School Belonging,Self-Esteem,and Depressive Symptoms in Adolescents: An Examination of Sex,Sexual Attraction Status,and Urbanicity

Using data from Wave II of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health; Bearman, P. S., Jones, J., and Udry, J. R. http://www.cpc.unc.edu/projects/addhealth/design.html, 1997), we conducted multivariate analyses to examine three indicators of psychosocial adjustment (school belonging, self-esteem, depressive symptoms) and their associations with sexual attraction status, sex, and urbanicity. In general, sexual minority adolescents reported lower psychological adjustment than adolescents endorsing other-sex attractions only, with sexual minority females at particular risk. Further, differential patterns of risk for sexual minority youth emerged across rural, urban, and suburban communities. We conclude by discussing implications of these findings for addressing the psychosocial needs of sexual minority adolescents.     

Two generations of Sutherland’s white-collar war crime data and beyond

Edwin Sutherland published his famous White Collar Crime in 1949 where he excoriated leaders of American firms for their war crimes. The names of all corporations were deleted, however, from the book by the threat of legal action. The unabridged version was published in 1983 when the Sutherland files at Indiana University were unsealed. These files can now be compared with both the 1949 and 1983 book, as well as with other evidence of corporate war crimes during World War II.     

Death penalty politics and symbolic law in Russia

In contemporary Russia there is widespread support for the death penalty. Recent Russian presidents have endorsed the nation’s entry into the European Community (EC). The dilemma is that the price of membership into the EC is total abolition of capital punishment. The Russian Duma is much less popular than the president, even though it sides with public opinion in supporting capital punishment. Since 1997, these conflicting political positions have been temporarily neutralized by leaving capital punishment legislation in place but allowing the Russian president to offer clemency to all sentenced to death. In 1999, the Constitutional Court of Russia placed a moratorium on all death sentences until jury trials are re-introduced throughout the nation.     

Discrepancies in Adolescent Romantic Couples' and Observers' Perceptions of Couple Interaction and their Relationship to Depressive Symptoms

We examined discrepancies in adolescent romantic couple members' and observers' perceptions of couples' conversations in order to further understand adolescents' romantic interactions and their association with adolescents' depressive symptoms. We used a video-recall procedure to assess 61 adolescent romantic couples' perceptions of their videotaped conversations with each other. Our results suggest that although couple members and outside observers agreed that adolescent romantic couples' conversations were generally harmonious, adolescent dating partners and observers perceived couples' communications in systematically different ways and perceived inequalities in their interactions. Perceptions of discrepancies in power were more salient in females' perceptions. Both males and females perceived themselves more positively than their partners. Finally, discrepancies in couple members' perceptions of their conversations were somewhat associated with their mental health. Boys who viewed themselves more favorably than their girlfriends viewed them exhibited fewer depressive symptoms. Girls who perceived fewer inequalities between themselves and their boyfriends showed fewer depressive symptoms.     

Progressive lawyers under siege: Moral panic during the McCarthy era

Our goal is to analyze the culture within the San Francisco law firm of Gladstein, Andersen and Leonard (circa 1945–1965). For this we utilize archival documents, FBI files, oral histories, and personal interviews. The law firm represented alleged subversives, including Harry Bridges the longtime president of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union. Thus, the law firm partners were stigmatized by the clients they represented and they all had lengthy FBI files. The partners all had working class backgrounds, one was an immigrant and two were Jewish. Clearly, religion and ethnicity were not litmus tests for participation in the firm, nor was educational pedigree. Gladstein and Leonard graduated from elite law schools while Andersen did his legal training at a night school. During the dark days of the Cold War various partners were threatened, shot and jailed for merely engaging in their legal practice. Ironically, as the FBI blacklisted alleged subversives, these attorneys had more clients to defend.