Agents of Change or Unchanging Agents? The Role of Lawyers within Russian Industrial Enterprises

The transition from state socialism toward market capitalism has led to an almost endless supply of new laws and legal institutions. Industrial enterprises need to adapt to this new institutional regime. In-house lawyers are well placed to be agents of change in facilitating this adjustment. Using survey data from 328 Russian enterprises, the article examines the role of company lawyers, asking whether they have fulfilled this potential. Legal expertise is not in short supply, but lawyers are marginalized within the enterprise. They focus on established, routine tasks, such as handling labor relations or drafting form contracts, rather than on shaping enterprise strategies in the newer areas created by the transition, such as corporate governance or securities law. The failure of in-house lawyers to emerge as agents of change in Russia reflects a continuation of their low status during the Soviet era and the lack of professional identity among these company lawyers.     

Training Parents Reported for or at Risk for Child Abuse and Neglect to Identify and Treat Their Children's Illnesses

Parents at-risk or reported for child abuse or neglect may demonstrate deficits in infant and child health care skills, placing their children at greater risk for health problems. Research assistants, caseworkers, and a nurse provided health care skills training to parents at risk or reported for child abuse or neglect. A health reference guide and other training materials were validated by health care professionals. Training involved teaching parents to follow a series of steps to identify symptoms, use reference and record-keeping materials, determine the best form of treatment, and either treat the illness at home, consult a physician, or seek emergency treatment. Skill acquisition was assessed through observations of parent behavior in simulated health care scenarios. A series of multiple baselines across parents demonstrated effectiveness of this training in the context of these scenarios. Six out of seven parents met the 100% mastery criterion. All parents provided positive ratings of the content of the training program, the training strategies, and the counselors who provided training.     

CHILD PROTECTION EVALUATIONS The Forensic Stepchild

In child protection cases, the mental health evaluator is required to have a broad range of expertise in family violence and child and adult psychological issues. This article reviews epidemiological as well as other quantitative data to provide an empirical foundation by which to understand the problem of family violence, the characteristics of abusers and victims, and the consequences to the child who is a witness to or victim of family violence. Forensic evaluation guidelines and recommendations for structuring child protection evaluations are addressed.     

A Variable-Centered and Person-Centered Evaluation of Emotion Regulation and Distress Tolerance: Links to Emotional and Behavioral Concerns

Distress tolerance and emotion regulation deficits are associated with many emotional and behavioral concerns and may be important deficit areas for college students especially during the transition to college. However, little is known about how distress tolerance and emotion regulation relate to each other or what typical profiles of these deficit areas might be. We took a variable-centered (i.e., exploratory factor analysis) and a person-centered approach (i.e., latent profile analysis) to identify the overlap and distinctiveness of distress tolerance and emotion regulation deficits and then evaluated how the profiles related to several emotional and behavioral concerns. Participants were undergraduates (N = 627; age M = 20.23, SD = 1.40; 60 % female; 47 % European-American) who completed an online assessment. The exploratory factor analysis of distress tolerance and emotion regulation subscales demonstrated three factors with one factor corresponding to distress tolerance and two factors defined by emotion regulation. Subscales demonstrated significant multidimensionality across the factors. The latent profile analysis with distress tolerance and emotion regulation subscales produced three profiles corresponding to “Functional”, “At Risk”, and “Challenged” levels of distress tolerance and emotion regulation abilities. Internalizing symptoms (i.e., depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and suicidal ideation) had significantly higher symptom severity in the “At Risk”, and “Challenged” profiles than in the “Functional” profile. ADHD symptoms and hostility showed a similar pattern. Conduct problems and substance use were much less related to the deficit profiles. Implications for the etiology of mental health, for prevention and treatment of college students are discussed.     

Trajectories of Depressive Symptoms and Suicidality Among Heterosexual and Sexual Minority Youth

Sexual minority youth report higher rates of depression and suicidality than do heterosexual youth. Little is known, however, about whether these disparities continue as youth transition into young adulthood. The primary goals of this study were to describe and compare trajectories of adolescent depressive symptoms and suicidality among sexual minority and heterosexual youth, examine differences in depressive symptoms and suicidality trajectories across sexual orientation subgroups, and determine whether there are gender differences in these longitudinal disparities. Four waves of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health were analyzed using latent curve modeling (N = 12,379; 53 % female). Results showed that the rates of depressive symptoms and suicidality in early adolescence were higher among sexual minority youth than among heterosexual youth, and that these disparities persisted over time as participants transitioned into young adulthood. Consistent with previous cross-sectional studies, the observed longitudinal disparities were largest for females and for bisexually-identified youth. Sexual minority youth may benefit from childhood and early adolescent prevention and intervention programs.     

A dog in the fight

Holly Hughes’ “A Dog in the Fight” is a queer and feminist literary performance that models a feminist politics of performance that stands as alternative to performances of power that come from the officially anointed space of politics. In this piece, Hughes meditates on the queer relationship between US Presidents and their faithful companions, their dogs. Refusing to jump through the “ceiling” to get into the White House, Hughes offers critique of power from her own couch, recounting her hopes and disappointments in the young Obama administration, while forcing a hated former leader (George W. Bush) from the White House into her performance space as she offers up both a critique of his politics and admits to an uncomfortable affiliation with his love of dogs. What emerges from this performance is a critical call to continue an engagement with struggles for social justice from the fecund and powerful places that exist outside of the authorized institutions of politics, no matter what women and men take up positions within these institutions.     

The virtues of specialization: British and American diplomatic reporting on Russia, 1921-39

While important changes were made to the organization of the British diplomatic establishment in the years after 1918, most senior officials remained committed to the ethos of the 'generalist'. In the United States, by contrast, significant efforts were made to inculcate the virtues of professionalism and specialization among members of the Foreign Service. This paper examines the way in which members of the American and British diplomatic establishments monitored developments in the USSR during the interwar years. It concludes that US diplomats were no better than their British counterparts at interpreting developments in Soviet Russia, despite the fact that they were generally better trained to carry out their duties.     

Heterosexism in High School and Victimization Among Lesbian,Gay, Bisexual,and Questioning Students

This study examined relationships between perceived heterosexism in high school policies and programs, social environments, and victimization rates among lesbian, gay, bisexual and questioning (LGBQ) students. Secondary analyses of Internet survey data from a large cohort of LGBQ students (N = 2037; 76% male, 82% White; mean age = 16.07; 56% gay or lesbian; 28% bisexual; 16% questioning) yielded moderate correlations between perceptions of non-discrimination and harassment policies, inclusive programs, and the prevalence and tolerance of anti-LGBQ harassment. The perceived availability of inclusive programs was more closely associated with perceptions of the prevalence and tolerance of harassment in schools than were perceived policies. Victimization was related to perceived policies, programs, and harassment. Perceived harassment partially mediated effects of programs on victimization, but perceived programs also predicted victimization even after controlling for perceived harassment. Moderating effects of demographic characteristics (e.g., gender, race, sexual orientation, and outness) were explored.