A Multilevel Investigation of the Association between School Context and Adolescent Nonphysical Bullying

Although researchers have identified individual-level predictors of nonphysical bullying among children and youth, school-level predictors (i.e., characteristics of the school environment that influence bullying exposure) remain largely unstudied. Using data from a survey of 1,838 students in 21 Boston public high schools, we used multilevel modeling techniques to estimate the level of variation across schools in student reports of nonphysical bully victimization and identify school-level predictors of bullying. We found significant between school variation in youth reports of nonphysical bullying, with estimates ranging from 25-58%. We tested school-level indicators of academic performance, emotional well-being, and school safety. After controlling for individual-level covariates and demographic controls, the percent of students in the school who met with a mental health counselor was significantly associated with bullying (OR = 1.03, 95% CI = 1.01, 1.06). There was no significant association between school-level academic performance and perceptions of school safety on individual reports of bullying. Findings suggest that prevention and intervention programs may benefit from attending to the emotional well-being of students and support the importance of understanding the role of the school environment in shaping student experiences with bullying.     

Two steps forward, one step back? Bias in the 2008 presidential election

The candidates running during the 2008 presidential campaign were the most diverse in America’s history. Prior to this historic election, female and minority candidates had little success in pursuing the presidency. Barack Obama’s victory signals a decline in those barriers. Yet some groups, especially religious ones, continue to face barriers, including Atheists, Mormons and Muslims. The paper takes a close look at bias in presidential voting. This examination will provide an opportunity to consider new hypotheses about why barriers remain, shedding light on the nature and extent of bias within the American public. We consider social desirability, ideology, social contact, and group threat explanations. To test our ideas, we rely on list experiments using national representative samples in 2007 and in 2008. These data provide a unique opportunity to advance our understanding of the 2008 election, in particular, and the role of bias, in general. The results also offer some insight into future presidential elections.     

The Portability of Electoral Procedural Fairness: Evidence from Experimental Studies in China and the United States

Elections are now a common feature of countries across regime types, yet we know little about what leads people to perceive an election as fair, or how the democratic context shapes the ingredients of fairness judgments. While the conduct of a process is most important for perceptions of fairness in established democracies, “procedural fairness” may not travel to non-democracies, where economic outcomes occasionally take precedence over procedure. Additionally, individual level characteristics, such as political engagement, may also shape how people view the fairness of elections. Using original experiments conducted in the United States and China, I find procedural considerations are most important for fairness judgments, across democratic contexts and largely independent of political engagement.     

Blowing Hot and Cold – Intergovernmental Relations Capacity in the Commonwealth Government

The role of the intergovernmental affairs specialist is to protect and extend the powers of the jurisdiction for which he works (Donald Smiley quoted in Warhurst 1987 ).     

When BITs have some bite: The political-economic environment for bilateral investment treaties

Political risk frequently impedes the flow of capital into developing countries. In response, governments often adopt innovative institutions that aim to attract greater flows of international investment and trade by changing the institutional environment and limiting the risk to outside investors. One primary example of this is the Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT), aimed specifically at increasing the flow of foreign direct investment (FDI) to developing countries. Yet the literature in political science and economics is inconclusive about whether or not BITs do indeed stimulate FDI, and it provides conflicting theoretical reasoning for the claimed connection. This article argues that BITs do attract FDI to developing countries, but the story is a complicated one. Two important factors must be taken into account. First, BITs cannot entirely substitute for an otherwise weak investment environment. Countries must have the necessary domestic institutions in place that interact with BITs to make these international commitments credible and valuable to investors. Second, as the coverage of BITs increases, overall FDI flows to developing countries increase. However, although remaining positive, the marginal effect of a country’s BITs on its own FDI may fall because of heightened competition for FDI from other BIT countries. Using data from 97 countries for 1984–2007, we provide empirical evidence consistent with both of these theoretical claims.     

Understanding the relationship between violent victimization and gang membership

Purpose

Research examining factors that precipitate gang violence has contributed substantially to our understanding of gangs and gang activity with respect to offending, yet we still know relatively little about how gangs influence members’ risk of victimization. The current study examines three hypotheses: (1) gang involvement and involvement in other risky lifestyles is related to violent victimization, (2) involvement in gang crime is associated with violent victimization, and (3) the presence of rival gangs is related to violent victimization.

Methods

The present study uses data obtained from 909 recently booked juvenile arrestees who were interviewed as part of the Arizona Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (ADAM) program.

Results

Our findings indicated that prevalence of violent victimization was highest among gang members, followed by former gang members, gang associates, and non-gang members. After controlling for involvement in gang crime, however, gang membership per se did not significantly influence the juveniles’ risk of serious violent victimization.

Conclusions

Our results call into question the conclusion that gang membership alone increases the likelihood of violent victimization vis-à-vis lifestyle/routine activities and/or collective liability. Instead our findings support prior research on the victim-offender overlap, that offending behaviors increase the risk of victimization.     

ARE WE ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS ABOUT ATTACHMENT?

Everett Waters is involved in a wide range of longitudinal research projects and educational programs that advance the Bowlby‐Ainsworth tradition of attachment study. His empirical and theoretical knowledge is far reaching. Here, Waters explores the family law field's hopes and expectations of attachment theory, identifies a number of myths about attachment theory that may influence divorce decision making, and challenges why we ask the questions we do. His views encourage hardened supporters and detractors of attachment theory alike to identify a middle ground where the essence of attachment knowledge might best inform family law practices in divorce and separation matters.     

FAMILY LAW AND THE NEUROSCIENCE OF ATTACHMENT,PART I

In this far‐reaching interview, Allan Schore, renowned scientist, clinical psychologist, and clinical neuropsychologist, considers the place of neuroscience in facilitating developmental knowledge and better decision making in family law matters. He details current science on the neurology of attachment formation, the function of early caregiving relationships, gender, neuroscience perspectives on conflict and family violence, and implications for parenting arrangements. At the meta level, Schore describes the responsibilities of the family law system in promoting the development of the child. On the faculty of the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, UCLA, Schore is on the editorial staff of 35 journals in various academic and clinical fields. His integration of neuroscience with attachment theory is documented in three seminal volumes, Affect Regulation and the Origin of the Self, Affect Dysregulation and Disorders of the Self , and Affect Regulation and the Repair of the Self, as well as numerous articles and chapters. He has justifiably earned the nickname of “America's Bowlby.”     

“IF I COULD TELL THE JUDGE SOMETHING ABOUT ATTACHMENT. . . .” PERSPECTIVES ON ATTACHMENT THEORY IN THE FAMILY LAW COURTROOM

This article gathers diverse attachment specialists in a far reaching conversation about the utility of attachment assessment and theory for complex family law decision making, and reflections on the thorny question, “If I were the judge . . .?” Inge Bretherton, Professor Emerita, Developmental Psychology at Wisconsin University, is one of a few attachment researchers in the Bowlby/Ainsworth tradition to have completed studies in the divorce field. Seligman, a psychoanalyst and clinical psychologist, Solomon, a clinical psychologist and researcher, and Crowell, professor of psychiatry and psychology, take on some large controversies, and offer well over 100 years combined experience of applying attachment knowledge in complex family matters.