A Preliminary Validation of the Brief Spousal Assault Form for the Evaluation of Risk (B-SAFER) in Hong Kong

The present study attempted a preliminary validation of the Brief Spousal Assault Form for the Evaluation of Risk (B-SAFER) in Hong Kong. In-depth assessment was conducted on 43 identified batterers and 46 control male subjects. Results suggested that the B-SAFER could correctly classify 95% of the cases. Scores relating to the current situation were found to be particularly important in predicting intimate partner violence. The concurrent validity of the B-SAFER was demonstrated by its correlation with the Conflict Tactics Scale scores. Findings were discussed in the context of developing screening tool in the community setting with the guided clinical approach.     

Fair Trial Rights and the European Community's Fight Against Fraud

The article surveys action taken by the European Community to combat fraud affecting its financial interests, focusing on the development of investigative authority granted to OLAF, the European‘Office Pour La Lutte Anti Fraude’ and its impact on the procedural rights of the alleged defrauder. It shows that the involvement of OLAF can be crucial for a national fraud investigation and subsequent criminal prosecution and that it meets the criteria set out by the Strasbourg organs for the applicability of Article 6 ECH. The article explores whether the legal sources governing the activities of OLAF or national—or rather, Community—law guarantee sufficient protection for the alleged defrauder and thus pay respect to principles arising from the rule of law in law enforcement. It is shown that general principles of Community law, which were mostly established in antitrust law, may provide a certain protection for the suspect, but may not protect him in all regards. It is thus argued that, in the long run, it will be necessary to provide special fair‐trial rights which offer protection to alleged defrauders from those infringements arising out of the specific features of a Community investigation.     

Effects of Pubertal Timing on Communication Behaviors and Stress Reactivity in Young Women During Conflict Discussions with their Mothers

Individuation, a process whereby adolescents gain autonomy from their parents while maintaining emotional relatedness, is displayed by characteristic styles of verbal exchanges. Negotiating this developmental transition is often stressful for adolescents and their parents. This study deals with the association between pubertal timing, communication behaviors, and stress reactivity assessed during young females’ conflict discussions with their mothers. A sample of N = 32 girls (age 9–13, T1) was grouped by pubertal timing. Years later (age 17–22, T2) they were followed up and videotapes of daughter–mother conflict discussions were evaluated. Salivary alpha-amylase was used to assess the stress reactivity. Results revealed that young women who had entered puberty early were higher in striving for control and separation in interactions with their mothers, and displayed higher stress levels. These results pointed to less successful individuation in late adolescence/young adulthood compared to on-time and late maturing age mates.

Combining work and family in the Netherlands: Blessing or burden for one's mental health?

In this article we study which characteristics of combining work and family put people at risk for mental illness. Two alternative perspectives on the impact of multiple social roles on mental health are tested: the role accumulation perspective and the role strain perspective. Both perspectives are studied with data from a cross-sectional national survey held among a large, representative sample of Dutch people (N=1008). Multivariate analyses provided support for both perspectives. Having more social roles was related to better mental health. We also found a positive mental health effect of having a full-time job in combination with having children. However, having a partner who contributes less to household duties or having a job with low decision latitude or lower skill discretion was related to mental illness. So, certain aspects of social roles may also threaten people's mental health. Overall, our findings do not support the idea that combining work and family is necessarily a burden and harmful for people's mental health. Whether multiple social roles are a blessing or burden for people's mental health seems to depend on the characteristics of the social roles.     

The EDNAP mitochondrial DNA population database (EMPOP) collaborative exercises: organisation, results and perspectives

This paper presents an overview of the organisation and the results of the collaborative exercises (CE) of the European DNA Profiling (EDNAP) Group's mitochondrial DNA population database project (EMPOP). The aim of the collaborative exercises was to determine whether uniformity of mtDNA sequencing results could be achieved among different laboratories. These were asked to sequence either the complete mtDNA control region or the two hypervariable regions HVI (16024-16365) and HVII (73-340) from DNA extracts, buccal swabs or bloodstains, proceeding in accordance with the protocol and strategies used in each individual laboratory. The results of the collaborative exercises were employed to identify possible sources of errors that could arise during the analysis and interpretation of mtDNA profiles. These findings were taken as a basis to tentatively make suitable arrangements for the construction of a high quality mtDNA database. One hundred fifty mtDNA profiles were submitted to the evaluating laboratory, and disaccording profiles were classified into four groups corresponding to the source of error: clerical errors, sample mix-ups, contaminations and discrepancies with respect to the mtDNA nomenclature. Overall, 14 disaccording haplotypes (16 individual errors) were observed. The errors included 10 clerical errors, 3 interpretation problems, 2 cases of sample mix-up and 1 case of point heteroplasmic mixture, where the 2 sequencing reactions brought inconsistent base calls. This corresponds to an error rate of 10.7% in a virtual mtDNA database consisting of the collaborative exercise results. However, this estimate is still conservative compared to conclusions drawn by authors of meanwhile numerous publications critically reviewing published mtDNA population databases. Our results and earlier published concerns strongly emphasize the need for appropriate safety regulations when mtDNA profiles are compiled for database purposes in order to accomplish the high standard required for mtDNA databases that are used in the forensic context.     

Prevalence of Intimate Partner Violence Victimization and Victims’ Relational and Sexual Well-Being

Research shows that experiences with intimate partner violence (IPV) harm victims’ individual well-being. Surprisingly, little is known about how IPV might impact on victims’ well-being at the relationship level. Based on a population-based study in Flanders (the Northern part of Belgium), this study concentrates on how lifetime experience with IPV impacts on victims’ relational and sexual well-being with their current partner. Ten percent of the population was confronted with physical violence and 56.7 % with psychological violence. Higher levels of IPV victimization corresponded with an adverse mental, relational (relationship satisfaction, attachment), and sexual (sexual satisfaction, sexual dysfunction, sexual communication) well-being in both women and men but except for the latter correlates, the effects were more pronounced for women than for men.     

How Valid Is Negotiation Research Based on Student Sample Groups? New Insights into a Long‐Standing Controversy

Although a considerable amount of research has examined the impact of experience on negotiation behavior and performance, we still know very little about the usefulness of student samples in negotiation research because most studies have compared the performance of inexperienced students with those who had received some kind of extensive negotiation training or with experienced professional negotiators(s). Against this background, we investigate whether the results obtained from trained student samples are generally similar to those of professional negotiators. Generally, our data confirm our hypotheses that students with some negotiation training and experience perform better than untrained student negotiators and that they are not significantly outperformed by professional negotiators. From this, we conclude that many questions in the field of negotiation research can be effectively tested by using trained students as experimental subjects.