THE INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL VALIDITY OF THE REGRESSION DISCONTINUITY DESIGN: A META‐ANALYSIS OF 15 WITHIN‐STUDY COMPARISONS

Theory predicts that regression discontinuity (RD) provides valid causal inference at the cutoff score that determines treatment assignment. One purpose of this paper is to test RD's internal validity across 15 studies. Each of them assesses the correspondence between causal estimates from an RD study and a randomized control trial (RCT) when the estimates are made at the same cutoff point where they should not differ asymptotically. However, statistical error, imperfect design implementation, and a plethora of different possible analysis options, mean that they might nonetheless differ. We test whether they do, assuming that the bias potential is greater with RDs than RCTs. A second purpose of this paper is to investigate the external validity of RD by exploring how the size of the bias estimates varies across the 15 studies, for they differ in their settings, interventions, analyses, and implementation details. Both Bayesian and frequentist meta‐analysis methods show that the RD bias is below 0.01 standard deviations on average, indicating RD's high internal validity. When the study‐specific estimates are shrunken to capitalize on the information the other studies provide, all the RD causal estimates fall within 0.07 standard deviations of their RCT counterparts, now indicating high external validity. With unshrunken estimates, the mean RD bias is still essentially zero, but the distribution of RD bias estimates is less tight, especially with smaller samples and when parametric RD analyses are used.     

The “Phantom Local” and the Everyday Distinction Practices of Humanitarian Actors in War: A Socio-Legal Perspective

ABSTRACT

This article is concerned the everyday practices of international humanitarian actors who deliver assistance in armed conflict zones. Drawing on original fieldwork conducted in South Sudan, it elucidates how humanitarian actors engage with the principle of distinction in international humanitarian law (IHL). The article considers how the desire to enforce distinction impacts humanitarian actors’ relationships with others, and introduces the concept of everyday distinction practices. These practices have an important performance component, designed to appease the “phantom local.” It is proposed that such practices may have adverse implications for the humanitarian–beneficiary encounter. By positioning war-affected populations as an audience for distinction, everyday distinction practices reconfigure the victims of war from being receivers of aid to perceivers of aid. By lumping beneficiaries together with armed actors as part of the “phantom local,” distinction practices also paint the victims of war as an object of mistrust, fear, and potential danger.     

Weight-Based Victimization Among Adolescents in the School Setting: Emotional Reactions and Coping Behaviors

Weight-based victimization is a frequent experience for adolescents, but little is known about their emotional reactions and coping strategies in response to weight-based teasing and bullying. The present study examined the ways that adolescents cope with experiences of weight-based victimization at school. An initial sample of 1,555 students from two high schools in central Connecticut completed a comprehensive battery of self-report measures to assess their experiences of weight-based teasing and bullying at school, affective responses to these experiences, and coping strategies used to deal with incidents of weight-based victimization. Only those students who reported experiencing weight-based victimization (N = 394) were included for the purposes of the present study. Of this sub-sample, 56% were females, 84% were Caucasian, and the mean age was 16.4 years. Weight-based victimization resulted in 40–50% of adolescents feeling sad and depressed, worse about themselves, bad about their body, angry, and some feeling afraid. Gender differences emerged with respect to how boys and girls react to experiences of weight-based victimization. However, structural equation model estimates demonstrated that both boys and girls who reported negative affect in response to weight-based victimization were more likely to use coping strategies of avoidance (e.g., avoiding gym class), increased food consumption, and binge eating. Binary logistic regressions showed that the odds of students skipping school or reporting that their grades were harmed because of weight-based teasing increased by 5% per teasing incident, even after controlling for gender, age, race, grades, and weight status. To our knowledge, this study is the first systematic examination of affective reactions and coping strategies among overweight adolescents in response to weight-based victimization. These findings can inform efforts to assist overweight youth to cope adaptively with weight-based victimization.     

Continuity and Change from Adolescence to Emerging Adulthood: Adolescence-limited vs. Life-course-persistent Profound Ego Development Arrests

Participants (n = 36) with consistent Pre-conformist ego development levels during multiple adolescent assessments were studied to determine whether and how their ego levels had changed at age 25. Those (n = 12) whose ego levels remained at the Pre-conformist level were assigned to a life-course-persistent profound ego development arrest trajectory group; those (n = 24) whose ego levels reached the Conformist or Post-conformist level at age 25 were assigned to an adolescence-limited profound ego development arrest trajectory group. Analysis of predictors and age 25 correlates of group membership revealed that selected age 14 family interaction behaviors differentiated the two groups. At age 25, members of the adolescence-limited group showed superior performance on several measures of interpersonal and intrapersonal functioning.

Parental Smoking-specific Communication,Adolescents’ Smoking Behavior and Friendship Selection

In this study, we investigated whether parental smoking-specific communication is related to adolescents’ friendship-selection processes. Furthermore, we investigated whether adolescents and their best friends influence each other over time, and what role parents play in this process. In the present study we used data from the Family and Health project in which at baseline 428 full families participated. In this 2-year, three-wave longitudinal study data were available from fathers, mothers, early adolescents (aged M = 13.4 years, SD = .50), and middle adolescents (aged M = 15.2 years, SD = .60). The majority of the participating adolescents were of Dutch origin (>95%). There was an almost equal distribution of boys and girls, and adolescents with lower, middle, and higher educational levels were equally represented. Analyses were conducted by means of Structural Equation Modeling. Results demonstrate that a high quality of the smoking-specific communication is related to a lower likelihood of adolescent smoking, whereas the frequency is positively associated with adolescent smoking. Both the quality and frequency of parental smoking-specific communication were related to adolescents’ selective affiliation with (non-)smoking friends. The findings suggest that parental smoking-specific communication is associated with adolescent smoking directly but also indirectly by influencing the friends the adolescents will associate with.

