Parliamentary enclosure,common rights and social change: Evidence from the parts of Lindsey in Lincolnshire

Parliamentary enclosure is considered between the mid‐eighteenth and the mid‐nineteenth centuries. Three motives for enclosure are identified: to change the structure of rural society, to secure profit, and to promote social stability. Enclosure laid the basis for the final destruction of the English peasantry. Those who gained were, essentially, large landlords and large capitalist tenants. Those who lost were all other members of rural society who relied on their rights of commons: and especially independent owners of small acreages, cottagers with no holdings in the common fields and squatters on the commons. The article seeks to establish (1) the importance and value of commons and rights of common and (2) what happened at enclosure when rights of common were abolished; with evidence almost entirely from the Parts of Lindsey in North Lincolnshire. From c.1790 onwards (until well after 1870, in fact) there was a prolonged attack on all aspects of rural popular culture and parliamentary enclosure was one important element in that attack.     

The China challenge: Theoretical perspectives and policy implications

Over the past few years there has been a heated debate in the West over the potential challenge of an increasingly strong and assertive China to the Asia‐Pacific region and to the world in general. This article offers a systematic analysis of the debate on China's emerging role in the international system and its security implications from the theoretical perspectives of realism and liberalism. While both international relations theories have provided valuable insights, neither of them alone is able to unravel the puzzle of whether a prosperous and powerful China will be a major force of stability or a threat to international peace. Drawing on the theory of trade expectations, this article shows the conditions under which high interdependence between China and its trading partners will lead to pacific or belligerent Chinese behavior. If Chinese decision‐makers’ expectations for future trade are high, they will be less likely to use force to deal with unresolved disputes with neighboring countries. If, however, they have a negative view of their future trading environment, they will be likely to take measures, including military actions, to remove any obstacles that might forestall the pursuit of great‐power status. For the moment, China's expectations of future trade are by and large optimistic, but there is evidence of growing Chinese suspicion of a Western ‘conspiracy’ to contain China which may alter Beijing's future perceptions. To ensure that the rise of China will not cause regional and global instability, the outside world should seek to integrate China into the international community by pursuing policies that will have a positive influence on China's expected value of trade. In the meantime, some elements of the balance of power strategy need to be introduced in order to curtail China's expected value of war.     

“Rubbin’ is racin': evidence of the Peltzman effect from NASCAR

The Peltzman Effect is a well known and controversial theory in the literature. Studies have struggled to find a dataset that can accurately test for the presence of the effect. We have created a unique dataset and use a natural experiment from the sport of stock car racing to test the theory. Using race-level data from NASCAR events, we find strong evidence that a major safety regulation has led to more on-track accidents and an increased risk to both spectators and pit crew members.     

The role of family conflict and marital conflict in adolescent functioning

Recent research has suggested that general family conflict is more disruptive to child functioning than is marital conflict. We hypothesized, in contrast to earlier work, that marital conflict will contribute unique variance to our understanding of child functioning but only when it occurs in front of children. One hundred and forty-six mother/adolescent pairs served as participants. Mothers completed measures of marital and general family conflict. Both mothers and teachers completed measures on child functioning at two points in time separated by 1 year. Consistent with the earlier findings, general family conflict was more predictive of child adjustment problems than marital satisfaction. However, marital conflict occurring in front of the child was equally predictive of child problem behaviors as was general family conflict.     

Discrepancy between Mother and Child Perceptions of Their Relationship: II. Consequences for Children Considered within the Context of Maternal Physical Illness

Discrepancies between parent and child perceptions of parenting have been well established. The current study addressed whether discrepancies in one dimension of parenting, the parent-child relationship, are associated with child adjustment difficulties concurrently and longitudinally. In particular, it was hypothesized that greater discrepancies in mother and child perceptions of parenting would be associated with child adjustment difficulties. Furthermore, it was hypothesized that families experiencing a stressor—in this case, maternal infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)—would experience larger discrepancies than families in which the mother is noninfected and that maternal HIV infection would moderate the association between discrepant views and child adjustment. Participants were 183 African-American women (61 HIV infected; 122 noninfected) and one of their noninfected children. All participants were from the inner-city area of New Orleans. Results indicated that discrepancies in mother and child perceptions of their relationship was associated with mother and child reports of externalizing behavior problems concurrently and longitudinally. In addition, discrepancies were significantly higher in families experiencing maternal HIV infection than in the noninfected group. However, with one exception, maternal HIV status failed to moderate the relationship between discrepancies in perception and child adjustment, indicating that discrepancies play a similar role in both types of families. Clinical implications of the present results are discussed.     

Discrepancy between Mother and Child Perceptions of Their Relationship: I. Consequences for Adolescents Considered within the Context of Parental Divorce

Previous research has shown that parent-adolescent conflict is associated with adolescent adjustment. One possible source of conflict between parents and adolescents is the discrepant ways in which they perceive their relationship, which may contribute to adolescent adjustment difficulties. The present study examined the association between mother-adolescent discrepant views in their relationship and adolescent adjustment difficulties concurrently and longitudinally. In addition, the role of a family stressor, in this case parental divorce, in enhancing the discrepant views and moderating the relationship between discrepancy in perceptions and adolescent adjustment was examined. Results indicated that discrepancies in mother perception and adolescent perception of their relationship were associated with mother report of internalizing and externalizing behavior problems concurrently and longitudinally. Furthermore, discrepancies were significantly higher in divorced families than intact families, but divorce did not moderate the relationship between discrepancies and adolescent adjustment. Clinical implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

Dimensions of interparental conflict and adolescent functioning

While research has repeatedly demonstrated that interparental conflict is related to poorer child/adolescent functioning in the areas of internalizing and externalizing problems, as well as prosocial and cognitive competence, the particular relevant dimensions of the conflict have yet to be studied. The present study examined the contributions of three different dimensions of conflict to these difficulties in adolescent functioning. Forty-eight mother-father-adolescent triads participated by completing questionnaires regarding the following dimensions of their interparental conflict: frequency, method of handling, and outcome. Assessment of adolescent functioning was obtained independently through teacher-completed measures of internalizing and externalizing problems and prosocial and cognitive functioning. The results of correlational analyses indicated that father-completed measures, particularly the use of verbal and physical aggression to handle conflict, were related to all four measures of adolescent functioning. In contrast, mother-completed measures were not related. Multiple regression analyses were also conducted. For all four measures, either father physical or father verbal aggression entered first and accounted for 17 to 48% of the variance across the four dependent measures. No other indices of conflict individually accounted for a significant portion of the variance beyond that accounted for by father's verbal or physical aggression. Possible explanations for the relationship between father's method of handling of conflict and adolescent functioning are discussed.