African American Child Discipline: Differences Between Mothers and Fathers

Child rearing methods used in African American homes have been the subject of much commentary among social scientists, child welfare, and legal personnel. Much of the deliberation has centered on firm disciplinary techniques used by African American mothers. However, few studies have included the perspectives of African American fathers. This study investigated the differences between African American mothers' and fathers' responses in relation to child misbehavior. Several significant differences were found with mothers utilizing more intense disciplinary methods than African American fathers. Results of this investigation underscored the importance of obtaining the viewpoints of African American fathers as well as mothers in understanding parenting in African American homes.     

Quality of Maternal Parenting among Intimate-Partner Violence Victims Involved with the Child Welfare System

Children are overrepresented in households with intimate-partner violence (IPV), and many suffer the double burden of being the subject of maltreatment and bearing the consequences of abuse to their mothers. Despite this situation, little information exists concerning parenting by women who have been abused by an intimate partner. We examine the relationship between women’s experiences with IPV and the quality of maternal parenting using data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being. The sample consisted of 1,943 female caregivers of children younger than 10 years investigated for child maltreatment. Women who had experienced IPV in the past but were no longer victims of IPV had significantly better parenting scores than women who were currently experiencing IPV, when other risk factors were controlled. This study adds to the evidence that IPV does not necessarily impair maternal parenting. Women abused by an intimate partner deserve a thorough assessment of what services they need: parenting services should be offered as warranted on a case-by-case evaluation of the particular woman’s parenting skills.     

Attributions in a Hypothetical Child Sexual Abuse Case: Roles of Abuse Type,Family Response and Respondent Gender

The present study examines the impact abuse type, family response, and respondent gender have on attributions of blame in a hypothetical child sexual abuse (CSA) case. Three hundred and ninety three respondents read a hypothetical CSA scenario describing the sexual assault of a 14 year old girl by a 25-year-old man and completed 14 attribution items. Overall, the assault was deemed more serious, the perpetrator more culpable, and the family less culpable when CSA involved (vaginal) penetration. Contrary to expectations, respondents were more negative towards a family who denied the abuse took place versus one which blamed or supported the victim. Finally, male respondents deemed the abuse to be less serious, were more negative towards the victim and their families, and more positive towards perpetrators than were female respondents. The role these factors play in CSA attributions, together with ideas for future research, are discussed.

Adaptive and Maladaptive Gatekeeping Behaviors and Attitudes: Implications for Child Outcomes After Separation and Divorce

Gatekeeping has been used as a theory and a measure to describe and assess family dynamics within the context of separation and divorce. In this article, we explore adaptive and maladaptive gatekeeping behaviors and attitudes that can affect the other parent's relationship with the child. Implications are presented for connecting adaptive and maladaptive gatekeeping responses to child outcomes of safety, well‐being, and positive parent–child relationships following separation and divorce. We build on the recent attention to gatekeeping as a potential framework within the child custody context.     

Examining the Overlap and Prediction of Multiple Forms of Child Maltreatment,Stressors, and Socioeconomic Status: A Longitudinal Analysis of Youth Outcomes

Analyses were conducted to examine the extent of overlap and predictive strength of multiple forms of child maltreatment and stressors internal and external to the family. Findings suggest a strong association between child maltreatment (physical and sexual abuse, neglect, and exposure to domestic violence) and stressors (family conflict, personal problems of parents, and external constraints on the family). After controlling for stressors, family socioeconomic status, and child gender, a general construct of child maltreatment was predictive of internalizing and externalizing behaviors in adolescents. Specific effects of child physical and sexual abuse were revealed in these longitudinal structural equation model tests.

Parenting in Families of Low Socioeconomic Status: A Review with Implications for Child Welfare Practice

Families involved in the child welfare system overwhelmingly draw from low socioeconomic (SES) populations. Impoverished children are placed in foster care at disproportionate rates. Addressing this dynamic requires understanding the adaptations low‐income families make when parenting under adversity so that accurate assessments of their needs occur. This article focuses on two aspects of child welfare practice: the evaluation of parenting capacity and service delivery. It examines, in particular, how well current practices and guidelines, as outlined in the literature, fit with more general research on families and parenting in low‐SES environments and offers suggestions for improving practice.     

