Breaking the Cycle: Association of Attending Therapy Following Childhood Abuse and Subsequent Perpetration of Violence

Despite “cycle of violence” (Widom Psychological Bulletin, 106, 3–28, 1989, p. 4) theories prevailing for the past 30 years, few studies have looked at the empirical relationship between experiencing childhood physical abuse and becoming perpetrators of violence in adulthood. Those studies that do exist omit consideration of intervening therapeutic experiences. In the present study, archival data from an outpatient mental health clinic was used to examine whether therapeutic experiences mediate the relationship between experiencing childhood physical abuse by a parental figure and subsequent involvement as a perpetrator of physical violence. Treatment-seeking individuals (N?=?816) responded to three items about whether they had experiences of childhood physical abuse, whether they acted violently in adulthood, and whether they had ever before received counseling or therapy. Past counseling/psychotherapy treatment was a significant mediator between experiencing childhood physical abuse and perpetrating physical violence in adulthood, even after controlling for the effect of the victims’ gender. Findings suggest that psychotherapeutic experiences after experiencing childhood physical abuse may decrease the likelihood of perpetrating violence in adulthood. Limitations, implications, and directions for future research are discussed.     

Unpredictable and monetized contact with the police: Race,avoidance behaviors,and modified activity spaces

Exponential growth in order maintenance policing and associated misdemeanor sanctions have led to disproportionate consequences for people of color. Using data from qualitative interviews with individuals in the metropolitan St. Louis, Missouri, region, the current study documents the racialized and monetized nature of police contact. This work extends extant scholarship by considering how minor contact with the police shapes individual avoidance behaviors and activity spaces, places where people work and live. We consider how the combination of monetary sanctions, warrants, incarceration, and overpolicing in the region affects avoidance behaviors, particularly for people of color. Our findings suggest that the frequently unpredictable nature of police contacts and the parochial and often profit-focused structure of policing organizations in the region leads individuals to modify the ways in which they move through the region and, for some, to isolate. Narratives reflect the need for constant calibration of behaviors and decisions, as well as the legacy that police contact and monetary sanctions can have on everyday routines.     

Beyond the census. Reconstructing Dutch women's labour market participation in agriculture in the Netherlands,ca. 1830–1910

Many historians have pointed out for various countries that nineteenth-century national censuses do not accurately reflect women's economic activity. This was no different for the Dutch national censuses. In this article, we argue that under-recording was especially severe in agriculture, and that this problem increased towards the end of the century. The rise in under-recording was partly due to an increased irregularity of women's work on farms, but it also reflected changing living standards and ideologies, in which work was increasingly defined as undesirable for women. In relative terms, agriculture did become less important to men and women alike because of mechanization and industrialization. Nevertheless, agriculture continued to employ many women, especially married women and daughters working on their husbands' and fathers' farms. By offering additional source material and methods for estimating women's labour force participation in agriculture on a regional level, such as relating their occupational status to their husbands', and estimating the number of days worked, we aim to offer an enhanced methodology for gauging the work of women in agriculture, which may be applied to future research.     

Funding the Cause: How Public Interest Law Organizations Fund Their Activities and Why It Matters for Social Change

Most of the work of public interest law organizations does not make money. How do these organizations survive, given the economic realities of law practice? Drawing on survey data from a national random sample of public interest law firms, we investigate how funding models vary across public interest organizations and how funding sources affect these organizations’ activities. We find funding structures have, over time, shifted away from foundation support toward government grants. Compared to other organizations, however, conservative organizations draw significantly less of their budget from federal and state grants, and significantly more of their budget from private contributions. Conservative organizations are significantly less likely than other organizations to rely on funding that prohibits engaging in class actions, receiving attorney's fees, or lobbying. Respondents reported that funding restrictions hamper their ability to negotiate favorable settlements, bring about systemic change, and represent vulnerable client communities. We close with a comparative institutional analysis of different funding models.     

Arts and Cultural Engagement,Reportedly Antisocial or Criminalized Behaviors,and Potential Mediators in Two Longitudinal Cohorts of Adolescents

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - Arts and cultural engagement is a potential strategy for reducing or preventing reportedly antisocial or criminalized behaviors (those previously and...     

Good Governance Practices in Professional Associations for Public Employees: Evidence of a Public Service Ethos?

Professional associations and occupational societies play an important role in educating and credentialing public employees. Very little research has attempted to connect, empirically, a public service ethos to the professional memberships that public employees carry. Nowhere is that potential influence more likely to be seen than in the governing boards of these nonprofit associations, whose behavior is subject to strong normative and mimetic influences as a result of the public's expectations for good governance. This article uses a large generalizable sample of boards of directors, controlling for many organizational characteristics known to influence board behavior, to compare the governance practices of professional and trade associations serving public employees with those serving the private sector. The results suggest that governance practices are shaped by many forces but that public employees do indeed carry their public values into the associations they join, and these values, in turn, are positively related to board behavior.     

All Boys Club or Gender Differences? Male Officers Perception of Female Officers’ Workplace Experiences in Federal Law Enforcement

Since the passage of the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972, there has been a vast body of literature demonstrating women’s difficulties integrating into all levels of law enforcement. While scholarship continues to highlight women’s experiences in the workplace, very little research has incorporated male officers into the dialogue. Using survey data collected from 324 male and female federal law enforcement officers employed by a mid-sized federal law enforcement agency, this study examines gender differences on perceptions to women’s workplace occupational barriers. We find that there are gender differences between the experiences encountered by female officers and the perception of male officers to those experiences, most notably sexual discrimination and a perceived glass ceiling to promotions. The differing perceptions are shaped by gender stereotypes and mild remnants of a masculine culture that continue to exist throughout law enforcement.