Adolescent pubertal status and affective family relationships: A multivariate assessment

This research attempted to more adequately dimensionalize the study of affective family relations during adolescent pubertal maturation by employing a multivariate approach. Fifty-one families responded to an assessment battery consisting of a series of questionnaires designed to measure affective relations between parents and their adolescent children. Families were classified into prepubertal, transpubertal, or postpubertal groups according to their modal response on pubertal status criteria. A stepwise discriminant analysis was performed to identify measures that maximize between groups differences. Based on this analysis, a correct classification rate of 70% was achieved for all families. The two significant discriminant functions that emerged indicate that differences in family relationships are due to the transformation of mother-adolescent and father-adolescent relations. The pattern of results replicate those of other researchers and provide elaborations concerning the affective nature of family relations during adolescence.Received his Ph.D. in Life-span Developmental Psychology from West Virginia University in 1984. Research interests in dialectical models of adolescent development.Received his Ph.D. from the University of Arkansas in 1979. Research interests in decision-making in adolescence and adulthood.     

Self-reported delinquency and home life: Evidence from a sample of British girls

This study examines the correlation between family variables and delinquency (both self-reported and official) in a small sample of British teenage girls. Factor analysis of the 72-item Home Life Questionnaire (from T. H. Hirschi [1969] Causes of Delinquency, University of California Press, Berkeley) revealed a clear four-factor structure of caring and communication, discipline, pressure and mother-daughter closeness, which cumulatively accounted for 31% of the variance. Multiple regression of these factors onto self-reported delinquency indicated the maternal factor to be most powerful, explaining 25% of the variance in self-reported delinquency. Institutionalized and noninstitutionalized girls showed only chance differences in terms of the quality of their home life.Anne Campbell's research interests are in sex differences in antisocial behavior, especially aggression.     

Student teachers' perceptions of the identity formation process

Student teachers were asked to respond to profiles of various styles of dealing with adolescent identity issues. Student teachers responded most favorably to the profile indicating adolescent exploration of occupational and ideological alternatives (Moratorium) and least favorably to an apparent nonconcern with adolescent issues (Diffuse). Commitment to plans and beliefs with closedness to alternatives (Foreclosure) received intermediate evaluations. Consistent with Eriksonian notions, but at variance with empirical findings, the Moratorium style was rated highest in psychological health. Student teachers preferred the Moratorium-style individual as prospective students; the Diffuse-style one the least. Implications for teacher training and educational practice were examined, and areas of further research were outlined.Funding for this project was received from a grant by the Faculty of Education, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.He received his Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto. Research interests include adolescent personality development and teacher training.His Ph.D. was received from the University of Oklahoma in Experimental Social Psychology. Current research interests include varied aspects of consumer behavior with focus upon the effects of credit card stimuli upon consumer behavior.He received his Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto. Research interests focus upon special education and learning disabilities.     

Groups and political behavior: Legitimation,deprivation, and competing values

This essay asks what might be most usefully studied in future analyses of the impact of groups on the voting behavior of individuals. A dimension of group analysis so far neglected concerns some value orientations that affect the relevance of group consciousness to voting or other political behavior. In particular, the legitimacy of group political action and of group politics more generally is of central importance. Connected to such evaluations is the character of group comparisons, such as in group-focused relative power deprivation. Also of relevance are competing political value constellations, especially individualism and majoritarianism. By the use of a variety of National Election Studies and Wisconsin survey data, these themes are explored empirically to show the extent of a group focus that goes beyond the usual measures of group consciousness. Relative approval of group-based pluralism is also shown to affect the patterns of relationships of major predictors of turnout. And finally, a LISREL analysis is presented that shows that a group focus is as important as a party focus in affecting the level of political alienation pertinent to voter participation.     

Feminist literary studies

Elaine Showalter (ed), The New Feminist Criticism: Essays on women, literature and theory (Virago) London, 1985.

Gayle Green and Coppélia Kahn (eds), Making a Difference: Feminist literary criticism (Methuen: New Accents) London, 1985.

Toril Moi, Sexual/Textual Politics: Feminist Theory (Methuen: New Accents) London, 1985.     

The use of SEM/EDS analysis to distinguish dental and osseus tissue from other materials

With increasing frequency, relatively small, fragmentary evidence thought to be osseous or dental tissue of human origin is submitted to the forensic laboratory for DNA analysis with the request for positive identification. Prior to performing DNA analysis, however, it is prudent to first perform a presumptive test or "screen" to determine whether the questioned material may be eliminated from further consideration. When material is shown not to be consistent with bone/teeth, DNA testing is not performed. When such determinations cannot be made from gross morphological features, elemental analysis can be indicative. This presumptive test is made possible by applying scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDS) in conjunction with an X-ray spectral database recently developed by the FBI laboratory. This database includes spectra for many different materials including known examples of bone and tooth from many different contexts and representing the full range of taphonomic conditions. Results of SEM/EDS analysis of evidence can be compared to these standards to determine if they are consistent with bone and/or tooth and, if not, then what the material might represent. Analysis suggests that although the proportions and amounts of calcium and phosphorus are particularly important in differentiating bone and tooth from other materials, other minor differences in spectral profile can also provide significant discrimination. Analysis enables bone and tooth to be successfully distinguished from other materials in most cases. Exceptions appear to be ivory, mineral apatite, and perhaps some types of corals.     

The Supply of University Enrollments: University Administrators as Utility Maximizing Bureaucrats

The supply of enrollments in higher education has receivedrelatively little attention in both theoretical and empiricaleconomic research. To address this, we formulate and test amodel of the supply of enrollments in higher education inwhich administrators are modeled as utility maximizingbureaucrats. We find evidence that individual presidents andprovosts have a significant effect on enrollment supply andfaculty demand in a panel of eleven public colleges anduniversities in Maryland from 1988 to 1996, implying thatinstitutions have enough market power to permit thepreferences of administrators to influence enrollment supplyand faculty demand.     

Federalism and the European Union: A constitutional perspective

Constitutional questions have resurfaced in the last few years with regard to the European Union. The Maastricht Treaty is a kind of constitutional reform. The rejection of this treaty by Denmark in its first referendum, and the subsequent debate of the treaty that has taken place, raise questions about both the nature of the European Union, and the process by which its rules (constitution) get revised and approved. Similar questions surround the entry of Austria and the three, additional Scandinavian countries into the Union. Perhaps, no event called the European Union's constitution, or lack thereof, into question more that way in which a new President of the Commission was chosen during the summer of 1994. This paper will reexamine the European Union's structure and procedures from a constitutional perspective. Drawing upon the author's recently completed book, Constitutional Democracy, the paper will review the purpose for the Union's existence, the implications of this purpose for the structure of the Union (federalism versus confederation), the rules for making collective decisions in the Union, citizenship, and in particular, the procedures by which the European Union's “Constitution” is written and revised. The constitutional perspective adopted is taken from public choice. The political institutions of the European Union are examined relative to those rational, self-interested individuals would choose to advance their interests.