The Utility of Forms and Functions of Aggression in Emerging Adulthood: Association with Personality Disorder Symptomatology

A sample of 679 (341 women) emerging adults (M = 18.90 years; SD = 1.11; range = 18.00–22.92) participated in a study on the utility of forms (i.e., physical and relational) and functions (i.e., proactive and reactive) of aggression. We examined the link between these four subtypes of aggression and personality pathology (i.e., psychopathic features, borderline personality disorder features, and antisocial personality disorder features). The study supports the psychometric properties (i.e., test–retest reliability, internal consistency, discriminant validity) of a recently introduced measure of forms and functions of aggression during emerging adulthood. Aggression subtypes were uniquely associated with indices of personality pathology. For example, proactive (i.e., planned, instrumental or goal-oriented) and reactive (i.e., impulsive, hostile or retaliatory) functions of relational aggression were uniquely associated with borderline personality disorder features even after controlling for functions of physical aggression and gender. The results highlight the differential associations between forms and functions of aggression and indices of personality pathology in typically developing emerging adults.

Trends in US emergency department visits for suicide attempts, 1992-2001

This article describes trends in suicide attempt visits to emergency departments in the United States (US). Data were obtained from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey using mental-health-related ICD-9-CM, E and V codes, and mental-health reasons for visit. From 1992 to 2001, mental-health-related visits increased 27.5% from 17.1 to 23.6 per 1000 (p < .001). Emergency Department (ED) visits for suicide attempt and self injury increased by 47%, from 0.8 to 1.5 visits per 1000 US population (p(trend) = .04). Suicide-attempt-related visits increased significantly among males over the decade and among females from 1992/1993 to 1998/1999. Suicide attempt visits increased in non-Hispanic whites, patients under 15 years or those between 50-69 years of age, and the privately insured. Hospitalization rates for suicide attempt-related ED visits declined from 49% to 32% between 1992 and 2001 (p = .04). Suicide attempt-related visits increased significantly in urban areas, but in rural areas suicide attempt visits stayed relatively constant, despite significant rural decreases in mental-health related visits overall. Ten-year regional increases in suicide attempt-related visits were significant for the West and Northeast only. US emergency departments have witnessed increasing rates of ED visits for suicide attempts during a decade of significant reciprocal decreases in postattempt hospitalization. Emergency departments are increasingly important sites for identifying, assessing and treating individuals with suicidal behavior.     

A Three-Step Latent Class Analysis to Identify How Different Patterns of Teen Dating Violence and Psychosocial Factors Influence Mental Health

Although multiple forms (i.e., physical, threatening, psychological, sexual, and relational abuse) and patterns (i.e., perpetration and victimization) of violence can co-occur, most existing research examines these experiences individually. Thus, the purpose of this study is to investigate: (1) homogenous subgroups based on victimization and perpetration of multiple forms of teen dating violence; (2) predictors of membership in these subgroups; and (3) mental health consequences associated with membership in each subgroup. Nine hundred eighteen adolescents in the 9^th or 10^th grade at seven public high schools in Texas participated in the survey (56?% female, White: 30?%, Hispanic: 32?%, African American: 29?%, others: 9?%). A three-step latent class analysis was employed. Five latent teen dating violence classes were identified: (1) nonviolence; (2) emotional/verbal abuse; (3) forced sexual contact; (4) psychological?+?physical violence; and (5) psychological abuse. Females, African Americans, and youth who had higher acceptance of couple violence scores and whose parents had less education were more likely to members of dating violence classes compared with the nonviolence class. Adolescents who experienced multiple types of dating violence reported greater mental health concerns. Prevention programs may benefit by identifying the homogenous subgroups of teen dating violence and targeting adolescent teen dating violence accordingly.     

A Life Sentence in Installments: A Qualitative Analysis of Repeat Offending Among Short-Sentenced Offenders

Short-sentenced (less than 12 months) offenders in the United Kingdom consistently account for the greatest number of discharges from prison and demonstrate the highest risk and rate of reoffending. Moreover, until recent changes in UK legislation in 2015, individuals serving short sentences were released into the community with little support postrelease. The present study presents an exploration of (re)offending in individuals who have already served multiple short sentences in custody and aims to understand their experiences, perceptions, and insight into their offending. Is there anything apropos short sentences specifically, or those who continually serve them, that can explain the high rates of reoffending in this population? Semistructured interviews were conducted with eight prisoners currently serving short custodial sentences. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was implemented deriving three superordinate themes from the rich dataset: (a) living short sentences, (b) “You’d do the same if you were me,” and (c) negotiating an identity.     

Inclusive Development and the Asymmetric State: Big Projects and Local Communities in the Brazilian Amazon

In 2003, the Workers’ Party took federal office in Brazil on an agenda of social inclusion and popular participation. This paper explores attempts to implement that agenda in big infrastructure projects in the Amazon: the BR-163 road and the Belo Monte dam. We argue that overlapping inequalities (between social groups, within the bureaucracy and between territorial centre and periphery) result in uneven state capacities for implementing projects in the Amazon. This framework helps explain why the government has moved much faster in building infrastructure than in implementing participatory social and environmental programmes that would benefit affected local communities.