The Nature and Determinants of Child Representation Practice in Child Welfare Cases

The representation of children in dependency cases is an emerging legal specialty. Although scholars have attempted to articulate the duties that should characterize best practices, there has been little, if any, research concerning what child representatives actually do in practice. Using a sample of 168 child representatives in Georgia and Washington State, this study examines the relative significance of various case‐related activities and how these vary as a function of case‐ and attorney‐level characteristics. Based on the findings, we conclude that attorney activities are influenced by a combination of case and attorney characteristics, suggesting several distinct avenues for improving legal representation for children in dependency cases.     

School-Based Prevention of Problem Behaviors: A Meta-Analysis

This study examines the features of effective school-based prevention of crime, substance use, dropout/nonattendance, and other conduct problems. It summarizes, using meta-analytic techniques, results from 165 studies of school-based prevention activities that ranged from individual counseling or behavior modification programs through efforts to change the way schools are managed. The results highlight several inadequacies in the existing research for guiding policy and practice, the most notable of which is that many popular school-based prevention approaches have not been well studied to date. The study shows, however, that school-based prevention practices appear to be effective in reducing alcohol and drug use, dropout and nonattendance, and other conduct problems. The size of the average effect for each of the four outcomes was small and there was considerable heterogeneity across studies in the magnitude of effects, even within program type after adjusting for measured method and population differences. Non-cognitive-behavioral counseling, social work, and other therapeutic interventions show consistently negative effects, whereas self-control or social competency promotion instruction that makes use of cognitive-behavioral and behavioral instructional methods show consistently positive effects. Also effective are noninstructional cognitive-behavioral and behavioral methods programs. Environmentally focused interventions appear to be particularly effective for reducing delinquency and drug use.     

The Organization of Child Representation Services in Child Welfare Cases: A Study of Washington State

To date no empirical studies have analyzed delivery of legal services to children and considered the implications of organizational structure for child representation practice. This study of 126 attorneys in Washington State compares children's lawyers working in solo practice, private law firms, and specialty staff attorney offices. The manner in which child representation is organized has lessons for the recruitment, training, and support of such lawyers. Staff attorney offices offer a number of advantages but rural areas with fewer cases may not be able to support such offices and the attorneys in specialty offices were less experienced and report lower incomes.     

Gender Differences in Strain,Negative Emotions,and Coping Behaviors: A General Strain Theory Approach

This paper empirically evaluates Broidy and Agnew’s propositions, in which they apply general strain theory to explain gender differences in crime and deviance, by analyzing data from a national survey of adult African Americans. First, African American women were more likely to report strains related to physical health, interpersonal relations, gender roles in the family, and less likely to mention work‐related, racial as well as job strain than African American men. Second, African American women were less likely than African American men to turn to deviant coping strategies when they experienced strain partly because their strains were more likely to generate self‐directed emotions, such as depression and anxiety, which in turn were less likely to lead to deviant coping behaviors than other‐directed, angry emotion. Finally, it was found that the self‐directed emotions were more likely to result in nondeviant, legitimate coping behaviors than other‐directed emotion, anger.     

法律职业技能及培养途径

法律职业技能是从事法律职业的人所应具备的与法律职业密切相关的能力、技术和方法的总称。它所涵盖的内容十分广泛,其中解决问题的技能、事实调查的技能和法律表达的技能之于法律职业尤为关键,法律职业技能的训练存在着不同的模式,本文所关注的是法学教育对法律职业技能培养的途径:课堂教学和非课堂教学即诊所教学对法律职业技能的意义。     

Cross-cultural Validation of the Child Abuse Potential Inventory in Belgium (Flanders): Relations with Demographic Characteristics and Parenting Problems

This study examined the reliability and the validity of the Dutch CAP Inventory, a screening instrument that measures parents’ potential for child physical abuse (Milner, The Child Abuse Potential Inventory: Manual (2nd ed.), Psytec, Webster, NC, 1986). The CAP Inventory and measures on parenting stress and parents’ emotions and attributions with regard to childrearing were administered in a nonclinical sample of randomly selected mothers (N = 362) with a 4-to-11-year-old child. The CAP Inventory Abuse scale showed high internal consistency and split-half reliability. Twenty-four CAP Inventories (6.6%) were invalid, because mothers tended to present themselves either as too good or too bad. Sixteen valid CAP Inventories (4.4%) were indicative of high potential for abuse. Scores on the Abuse scale were significantly predicted by an external locus of control with regard to childrearing and by high levels of parenting stress. Results supported the cross-cultural generalizability of the CAP Inventory Abuse scale.     

