Adolescence,stress, and psychological well-being

The present study analyzes the mental-health consequences of stress in a sample of 1,038 adolescents (526 females and 512 males) from a Canadian prairie city. The study examined the relationship between perceived stress in family, school, and peer-group situations and four measures of psychological well-being, i.e., anxiety, depression, social dysfunction, and anergia. The moderator effects of locus of control orientation (mastery) on stress-outcome relationships were also examined, as were the sex differences in health and the perception of stress. All three sources of stress were found to be related to the four measures of mental health, with family stress having the strongest negative health impact. The health-protective role of locus of control was limited for the large part to the stresses emanating from school and peer groups. Substantial sex differences were found in the perception of family- and peer-related stresses as well as in levels of psychological distress. A tentative explanation of these differences was examined with reference to prevailing structural conditions and differences in locus of control orientation, with female adolescents showing greater externality. Implications of the results are drawn for the long-standing debate on the relative impact of stress and its sources on adolescents' psychosocial development and for a current controversy in adolescent theory between proponents of classical and proponents of empirical conceptions of adolescence.The data analyzed in this paper were originally collected for a study entitled The Quality of Student Life carried out by the Applied Research Unit (J. A. Lischeron, principal investigator). Data collection was greatly facilitated by the cooperation of the Saskatoon Public Board of Education and the Saskatoon Catholic Board of Education. This access and cooperation are gratefully acknowledged. Further analysis and interpretation of study data have been facilitated by the Psychiatric Services Branch, Saskatchewan Health, and a career support award to Carl D'Arcy from Health and Welfare Canada. The interpretation of data and comments in this paper are solely those of the authors.     

Increased lung weight in fatal intoxications is not unique to opioid drugs

Fatal intoxications with opioids are known to be associated with an increased lung weight, as well as with brain and pulmonary edema and urinary retention. However, there is evidence to suggest that fatal intoxications with non-opioid substances are also associated with increased lung weight; however, the latter aspect has not been comprehensively analyzed. To determine to what extent opioid and non-opioid substances are associated with increased lung and brain weight, we studied these organs in cases where the cause of death was attributed to intoxication with a single agent. Using data from cases autopsied at the National Board of Forensic Medicine (NBFM) in Sweden from 2009 through 2019 where the cause of death was attributed to a single substance, we created models of combined lung weight and brain weight. The models used age and sex as predictors as well as nested varying effects for the specific intoxicant and category of intoxicant. Suicidal hanging with negative toxicology cases served as controls. The population majority was male among both intoxications (68%) and controls (83%). The most common single substance group was opioids. All tested substances were associated with heavier lungs than controls, with the largest effect in the opioid group. Our findings show that several substances are associated with increased lung weight and that among intoxication deaths there is no difference in expected brain weight between substances. Hence, heavy lungs, without a reasonable explanation, should prompt a broad toxicological screening.     

Watershed or Powershed? Critical Hydropolitics,China and the ‘Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Framework’

The countries sharing the Lancang-Mekong River are entering a new era of hydropolitics with a growing number of hydropower dams throughout the basin. Three ‘powersheds’, conceptualised as physical, institutional and political constructs that connect dams to major power markets in China, Thailand and Vietnam, are transforming the nature–society relations of the watershed. In the process, new conditions are produced within which the region’s hydropolitics unfold. This is epitomised by the ‘Lancang-Mekong Cooperation’ framework, a new initiative led by China that proposes programs on both economic and water resource development, and anticipates hydrodiplomacy via China’s dam-engineered control of the headwaters.     

Conscience in public administration: More than just a chirping cricket?

The policy and practice of public administration are caught between two seemingly incommensurate goals. Public servants are expected to be responsible to the oversight and control of democratically elected governments, yet, as the policy space becomes more complex, are forced to exercise more judgment and discretion in their responsibilities. Individual, collective, and professional conscience is motivated across this spectrum of challenges. This article explores the concepts of discretion and conscience in theory and practice in the Canadian context. It offers insights into how conscience can, and perhaps must, be both accommodated and supported more appropriately in the practice of 21^st‐century public administration and service. At root, we argue that an array of strategies and approaches may help to build relational reciprocity to a broader set of norms that are necessary for efficient and effective governance.     

On the social cost of individuals’ extra effort

Most methodological work on project appraisal in developing countries have so far been primarily concerned with industrial projects and distortions in the foreign trade sector.¹ In this paper interest is focused on projects in the rural sector and in particular on a neglected aspect of labour cost valuation, viz. valuation of individuals’ work effort expended.