Profiles of Problematic Behaviors Across Adolescence: Covariations with Indicators of Positive Youth Development

Previous analyses of data from the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development (PYD) have examined concurrent trajectories of positive development and risk/problem behaviors among adolescents, finding complex and not necessarily inverse relationships among them. In this article, we expand on prior research by employing a person-centered approach to modeling risk behaviors, assessing development from approximately 6th grade through 12th grade among 4,391 adolescents (59.9 % female). Latent profiles involving the problematic behaviors of delinquency, depressive symptoms, substance use, sexual activity, disordered eating behaviors, and bullying were then assessed for concurrent relationships with the Five Cs of PYD: Competence, Confidence, Character, Caring, and Connection. We found six latent profiles, based primarily on mental health, aggression, and alcohol use, with significant differences in Confidence levels among many of the profiles, as well as some differences in the four other Cs. We discuss directions for future research and implications for application to youth policies and programs.     

Book reviews

The Afterlife of Property: Domestic Security and the Victorian Novel, by Jeff Nunokawa. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1994.

Review of Scenes of Seduction: Prostitution, Hysteria and Reading Difference in Nineteenth‐Century France, by Jann Matlock (New York: Columbia University Press, 1994)     

Unpacking Acculturation: Cultural Orientations and Educational Attainment Among Mexican-Origin Youth

Given educational risks facing Mexican-origin children of immigrant parents, it is important to understand how aspects of the acculturation process influence Mexican-origin youth's educational success. Drawing from selective assimilation theory, this study examined how cultural orientations across myriad facets of acculturation were associated with the educational attainment of second-generation Mexican immigrant youth. The sample included 755 Mexican-origin youth (50% female) in the "Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study." Results from structural equation models indicated that youth reporting greater facility in the English language and a stronger value on familism attained higher levels of education in young adulthood than did other youth. Parents' U.S. social ties and youth's value on early paid work were associated with less educational attainment. Innovative findings from this study indicate the importance of considering both Mexican and American cultural orientations across myriad facets of acculturation for understanding second-generation immigrant Mexican youth's educational attainment.     

Social Support and Low-Income,Urban Mothers: Longitudinal Associations with Adolescent Delinquency

The current study examined the role of engaged parenting in explaining longitudinal associations between maternal perceptions of social network support and whether youth engage in delinquent behaviors during the transition into adolescence. The sample included 432 low-income, African American and Latino youth (49% female) and their mothers participating in “Welfare, Children, and Families: A Three City Study”. Results from longitudinal SEM analyses demonstrated that social network support was associated positively with mothers’ engaged parenting as youth transitioned into early adolescence. Engaged parenting, which functioned as a mediating variable, was associated with less youth delinquency during transitions into middle adolescence. Taken together, social network supports appeared to facilitate mothers’ abilities to remain engaged with their children and to deter youth from becoming involved in delinquent behaviors.     

Conscience in public administration: More than just a chirping cricket?

The policy and practice of public administration are caught between two seemingly incommensurate goals. Public servants are expected to be responsible to the oversight and control of democratically elected governments, yet, as the policy space becomes more complex, are forced to exercise more judgment and discretion in their responsibilities. Individual, collective, and professional conscience is motivated across this spectrum of challenges. This article explores the concepts of discretion and conscience in theory and practice in the Canadian context. It offers insights into how conscience can, and perhaps must, be both accommodated and supported more appropriately in the practice of 21^st‐century public administration and service. At root, we argue that an array of strategies and approaches may help to build relational reciprocity to a broader set of norms that are necessary for efficient and effective governance.     

The Future of Fair Use

Despite the warnings of copyright scholars at the turn of the twenty-first century, the future of the fair use doctrine is bright. This essay considers the recent trend of fair use cases and offers specific examples of changes in fair use jurisprudence regarding courts’ use and definitions of transformativeness that belie the earlier doomsday scenarios and suggest instead the promise of further expansion of fair use. These trends should give hope for the future to those who believe a robust fair use doctrine is necessary to keep the proper balance between copyright owners and the public interest.     

Measuring the Difference Between Parental Alienation and Parental Estrangement: The PARQ-Gap

Parental alienation (rejection of a parent without legitimate justification) and realistic estrangement (rejection of a parent for a good reason) are generally accepted concepts among mental health and legal professionals. Alienated children, who were not abused, tend to engage in splitting and lack ambivalence with respect to their parents; estranged children, who were maltreated, usually perceive their parents in an ambivalent manner. The hypothesis of this study was that a psychological test—the Parental Acceptance–Rejection Questionnaire (PARQ)—will help to distinguish severely alienated from nonalienated children. The PARQ, which was used to identify and quantify the degree of splitting for each participant, was administered to 45 severely alienated children and 71 nonalienated children. The PARQ-Gap score—the difference between each child's PARQ: Father score and PARQ: Mother score—was introduced and defined in this research. Using a PARQ-Gap score of 90 as a cut point, this test was 99% accurate in distinguishing severely alienated from nonalienated children. This research presents a way to distinguish parental alienation from other reasons for contact refusal. The PARQ-Gap may be useful for both clinicians and forensic practitioners in evaluating children of separating and divorced parents when there is a concern about the possible diagnosis of parental alienation.     

Legal Consciousness in Marginalized Groups: The Case of LGBT People

Studies of legal consciousness have flourished over the last few decades, but these studies and the very concept of legal consciousness have recently come under critique. This article uses the case of studies of the legal consciousness of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people to demonstrate that legal consciousness has been a valuable conceptual tool for exploring experiences of sociolegal marginalization. Research on LGBT people advances the study of legal consciousness without sacrificing a critical stance or reading lack of overt resistance as evidence of law's hegemonic power. Consideration of this research highlights that focusing on marginalized populations is a way to retain a critical edge in legal consciousness research. Future research should include more exploration of the relationship between marginalization and legal consciousness, further theoretical elaboration of the forms and conditions of resistance to law, and greater attention to how social interactions and institutions produce legal consciousness.