家庭教养方式研究进程透视

家庭教养方式是儿童社会化的重要因素，受到国内外心理学家的重视。该文综述了中外心理学家在儿童社会化研究中对家庭教养方式研究的成果，概括了近20年来，中国学者在家庭教养方式研究中呈现的诸如教养方式与儿童社会关系的探讨从宏观系统走向微观、具体，进一步探究教养方式的内在结构，尝试从更多方面寻找教养方式的影响因素等特点。家庭教养方式研究成果的取得，受到三方面因素的推动，首先，它与人类对自身探究的好奇心分不开。其次，它与儿童发展观念及理论的进展所产生的影响分不开。再次，它与心理学研究的现场化，研究手段的综合化、数学化所带来的影响分不开。     

Vicious Dogs: The Antisocial Behaviors and Psychological Characteristics of Owners

Abstract:  Each year, 4.7 million people are bitten by dogs. Of those bitten each year, 386,000 are seriously injured and some killed. Consequently, many insurance companies refuse to issue homeowners insurance to owners of specific breeds of dogs considered "vicious" or high risk of causing injury. This study examined whether vicious dog owners were different on antisocial behaviors and personality dimensions. A total of 869 college students completed an anonymous online questionnaire assessing type of dog owned, criminal behaviors, attitudes towards animal abuse, psychopathy, and personality. The sample was divided into four groups: vicious dog owners, large dog owners, small dog owners, and controls. Findings revealed vicious dog owners reported significantly more criminal behaviors than other dog owners. Vicious dog owners were higher in sensation seeking and primary psychopathy. Study results suggest that vicious dog ownership may be a simple marker of broader social deviance.     

Assessment of Perceived Parenting Behaviors: The Exposure to Abusive and Supportive Environments Parenting Inventory (EASE-PI)

Due to an awareness of the frequency of child abuse and lack of a single instrument to assess the extent of exposure to both the abusive and supportive environments provided by parents, a 70 item inventory (the EASE-PI) was developed that is a self-report on how both mother and father treated the respondent. A factor analysis, which was subsequently replicated, revealed three abusive factors (representing emotional, physical, and sexual abusiveness) and three supportive factors (love/support, promotion of independence, and positive modeling/fairness). The same factors emerged regardless of gender of respondent and gender of parent. The inventory provides a means to investigate the differential and interactive effects of exposure to emotional, physical, and sexual abusiveness and the possible mitigating effects of different types of supportive behaviors by each parent.     

交通行为控制与引导策略

对交通行为进行有效引导与控制是解决当前交通事故高发,交通拥堵日益恶化的有效方法。通过交通出行信息系统来引导出行者选择有效出行方式。通过交通道德建设和教育以加强出行者对自身交通行为控制的自觉性。加强交通安全知识的研究和教育,提高对险情的应对能力。严格执法和加强交通设施建设,对危险交通行为者进行物理强制和心理震慑。通过内外双重机制的约定与引导,确保交通行为处于安全有序的状态。     

Project SafeCare: Improving Health, Safety, and Parenting Skills in Families Reported for, and At-Risk for Child Maltreatment

Project SafeCare was a 4-year, in-home, research and intervention program that provided parent training to families of children at-risk for maltreatment, and families of children who were victims of maltreatment. Parents were trained in treating children's illnesses and maximizing their own health-care skills (Health), positive and effective parent–child interaction skills (Parenting), and maintaining low hazard homes (Safety). The effectiveness of these training components was evaluated as the change in the parents' scores on roleplay situations for child health problems, hazards present in the home, and the frequency and quality of parent–child interactions during activities of daily living. Statistically significant improvements were seen in child health care, home safety, and parent–child interactions.