is likely to be. Posters of 8 missing children were displayed on a bulletin board at a cooperating grocery store. Customers leaving the store completed a survey and took a recognition memory test for the children. Most customers thought the problem of missing children was an important issue. However, the majority of customers also reported either not looking at the posters or only briefly looking at the posters. Recognition memory for children depicted in the posters did not reliably differ from chance. It appears that there is much room for improvement when it comes to increasing the attention paid to posters meant to help find missing children.     

A 28-year (1963-90) study of homicide in Marion County, Oregon.

We describe 240 consecutive homicidal deaths that occurred in Marion County, Oregon, over a 28-year period (1963-90). An epidemiological assessment of the homicides yielded the following information: More than 91% of these deaths were primary homicides. In primary homicide, 63% of the victims and 88% of the offenders were male. In secondary homicide, 76% of the victims and all of the offenders were male. A high percentage of victims (83%) and offenders (84%) in primary homicide were Caucasian, as were 100% of victims and offenders in secondary homicide. About 12% of victims and 10% of offenders in primary homicide were Hispanic. Fifty-nine percent of primary homicides were intrasexual, as compared to 87% of secondary homicides. An intraracial pattern was found in 90% of primary homicides and in 100% of secondary homicides. The most frequent means of death in both primary and secondary homicides were firearms, physical beating, and stabbing. Strangers committed 80% of secondary homicides. This was in marked contrast to the victim-offender relationship found in primary homicides, where strangers were responsible for approximately 16% of the total, acquaintances for approximately 36%, and family members for approximately 48%. The overall clearance rate (i.e., the identification and charging of a suspect for the death) was 88%.     

The Attitudes Towards Dating Violence Scales: Development and Initial Validation

This study describes the development and validation of three Attitudes Towards Male Dating Violence (AMDV) Scales and three Attitudes Towards Female Dating Violence (AFDV) Scales. These scales measure attitudes toward use of psychological, physical, and sexual dating violence, respectively, by boys and by girls. Eight hundred twenty-three students from grades 7, 9, and 11 participated in the validation study. All six scales have good internal consistencies. As predicted, students were more accepting of girls' use of violence than of boys' use of violence, and boys were more accepting of violence than were girls. The six scales were positively correlated with traditional attitudes toward gender roles and with each other, providing evidence for their construct validity. Higher scores on the AMDV Scales were related to boys' past use of violence in dating relationships and to their having aggressive friends, supporting their criterion-related validity. Higher scores on the AFDV Scales were associated with girls' past use of dating violence but not with their having aggressive friends, providing partial support for their criterion-related validity. Singly or in combination, the Attitudes Towards Dating Violence Scales can be used to increase our understanding of the development and maintenance of violence-supportive attitudes in adolescents of all ages.     

Redressing metropolitan imbalances in service delivery: A time-series intervention analysis of a user charge policy

While a quarter of a century of contributions to the literature on central city-suburb relationships indicates that within a metropolitan context suburban exploitation of central cities may not exist, there is no lessening of the desire to reduce imbalances within a particular urban service delivery sector. This paper assesses the impact of an urban administrative policy intervention aimed at shifting the burden of supporting a municipal service to those who actually use and benefit from it. An interrupted time-series quasi-experimental design is merged with a data analysis strategy employing integrated moving average models. The evidence endorses the adoption of user charges for certain urban services as an effective strategy open to urban bureaucracies for redressing urban public finance imbalances.This paper is a revision of a draft originally prepared for presentation in the session, The Sociologist as Evaluator: Policy Direction from Social Science, at the Southwestern Social Science Meetings, April, 1978 in Houston, Texas.     

POLITIC OF LAW OF GROUND WATER EXPLOITATION

One of Indonesia characters is welfare state, reflected in Republic Indonesia Constitution in 1945 （UUD NRI year 1945） on Preamble paragraph 4 mentioning the general welfare is the primary aim of the state. Provision of Article 33 paragraph （2）, （3）, and （4） UUD NRI year 1945 as lives of many people that natural resources inform of water for the greatest prosperity of people＇s and controlled by state. This is in line with the Constitution Act No. 7 year 2004 on water resources, focus on welfare of people and based on the reflection of democracy spirit. Based on the constitution of Local Government Act No. 32 year 2004, the important role to support the achievement of social welfare problems associated with water （ground water）, is crucial. However, the Presidential Decree RI No. 36 year 2010 which provides space for the foreigners to invest in water exploitation orientation, and there was interest~politic of law, so the local government at the beginning prioritize on the welfare of the local people turned into the realm of economic interest to revenue for local government. Based on the statement above, so the problems of people＇s welfare, democracy and justice are neglected.     

The most-favored nation rule in principle and practice: Discrimination in the GATT

The conflicts of interest that prevailed between the great powers in the wake of the First World War eviscerated their ability to respond collectively to the advent of the Great Depression. Instead, each turned to discriminatory trade barriers and trade blocs to try to revive domestic output. Persuaded that trade discrimination exacerbated the political tensions that erupted in World War II, policy makers constructed a postwar economic order that institutionalized nondiscrimination. Thus, Article 1 of the charter of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) mandates most-favored nation (MFN) treatment. We argue here that the MFN clause itself encouraged the adoption of practices and policies that actually recreated discrimination. In particular, we argue, developing countries, long regarded as victims of discrimination, institutionalized it in their negotiations with each other. We examine two developing country PTAs that included about 80 percent of all developing-country GATT members by output (the Global System of Trade Preferences and the Protocol Relating to Trade Negotiations). We show that as in the GATT writ large, their patterns of tariff cuts and trade expansion were highly skewed toward a small number of their largest members. In trying to avoid discrimination, policy makers actually encouraged its de facto adoption.     

The use of mental status in death certification of suicide

A 5-year study (1982-1986) illustrates the use of mental status in death certification of suicide in 182 consecutive cases from Marion County, Oregon, U.S.A. The presence of specific mental illness was documented in Part II of the filed death certificate whenever sufficient data supported such a diagnosis. This study represents, so far as we are aware, the first use of mental illness in the routine death certification of suicide. The study subjects were described in terms of sex; age group; the presence or absence of a suicide note; the anatomical cause of death (Part I of the death certificate); and the presence of mental illness, severe physical illness, or alcohol abuse (Part II of the death certificate) as contributive to the death. About half (97 of 182 = 53.30%) of the study group was diagnosed as suffering from a major affective disorder. Another portion (18 of 182 = 9.89%) was classified as schizophrenic. A subgroup of 18 men, all of whom were residents of state mental or correctional institutions at the time of death, was also briefly described.     

Gender Differences in Rates of Depressive Symptoms Among Low-Income,Urban, African American Youth: A Test of Two Mediational Hypotheses

The present study tested for gender differences in depressive symptoms in a sample of 622 low-income, urban, African American adolescents. Results indicate that adolescent girls in this sample were significantly more likely to endorse depressive symptoms than were boys. To examine possible explanations for this gender difference, 2 variables were tested as mediators of the relation between gender and depressive symptoms: (1) interpersonal stressors and (2) ruminative coping. Results indicate that ruminative coping, but not interpersonal stressors, mediated the relation between gender and depressive symptoms in this sample. Possible explanations for these findings, in light of the common and unique experiences of low-income, urban youth of color, are explored.