The relationship between peer victimization,cognitive appraisals,and adjustment: A systematic review

Underpinned by the transactional model of stress (TMS), this systematic review synthesizes research testing the role of primary and secondary appraisals in the relationship between peer victimization and adjustment. A comprehensive literature search was undertaken and 23 articles were included in the review. Primary appraisals of threat and control, but not blame, mediated the relationship between peer victimization and adjustment. Secondary appraisals of self-efficacy and perceived social support were found to mediate and moderate the relationship. The findings of the review highlight the utility of the TMS in developing our understanding of individual differences in the relationship between peer victimization and adjustment. The development of the TMS in a peer victimization context, and future areas of research are discussed.     

Psychiatrists injured by patient attack.

The seven staff psychiatrists injured by patient attack in a large forensic hospital in five years were compared with the 47 who were not injured by attack. Thirteen percent of the psychiatrists were injured by patient attack (2.6 percent per year); 5.5 injuries per 100 person-years occurred. This rate is comparable to the rate of injury from patient attack noted among ward nursing staff during the same period. Younger psychiatrists, and psychiatrists more recently out of residency, were more likely to be injured. Male psychiatrists were injured at a rate approximately 50 percent higher than female psychiatrists, and graduates of university-affiliated residencies were three times as likely to be injured as graduates of public-sector residencies, though these differences did not reach statistical significance. A slightly higher rate of injury was noted among graduates from non-North American medical schools. Board-certification and length of service in the hospital were not related to being injured.     

DISPUTING AND REGULATORY POLICY: THE EXAMPLE OF A STATE PUBLIC UTILITY AGENCY

The literature on policy making has largely ignored the formulation and implementation of policy when governmental agencies process citizen disputes. In this essay we provide an initial exploration of the dimensions of agency policy making and policy implementation during dispute processing. Using a case study of dispute processing by a state public utilities regulatory agency, it appears that dispute processing contributes to evolutionary policy formulation and implementation by providing a context for the incremental adjustment and legitimation of continuing policies, by sponsoring negotiations leading to the serial adaption of existing policies to new circumstances, and by screening disputes and sharpening the issues in disputes so they are amenable to policy development through agency adjudicatory procedures. The findings of the case study suggest that processing of citizen complaints flowing into the "bottom" of an agency is potentially as important as the politics of the rule making and licensing procedural contexts in the conduct of regulatory policy.     

Legal Compliance in Street‐Level Bureaucracy: A Study of UK Housing Officers

Street‐level bureaucratic theory is now at a fairly mature stage. The focus on street‐level bureaucrats as ultimate policymakers is now as familiar as it is important. Likewise, the parallel sociolegal study of the implementation of public law in public organizations has demonstrated the inevitable gap between law‐in‐the‐books and law‐in‐action. Yet, the success of these advances comes at the potential cost of us losing sight of the importance of law itself. This article analyzes some empirical data on the decision making about one legal concept—vulnerability in UK homelessness law. Our analysis offers two main contributions. First, we argue that, when it comes to the implementation of law, the legal abilities and propensities of the bureaucrats must be taken into account. Bureaucrats' abilities to understand legal materials make a difference to the likelihood of legal compliance. Second, we must also pay attention to the character of the legal provisions. Where a provision is simple, it is more likely to facilitate legal knowledge and demands nothing of bureaucrats in terms of legal competence. Where the provision is also inoffensive and liveable, it is less likely to act as an impediment to legal conscientiousness.     

Juvenile-Perpetrated Sex Crimes: Patterns of Offending and Predictors of Violence

Criminal record reviews were conducted on 126 juveniles arrested for sex offenses against children (n = 62) or peers and adults (n = 64). Peer/adult offenders were found more consistently to offend against females who were strangers or acquaintances, more frequently to commit their crimes in a public area, and more often to act in a group with other offenders. Peer/adult offenders were also more likely to commit the sex crime in association with other criminal activity, and they evidenced higher overall levels of aggression and violence. In general, the aggression of child molesters tended to intimidation rather than physical force, whereas the aggression of peer/adult offenders was more injurious, and perhaps gratuitous. Violence in peer/adult offenders, but not of child molesters, was predicted by the interactive influence of the victim's gender, age, and level of resistance.     

Developmental Pathways into Social and Sexual Deviance

Path analysis was used to assess the contribution of four exogenous developmental variables (sexual abuse, physical abuse, exposure to violence, exposure to pornography—each occurring prior to age 13) and four personality constructs (“psychopathic and antagonistic attitudes,” “psychosocial deficits,” “pedophilia,” “hostile masculinity”) to the prediction of non-sexual delinquency and number of male child victims in a sample of 256 adolescent males with a history of “hands-on” sexual offending. “Psychosocial deficits” was found to partially mediate the effects of the exogenous variables on both outcomes. Exposure to violence both directly, and indirectly through “psychopathic and antagonistic attitudes,” contributed to the prediction of non-sexual delinquency. Sexual abuse by a male directly, and indirectly through “hostile masculinity” and “pedophila”, contributed to prediction of number of male child victims. Clinical implications of the findings are discussed.