Constellations of Interpersonal Trauma and Symptoms in Child Welfare: Implications for a Developmental Trauma Framework

Patterns of trauma exposure and symptoms were examined in a sample of 16,212 children in Illinois child welfare. Data were collected on trauma histories, child and caregiver needs and strengths, and analyzed in light of the proposed Developmental Trauma Disorder diagnostic criteria. Youth exposed to both interpersonal violence and attachment-based (“non-violent”) traumas within the caregiving system had significantly higher levels of affective/physiological, attentional/behavioral, and self/relational dysregulation in addition to posttraumatic stress symptoms compared to youth with either type of trauma alone or in relation to other trauma experiences. These complexly traumatized children exhibited higher levels of functional impairment and were more likely to have placement disruptions and psychiatric hospitalizations. Findings suggest a developmental trauma framework can more adequately capture the spectrum of needs of these multiply traumatized youth than existing diagnostic formulations. Utilizing this framework for assessment, treatment planning, and intervention can lead to more targeted and effective services for these children.     

Family Dysfunction and Social Isolation as Moderators Between Stress and Child Physical Abuse Risk

Stress is a significant contributor to child physical maltreatment risk. Family and social supports are expected, but less studied, risk factors. Little empirical support clarifies the interactive influence on abuse risk for non-abusive parents. This study examined whether the stress-abuse risk relation was moderated by family dysfunction and social isolation. Subjective appraisals of these factors were administered to 95 community mothers. After creating composite scores using factor loadings from a CFA, multiple regression analyses were conducted to predict abuse risk. As expected, stress predicted abuse risk, with social isolation and, to a lesser extent, family dysfunction serving as moderators. Perceived stress and dysfunctional supports are important, interactive predictors of abuse risk. Future directions consider interactions within other ecological levels.     

Cross Pressure Scores: An Individual-Level Measure of Cumulative Partisan Pressures Arising from Social Group Memberships

Early studies of voting behavior hypothesized that the degree to which an individual was “cross-pressured” might affect how she participates in politics. However, attention to this topic waned before returning in recent years, mainly within the narrower confines of social networks analysis. In an effort to encourage broader consideration of the role of cross-pressures in political behavior, we present a new approach to estimating cross-pressures that (1) is individual-specific, (2) reflects the cumulative cross-pressures faced by an individual from her many intersecting social strata and group memberships, irrespective of the mechanism by which those pressures are experienced, and (3) can be estimated using widely-available data in party systems of any size, thus making it easier to study the effect of cross-pressures cross-nationally and over time. We demonstrate that these estimates are robust to many estimation choices, correspond well to existing measures of cross-pressures, and are correlated with patterns of political engagement and participation predicted by extant theories.     

Market Orientation and Public Service Performance: New Public Management Gone Mad?

The backbone of theory of the market‐based approach New Public Management is that market orientation improves public service performance. In this article, market orientation is operationalized through the dominant theoretical framework in the business literature: competitor orientation, customer orientation, and interfunctional coordination. Market orientation is examined from the vantage point of three stakeholder groups in English local government: citizens, public servants, and the central government’s agent, the Audit Commission. Findings show that market orientation works best for enhancing citizen satisfaction with local services, but its impacts on the performance judgments of local managers or the Audit Commission are negligible. The conclusion discusses important implications of these findings for research, policy, and practice.