Music Taste Groups and Problem Behavior

Internalizing and externalizing problems differ by musical tastes. A high school-based sample of 4159 adolescents, representative of Dutch youth aged 12 to 16, reported on their personal and social characteristics, music preferences and social-psychological functioning, measured with the Youth Self-Report (YSR). Cluster analysis on their music preferences revealed six taste groups: Middle-of-the-road (MOR) listeners, Urban fans, Exclusive Rock fans, Rock-Pop fans, Elitists, and Omnivores. A seventh group of musically Low-Involved youth was added. Multivariate analyses revealed that when gender, age, parenting, school, and peer variables were controlled, Omnivores and fans within the Exclusive Rock groups showed relatively high scores on internalizing YSR measures, and social, thought and attention problems. Omnivores, Exclusive Rock, Rock-Pop and Urban fans reported more externalizing problem behavior. Belonging to the MOR group that highly appreciates the most popular, chart-based pop music appears to buffer problem behavior. Music taste group membership uniquely explains variance in both internalizing and externalizing problem behavior.     

Tierschutzrecht in der Diskussion

Das politische Ringen um rechtlichen Tierschutz findet in der Bundesrepublik seit über 35 Jahren statt. Dabei weist die Debatte einen klaren Dreh- und Angelpunkt auf: Tierschutz im Grundgesetz. Ging es früher um die Forderung, Tierschutz ausdrücklich in der Verfassung zu verankern, ist seit Aufnahme des Staatsziels Tierschutz im Jahre 2002 dessen Stellenwert im Vergleich mit anderen grundgesetzlichen Werten in den Mittelpunkt getreten. Diese Entwicklung wird von einer ethischen Debatte um Tierschutz und Tierrechte begleitet, deren Forderungen jedoch kaum Eingang in die aktuelle Tagespolitik finden. Es sollen zun?chst kurz die Entwicklungen nachgezeichnet werden, die zur Aufnahme des Staatsziels Tierschutz geführt haben (I). Sodann werden die rechtsethischen Hintergründe der Tierschutzdebatte mit besonderem Blick auf Tierrechte skizziert (II). Schlie?lich sollen einige Schwerpunkte der aktuellen rechtspolitischen Diskussion vorgestellt werden (III).     

A decision problem of long-term economic planning

The model described in the present paper has been worked out to approximate a concrete problem of national economic planning. The problem presented itself in the daily practice of the National Planning Board of the Hungarian People's Republic in the course of a planning project carried out with the aim of laying the foundation of the national economy's long-term development.     

Influences of Risk Behaviors on the Quality of Peer Relations in Adolescence

The majority of young people experiment with alcohol use, smoking, drug use, and delinquency. In order to understand why adolescents are engaged in potential risk behaviors, it is important to look at the functions of these behaviors for adolescents' social and personal functioning. In this study, we examined whether substance use, transgressive behavior, and delinquency are related to the quality of peer relations. Univariate analyses of data of a study on five hundred eight 12–18-year-olds showed that substance use and transgressive behavior are positively related to both the quantity (chumship, size of network, and time spent with peers) and the quality (attachment, support, acceptance, and competence) of peer relations. The association with peer relations were less straightforward for adolescent delinquency. Hierarchical regression analyses, however, showed that when the associations of quantitative aspects of peer relations are controlled for, no additional effects of substance use and transgressive behavior emerged. This suggests that social functions of risk behaviors may be understood as providing the opportunity to intensify contacts with peers or initiate new relations that, in turn, may be related to peer relations in a positive sense.     

Capacity builders for governance: community-driven reconstruction in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo

Community-driven reconstruction (CDR) has become a new paradigm in post-conflict development. It combines infrastructure restoration with introducing good governance at the local level. Recent evaluations show that governance objectives are not easily met and significant change cannot be demonstrated. This paper adds to this argument on the basis of ethnographic research on a CDR programme in eastern DRC. It seeks to find explanations for the lack of demonstrable governance impact in the content and implementation of training. It identifies room for improvement by better adjusting capacity building to locally prevailing accountability mechanisms and by coordinating capacity building with other development programmes.     

Tierschutzrecht in der Diskussion

Das politische Ringen um rechtlichen Tierschutz findet in der Bundesrepublik seit über 35 Jahren statt. Dabei weist die Debatte einen klaren Dreh- und Angelpunkt auf: Tierschutz im Grundgesetz. Ging es früher um die Forderung, Tierschutz ausdrücklich in der Verfassung zu verankern, ist seit Aufnahme des Staatsziels Tierschutz im Jahre 2002 dessen Stellenwert im Vergleich mit anderen grundgesetzlichen Werten in den Mittelpunkt getreten. Diese Entwicklung wird von einer ethischen Debatte um Tierschutz und Tierrechte begleitet, deren Forderungen jedoch kaum Eingang in die aktuelle Tagespolitik finden. Es sollen zun?chst kurz die Entwicklungen nachgezeichnet werden, die zur Aufnahme des Staatsziels Tierschutz geführt haben (I). Sodann werden die rechtsethischen Hintergründe der Tierschutzdebatte mit besonderem Blick auf Tierrechte skizziert (II). Schlie?lich sollen einige Schwerpunkte der aktuellen rechtspolitischen Diskussion vorgestellt werden (III).     

The effect of odour reinstatement on children's episodic memory

Children's memory reports are often sparse, which increases the need for efficient interview methods. The present study investigated whether odour reinstatement can aid children's memory and increase the amount of information recalled from an experienced event. Children (N = 106, mean age 10 years, 8 months) experienced a magic show where a vanilla odour was present and were interviewed about their memory of the event either one week, or six months, after the magic show. During the interview, half of the children re-experienced the same vanilla odour. In contrast to studies on adult participants, no odour-reinstatement effect was found with the child participants in the present study. On the other hand, odour reinstatement reduced the children's ratings of how strong their emotions were during the event. Thus, odour reinstatement may affect different forensically relevant factors, and this should be considered in future research.     

Accountability and psychiatric disorders: How do forensic psychiatric professionals think?

Swedish penal law does not exculpate on the grounds of diminished accountability; persons judged to suffer from severe mental disorder are sentenced to forensic psychiatric care instead of prison. Re-introduction of accountability as a condition for legal responsibility has been advocated, not least by forensic psychiatric professionals. To investigate how professionals in forensic psychiatry would assess degree of accountability based on psychiatric diagnoses and case vignettes, 30 psychiatrists, 30 psychologists, 45 nurses, and 45 ward attendants from five forensic psychiatric clinics were interviewed. They were asked (i) to judge to which degree (on a dimensional scale from 1 to 5) each of 12 psychiatric diagnoses might affect accountability, (ii) to assess accountability from five case vignettes, and (iii) to list further factors they regarded as relevant for their assessment of accountability. All informants accepted to provide a dimensional assessment of accountability on this basis and consistently found most types of mental disorders to reduce accountability, especially psychotic disorders and dementia. Other factors thought to be relevant were substance abuse, social network, personality traits, social stress, and level of education.