Traffic accidents and drivers suspected for drug influence

All records from the Danish Medicolegal Council concerning drivers suspected for drug influences were examined for the 5 year period 1981-1985. 461 records were included, 62 women and 399 men. In 250 cases drugs from more than one of ten groups had been taken thus making 786 combinations of drug/driving. The major drug group was benzodiazepines, accounting for 65% of all drug intake. Opioids also contributed substantially, found in 38% of the cases. A traffic accident had occurred in 180 (39%) of the records. Drivers who had been taking antidepressives were involved in an accident in 67%, significantly above the mean. For benzodiazepines, the corresponding percentage was 43%, while for opioids it was only 23%, significantly below the mean. This striking difference has been demonstrated in most of the studies concerning drugs in traffic. It may support the hypothesis that opioids do not necessarily make driving dangerous, as do antidepressives, barbiturates and especially benzodiazepines.     

Analysis of Δ-tetrahydrocannabinol in oral fluid samples using solid-phase extraction and high-performance liquid chromatography–electrospray ionization mass spectrometry

An analytical method using solid-phase extraction (SPE) and high-performance liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS) has been developed and validated for the confirmation of Δ⁹-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in oral fluid samples. Oral fluid was extracted using Bond Elut LRC-Certify solid-phase extraction columns (10 cm³, 300 mg) and elution performed with n-hexane/ethyl acetate. Quantitation made use of the selected ion-recording mode (SIR) using the most abundant characteristic ion [THC + H⁺], m/z 315.31 and the fragment ion, m/z 193.13 for confirmation, and m/z 318.00 for the protonated internal standard, [d₃-THC + H⁺]. The method proved to be precise for THC, in terms of both intra-day and inter-day analyses, with coefficients of variation less than 10%, and the calculated extraction efficiencies for THC ranged from 76 to 83%. Calibration standards spiked with THC between 2 and 100 ng/mL showed a linear relationship (r² = 0.999). The method presented was applied to the oral fluid samples taken from the volunteers during the largest music event in Portugal, named Rock in Rio-Lisboa. Oral fluid was collected from 40 persons by expectoration and with Salivette^®. In 55% of the samples obtained by expectorating, THC was detected with concentration ranges from 1033 to 6552 ng/mL and in 45% of cases THC was detected at concentrations between 51 and 937 ng/mL. However, using Salivette^® collection, 26 of the 40 cases had an undetectable THC.     

Persistent Harassment: Targets and Perpetrators Among Young Adults

In Portugal, stalking has recently been recognized as a crime. This study used an online survey to ask 3,367 college students about their experiences of persistent harassment and targets’ and perpetrators’ perceptions of fear and conduct legitimacy. Targets (34.5%) typically mentioned that they had experienced a frightening experience but considered it to have been wrong but not very serious. Perpetrators (8.9%) mostly perceived that their targets had not experienced fear and judged their own conduct to have been normal. Ordinal logistic regressions indicated that intimate partner stalking, targets’ fear, and threatening and violent behaviors predicted less conduct legitimization for both targets and perpetrators.     

The Limits of a Commitment? Public Responses to Asylum Policy in Sweden over Time

It is hardly an exaggeration to claim that one of the most turbulent political areas in recent years has been asylum policy, which has disclosed a rapidly increasing inflow of asylum seekers, and, in many countries, has been followed by fierce media discussion and political controversies. In Sweden, this development has been heated as the Swedish self‐image is one of providing generous policies, which is also reflected in terms of strong refugee policy. The article uses this example to explore assumptions about public responsiveness in previous policy feedback literature and to examine the link between citizens' attitudes towards immigration and changes in asylum policy output, measured as asylums granted, over time in the period 1990–2015. It focuses especially on the link through which citizens become aware of policy output, operationalized as media visualization, and find that including media reveals a suppressed relationship between policy output and public attitudes. The relationship is negative and thus confirms the assumptions of the thermostatic models. Second, the article shows that feedback is mediated by political orientation: People defining themselves politically as right‐oriented respond with negative feedback when the number of granted asylums increases, while left‐oriented people do not change their attitudes. Based on these findings it is concluded, first, that analyses of democratic responsiveness need to incorporate a clear measure of the link by which exogenous factors become visible. Second, the importance needs to be stressed of considering important cleavages in the population in order to display responsiveness processes fairly.     

Editorial

Welfare state support for the reconciliation of work and family has long been regarded as a characteristic of the Scandinavian welfare state and a trademark of its "woman-friendly" policies. Based on an examination of important Nordic childcare policy reforms of the 1990s, such as the expansion of state-sponsored childcare services, the strengthening of fathers' rights to care and the institution of cash grants for childcare, the impact of reforms on mothers and fathers as workers and carers is discussed. In conclusion, the discussion returns to the reconciliation of work and family, and asks: To what extent have reproduction policies succeeded in updating the traditional gender contract of the male breadwinner family?     

The Development of Future Orientation is Associated with Faster Decline in Hopelessness during Adolescence

Hopelessness is implicated in multiple psychological disorders. Little is known, however, about the trajectory of hopelessness during adolescence or how emergent future orientation may influence its trajectory. Parallel process latent growth curve modelling tested whether (i) trajectories of future orientation and hopelessness and (ii) within-individual change in future orientation and hopelessness were related. The study was comprised of 472 adolescents [52% female, 47% Caucasian, 47% received free lunch] recruited at ages 12–13 who completed measures of future orientation and hopelessness at five annual assessments. The results indicate that a general decline in hopelessness across adolescence occurs quicker for those experiencing faster development of future orientation, when controlling for age, sex, low socio-economic status in addition to stressful life events in childhood and adolescence. Stressful childhood life events were associated with worse future orientation at baseline and negative life events experienced during adolescence were associated with both an increase in the trajectory of hopelessness as well as a decrease in the trajectory of future orientation. This study provides compelling evidence that the development of future orientation during adolescence is associated with a faster decline in hopelessness.     

Lost in Santa Martha. Limitaciones para una etnografía en una cárcel de mujeres

En este artículo propongo un examen de algunos de los obstáculos establecidos por las autoridades penitenciarias para llevar a cabo un proyecto etnográfico en una cárcel de mujeres de la Ciudad de México. Mi intención es plantear la importancia de formas de investigación-acción en contextos que, como el mexicano, se ven afectados por una profunda crisis de los aparatos del Estado –en particular presto atención a los sistemas educativo, penal y de justicia- que impacta con mayor severidad a grupos vulnerables como es el caso de las mujeres en reclusión que están en el centro de este estudio de caso.     

On Political Brands: A Systematic Review of the Literature

The usage of the word brand crops up more frequently in politics. Specifically, in the study of political marketing, a burgeoning set of research has encircled various cases and conceptions. However, the brand concept seeks to harbor a variety of political events, just like a sponge soaking up different kinds of meaning in different kinds of surroundings. This tendency makes it hard to accumulate knowledge because demarcations between various brand perspectives in many cases are implicit, which can impede the clarity and precision in our studies. Against this backdrop, we identify a gap in the political brand literature: a study conducting an overall conceptual inquiry. As such, it is first argued that we need a thorough analysis of the foundation of the political brand concept to uncover the presuppositions underlying the different usages of the concept. Second, we carry out a systematic review of the brand literature on voters and parties. Third, on this ground, we propose a minimal definition and six subclassifications to the political brand concept. Finally, we illustrate the applicability of this conceptual groundwork in order to advance cumulative research in the field.