In search of the ‘Other’ in Asia: Russia–China relations revisited

This paper argues that Russia and China are partners of consequence and that the neglect of the normative dimension of the Sino-Russian relationship has led its impact on global governance to be undervalued and misunderstood. Following a constructivist approach, the paper examines the shared norms underlying an ever closer Sino-Russian partnership, despite divergent interests in a number of areas. A first section examines how shared norms lead Russia and China to define their identity similarly, facilitate joint actions, and constrain their individual policy choices. For Russia, elaborating its own unique identity is crucial to its claim to global status, though complicated by interactions with multiple ‘Others.’ Russia's effort to engage Asian partners is often viewed as hedging against China, but as second section argues that Russian engagement in Asia is better understood in terms of Russia's effort to define an Asian identity. A third section highlights the securitization/desecuritization dynamic in Sino-Russian economic relations. Xi Jinping's efforts to redefine China's global role reinforces its tendency to desecuritize the vulnerabilities that lead China to seek economic cooperation with Russia. Russia, fearing becoming a ‘resource appendage’ of China, then securitizes economic relations with China.     

The Intersection of Emotional and Sociocognitive Competencies with Civic Engagement in Middle Childhood and Adolescence

Civic developmental theory anticipates connections between normative developmental competencies and civic engagement, but little previous research has directly studied such links. The current study sought to contribute to civic development theory by examining associations between emotional and sociocognitive competencies (empathy, emotion regulation, prosocial moral reasoning, future-orientation) and civic engagement (volunteering, informal helping, political behaviors and beliefs, environmental behaviors, social responsibility values, civic skills). Data came from a geographically and racially diverse sample of 2467 youth (M_age?=?13.4, Range: 8–20 years, 56% female). The results indicated that empathy and future-orientation significantly predicted nearly all forms of civic engagement, whereas emotion regulation and prosocial moral reasoning were uniquely associated with specific forms of civic engagement. Exploratory multi-group models indicated that empathy and emotion regulation were more strongly associated with civic engagement among younger youth and prosocial moral reasoning and future-orientation were more strongly related to civic engagement among older youth. The findings help to advance developmental theory of youth civic engagement.     

Using core competency frameworks to explore the needs of Kenyan youth workers

Since youth work is a relatively new career path, there is debate regarding the competencies necessary to advance overall professional practice. This debate is particularly relevant in African countries, such as Kenya, with a growing number of youth in need of assistance. The purpose of this study was to identify the competencies needed to meet the goals and challenges of Kenyan youth workers, and assess whether these competencies align with prominent youth development competency frameworks. Data were collected from Kenyan youth workers related to the challenges, goals, and barriers they faced. These data were matched to two competency frameworks. Four themes emerged: (1) programs management competencies are most important; (2) holistically developed youth is a primary goal; (3) differences exist in how competency frameworks map to Kenyan youth workers; and (4) all competencies are not equal in the view of youth workers. Implications for program and system development are discussed.     

Feckless and reckless or forbearing and resourceful? Looking behind the stereotypes of HIV and AIDS in "fishing communities"

Over the last decade evidence has emerged suggesting that inmany countries fisherfolk, as an occupational group, are atgreater risk to HIV and AIDS than the general adult population.This high vulnerability has been explained in terms of the lifestylesassociated with fishing and related occupations, such as fishprocessing and trading. Fishermen have been portrayed as risktakers, their attitudes and behaviour shaped by the physicaland economic risks of the fishing lifestyle. Women in fishingcommunities, often engaged in fish processing and trading andproviding food and lodging in fishing settlements, are portrayedas being in subordinate social and economic positions and preyto sexual exploitation by cash-rich fishermen. There is a dangerin such lifestyle summaries that fisherfolk are characterizedas feckless risk takers with a reckless attitude to the chanceof contracting HIV. In this article we look at the lives ofsome men, women, and children living in a lake-side communityin Uganda severely affected by HIV and AIDS to illustrate howexisting portrayals of fisherfolk, and fishing communities,need to avoid stereotypes in order to better inform appropriatehealth sector and livelihood support measures.     

