UNDERSTANDING DISTRESSED FATHERS' PERCEPTIONS OF LEGAL AND RELATIONAL INEQUITIES POSTDIVORCE

This study examines distressed fathers' perceptions of inequity about their experiences related to the divorce process, custody, visitation, and child support. A content analysis of men's subjective responses to an open-ended survey question revealed dissatisfactions with the legal system and emotional hardships associated with divorce. Fathers expressed strong negative feelings about discrimination from the legal system. Relational inequities centered around the ex-wife and her perceived responsibility for problems with the courts and relationships with children.     

Perceptions of drink driving legal limits in England: a qualitative investigation

ABSTRACT

There are strict laws relating to alcohol intake and driving; however, while most people are aware of these laws, drink driving still occurs. The current research provides an in-depth account of individuals’ awareness and attitudes towards current drink driving limits and laws in England. Individuals (N?=?83) were interviewed, and their responses recorded for thematic analysis. Results indicated major themes of: attitudes towards drink driving laws, limits, and effectiveness; reasons for drink driving; and post-drink driving reflections. Outcomes show that most individuals are aware there are strict laws, but are unaware of the exact limits, and do not understand how to convert legal limits into actual drinking behaviours. Sub-themes emerged indicating that individuals held heuristic beliefs about being able to consume one or two alcohol beverages without negative effects on their driving ability. Conclusions from this research indicate that views are mostly invariant across key population demographics; peer pressure was the only sub-theme that appeared to differ between younger and older individuals. The findings have implications for policy makers and future interventions in terms of clarifying drink driving limits and translating this into drinking behaviour. There was also some support for stricter laws and regulations.     

What can we learn from analyzing historical data on social security entitlements?

We use data from Social Security administrative records to examine the lifetime patterns of initial entitlement to retired-worker and Disability Insurance (DI) benefits across cohorts born in different years. Breaking out age-at-entitlement patterns for different birth-year cohorts reveals close adherence in entitlement ages to changes in program rules, such as increasing the full retirement age. The proportion of a cohort that becomes newly entitled to DI benefits rises noticeably during recessions and at ages 50 and 55, and cumulative entitlement rate patterns show that more recent cohorts rely increasingly on DI benefits in their late 30s and 40s.     

Reserves, quotas and the demand for international liquidity

The foreign exchange reserves held by emerging market economies rose significantly in the last decade. This increase has been attributed to a desire by these countries to self-insure themselves against financial shocks. The rise in reserves may also reflect their concerns about the size of their IMF quotas, which set limits on the amount of credit that countries could draw from the IMF, and the conditionality associated with borrowing from the IMF. We offer a model of the choice by central banks between quotas and reserves to demonstrate that emerging markets will choose to hold relatively more reserves than advanced economies. We then investigate the impact of IMF quotas on reserve holdings for a panel of countries during the period of 1980?C2006. In addition to finding evidence of precautionary and mercantilist motives for holding reserves in emerging markets, we also find that reserves in these countries have been inversely related to their IMF quotas.     

Effects of genetic and environmental explanations of psychopathy and gender on perceptions of criminal behaviors

Genetic/biological evidence is increasingly introduced into courtrooms but findings regarding its impact are mixed. This study integrates research on psychopathy and the use of genetic evidence in legal contexts by considering how information on genetic causal accounts of psychopathy affect perceptions of culpability, recidivism, amenability to treatment, and sentencing severity. Perpetrator gender was examined as a moderator. Two-hundred thirty-eight undergraduates read a hypothetical violent crime vignette and mock expert testimony regarding psychopathy. The testimony included a diagnosis only, or a diagnosis plus genetic or environmental explanations of the etiology of psychopathy. Results indicated that a genetic account of psychopathy was not clearly perceived as aggravating or mitigating such that participants were more lenient in their perceptions of culpability yet more punitive in their sentencing recommendations when perpetrators were described to have genetically-caused psychopathy. An environmental account of psychopathy was mitigating but only for sentencing severity. In addition, although participants were more lenient in sentencing male and female perpetrators when provided with an environmental cause of psychopathy, participants judged male perpetrators most harshly when provided with a genetic cause of psychopathy. Implications of the relations between etiology and gender in legal decision-making are discussed.     

A Unique Type of Birth Trauma Mistaken for Abuse

Pediatric abusive head trauma is a challenging subject across many disciplines. Of particular importance is the identification of mimics of abuse, so cause and manner of death can be properly assigned. We present the case of suspected child abuse involving an infant who presented unresponsive to the hospital with hypoglycemia, hypothermia, and bilateral parietal fractures. An autopsy revealed fractures associated with organizing scalp hemorrhage and gross leptomeningeal congestion and hemorrhage. The fractures were circular with external displacement, rounded margins, and subperiosteal new bone formation indicative of healing. Birth records revealed vacuum assist and cesarean section delivery. Although vacuum extraction‐related injuries are typically cephalohematomas and/or linear fractures, the outbending and circular morphology of the fractures are consistent with vacuum extraction. Moreover, microscopic neuropathological examination revealed hemorrhagic purulent leptomeningitis. This unique case demonstrates the importance of considering birth trauma in the determination of cause and manner of death of an infant.     

Introduction: Reflections on Two Decades of Congressional Budgeting

Even casual observers of federal policy making cannot help but notice the increasing preeminence of the Congressional budget process. The Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, which created this process, brought forth profound changes in budgeting practices, both within Congress and between Congress and the president. In addition, the last decade has seen numerous attempts to use the process for deficit control. The goal of this special symposium is how congressional procedures-adapted over time-have affected the federal budgeting process. Each article examines the original purpose of the 1974 statute and analyzes the statute's impact over more than two decades.     

The Budget Enforcement Act and Its Survival: Congress Hears from Experts

The unpopularity of the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990 grew in light of the recession, recent international events, and continuing record budget deficits. This prompted many Congress members and congressional committees to consider the future of the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990. Two hearings, held in October and November of 1991, exemplify the kinds of choices facing the Congress and the type of advice that Congress has been receiving. This article reviews the testimony given at the hearings by experts with established knowledge of federal budgeting.     

An attempt to detect “pregnancy susceptibility” in indigent adolescent girls

Programs for widespread dissemination of birth control information and devices among adolescents are subject to strong resistance from many groups and may be ineffective anyway. An alternative approach to reducing the alarming frequency of unplanned pregnancy among unmarried adolescents might be group or individual counseling for those most susceptible, to unplanned pregnancies. Accurate identification would be necessary to implement this alternative. Developed in this paper is an inferential strategy for identifying in well-defined groups unmarried adolescents who seem susceptible. When carefully evaluated, an inferential strategy, based, on several concepts from Bayesian inference theory, appears remarkably accurate as a means of identification. Besides specific predicReceived her M. A. in education and Ph.D. in psychology at University of Houston. Main interest was adult development. Deceased in 1971.Received his M.D. from Baylor Pediatric internship and residency at University of Michigan Hospital. Main interest is adult development.Received his Ph.D. in psychology at Ohio State University. Main interest is probability (decision) theory.Received her Ph.D. in educational psychology at University of Texas in Austin. Main interest is adult development.Received from M.D. Johns Hopkins, School of Medicine. Main interest is obstetrics and gynecology.Received her M.A. in English at Southern Methodist University. Main interest is research communications.