A push or a punch: distinguishing the severity of sibling violence

Sibling violence is the most prevalent and least studied form of family violence, and little research has examined differences based on severity. This research examines more severe versus less severe forms of sibling violence. Using a subsample of married couples with two or more children ages 0 to 17 drawn from the 1976 National Survey of Physical Violence in American Families, the authors employ Conflict Tactics Scale items for child-to-child conflict to construct a measure of sibling violence severity. Drawing from several theoretical perspectives on family violence and peer aggression, the authors analyze the impact of macro-system variables, family stress and resources, and family subsystems on less severe and more severe sibling violence. Contextual factors are most important in explaining less severe sibling violence. Experience of parental violence and unpredictability are individual factors relevant to severe sibling violence. More research is needed to examine the etiology and impact of different forms of sibling violence.     

Youth and parental attitudes toward fighting

Certain parenting behaviors have been linked with youth aggression and violence, but less is known about whether parents' attitudes toward fighting are a risk factor for children's aggressive behavior problems and future injury risk. Social cognitive theory suggests that parents' beliefs about fighting and retaliation may influence their children's attitudes toward fighting and aggression. The authors examined the associations among parental and youth attitudes toward fighting, parent-child relationships, and youth aggressive behavior in adolescents at great risk for future interpersonal violence. Data came from 72 parents and their adolescents (aged 12 to 17 years, 89% African American), who presented to an emergency department for youth's assault-related injuries. Analyses revealed an association between parents' and youth's attitudes toward fighting. Youth's and parents' attitudes were positively correlated with aggressive behavior, fighting, and school suspension. Parents' attitudes predicted youth's aggressive behavior, even after controlling for youth's attitudes. The findings suggest that interventions for high-risk youth should target the fighting-related attitudes of both parents and youth.     

The West Assembles Its Media Arsenal

正During the lead-up to the CPC’s 100th anniversary on July 1, Western media platforms assembled an army of antisocialist thought leaders in what looked to be a concerted propaganda effort.Editors at prestigious news publications handed thousands of inches of prime media real estate to commentators with links to government agencies and defense-affiliated think tanks.     

Film noir’s ‘gal producers’ and the female market

ABSTRACT

This article surveys publicity surrounding the work of three female producers active in Hollywood in the 1940s and early 1950s: Joan Harrison, Virginia Van Upp, and Harriet Parsons. All three produced key titles in the cycle of film noir that emerged during this period. Publicity that emphasized their work behind the scenes on these productions was part of broader attempts to cultivate a female audience for film noir. Marketing campaigns suggested that ‘gal producers’ catered to unconventional feminine appetites for criminality and violence, all the while celebrating their ascendance in the traditionally male-dominated profession of producer. Such profiles would have been particularly appealing to female moviegoers during the Second World War, when many women held jobs previously dominated by men, and in the immediate postwar period when they sought to retain those lucrative positions.     

How Weakly Institutionalized Parties Monitor Brokers in Developing Democracies: Evidence from Postconflict Liberia

Political parties in sub-Saharan Africa's developing democracies are often considered to lack sufficiently sophisticated machines to monitor and incentivize their political brokers. We challenge this view by arguing that the decentralized pyramidal structure of their machines allows them to engage in broker monitoring and incentivizing to mobilize voters, which ultimately improves their electoral performance. This capacity is concentrated (a) among incumbent parties with greater access to resources and (b) where the scope for turnout buying is higher due to the higher costs of voting. Using postwar Liberia to test our argument, we combine rich administrative data with exogenous variation in parties' ability to monitor their brokers. We show that brokers mobilize voters en masse to signal effort, that increased monitoring ability improves the incumbent party's electoral performance, and that this is particularly so in precincts in which voters must travel farther to vote and thus turnout buying opportunities are greater.     

Will They Even Hear Me? How Race Influences Citizen Complaint Outcomes

Abstract

Scholarship has explored how representation influences policing services, but little is known as to what effect officer and citizen race influences outcomes related to police misconduct cases. This analysis of the Indianapolis and New Orleans police department applies representative bureaucracy theory to create expectations on how race impacts citizen complaint cases. The findings indicate that Black citizens are more likely to have their complaint sustained when filed against a White officer compared to a White citizen. Moreover, male citizens are less likely to have their complaint sustained compared to females.     

Social Equity and COVID-19: The Case of African Americans

Emerging statistics demonstrate that COVID-19 disproportionately affects African Americans. The effects of COVID-19 for this population are inextricably linked to areas of systemic oppression and disenfranchisement, which are exacerbated by COVID-19: (1) health care inequality; (2) segregation, overall health, and food insecurity; (3) underrepresentation in government and the medical profession; and (4) inequalities in participatory democracy and public engagement. Following a discussion of these issues, this essay shares early and preliminary lessons and strategies on how public administration scholars and practitioners can lead in crafting equitable responses to this global pandemic to uplift the African American community.