How Quickly Do Corporations Respond to Changes in Tax Law? Evidence fromthe California Manufacturer's Investment Credit

An understanding of the timing of firm response to changes in corporate tax law is vital for accurately estimating the revenue impact of pending corporate tax legislation. Unfortunately, the literature does not contain any standard references describing the actual responses of firms to tax law changes. The recent adoption of California's Manufacturer's Investment Credit provides a unique opportunity to study how corporations adjust their tax payments in response to changes in tax law. For background, it is shown that even in the absence of law changes many corporations overpay on their estimated taxes, perhaps because of transactions costs or agency problems. Analysis of corporate tax payments indicates that taxpayers did adjust their estimated tax payments in response to the introduction of California's MIC, but that their response fell short of the response predicted by the zero transactions cost, perfect information model of the firm. Furthermore, firms whose MIC credit was large relative to their pre-MIC tax liability were less adept at adjusting to the law change than were firms for whom the MIC was relatively less important. As a result, the revenue loss to the State of California for 1995 tax year MIC credits is estimated to be spread out over four fiscal years.     

Effects of Parental Substance Abuse on Current Levels of Domestic Violence: A Possible Elaboration of Intergenerational Transmission Processes

Research conducted on the intergenerational transmission of domestic violence has framed much of its inquiry from within the context of social learning theory. Although consistently significant, the effect size of social learning-derived intergenerational transmission variables is often small. This study was undertaken in an effort to broaden the theoretical basis of intergenerational transmission of family violence by assessing if incorporating parental substance abuse variables with exposure to violence in family of origin would increase the predictive power of a multiple regression model. Subjects (N = 74) were men in treatment for domestic violence. Paternal substance abuse was found to exert effects on respondents' violent behavior comparable to those from exposure to family of origin violence. Findings supported a need to broaden theoretical views of the etiology of domestic violence perpetration.     

Teacher–Student Relationship Climate and School Outcomes: Implications for Educational Policy Initiatives

In recent discussions regarding concerns about the academic achievement of US students, educational policy makers have suggested the implementation of certain teacher policies. To address the limited empirical research on the putative educational impact of such policies, this study used multilevel structural equation models to investigate the longitudinal associations between teacher evaluation and reward policies, and student mathematics achievement and dropout with a national sample of students (n = 7,779) attending one of 431 public high schools. The student sample included an equal number of boys and girls averaging 16 years of age, and included a White (53%) majority. This study examined whether associations between teacher policies and student achievement were mediated by the teacher–student relationship climate. Results of this study were threefold. First, teacher evaluation policies that allowed students to evaluate their teachers were associated with more positive student reports of the classroom teaching climate. Second, schools with teacher reward policies that included assigning higher performing teachers with higher performing students had a negative association with student perceptions of the teaching climate. Lastly, schools with better student perceptions of the teaching climate were associated with lower student dropout rates by students’ senior year. These findings are discussed in light of their educational policy implications.     

Item-Level Discordance in Parent and Adolescent Reports of Parenting Behavior and Its Implications for Adolescents’ Mental Health and Relationships with Their Parents

The phenomenon of discordance between parents' and children's ratings of the child's mental health symptoms or of parenting behavior until recently has been treated as a problem of reliability. More recent work has sought to identify factors that may influence discordance, yet much remains to be learned about why informants' ratings of developmental phenomena are discordant and the meaning of such discordance. This study examined the extent to which discordance can be treated as a measure of the difference between two equally valid perceptions, and as such an indicator of the quality of the parent-adolescent relationship. One category of concordance and three patterns of discordance were derived from item-level differences in ratings of affection, control, and punitiveness provided by a diverse sample (53% female; 46% Hispanic-American, 35% African-American, 15% European-American, 4% another race/ethnicity) of 484 adolescents aged 12-20 years (M = 15.67, SD = 1.72) and their parents. Over and above adolescents' and parents' independent ratings of parenting, the discordance between these ratings was found to predict adolescent reports of anxiety and conduct disorder symptoms, as well as the quality of the parent-adolescent relationship. This was particularly true when adolescents and parents were discordant in their ratings of affection and when adolescents rated their parents higher on affection than did parents themselves. Implications of these findings and future research directions are discussed.     

A Longitudinal Study of the Simultaneous Influence of Mothers’ and Teachers’ Educational Expectations on Low-income Youth’s Academic Achievement

This short-term longitudinal study investigated the simultaneous influences of adults’ (mothers and teachers) educational expectations and youth’s achievement (standardized test scores and teachers’ ratings of academic performance) across a 3-year time span on youth’s performance in school (GPA). Participants were an ethnically diverse sample of 426 low-income urban youth, ages 6 through 16 at T1. Results from cross-lagged and autoregressive path analyses indicated stability in adults’ expectations and youth’s standardized test scores; cross-lagged influences of teachers’, but not mothers’, expectations across time; and effects of youth’s achievement outcomes on adults’ expectations at T2, but not vice versa. Overall, the pattern of findings demonstrate that adults’ educational expectations are dynamic and responsive to how youth are faring in school and to changes in academic performance across time.