Minimizing culpability increases commission errors in a mock crime paradigm

Purpose. Empirical studies have demonstrated that feigning amnesia undermines memory for a mock crime. Not much is known about the effects of other culpability‐reducing strategies on memory. The present study investigated what strategies participants use when they are instructed to minimize culpability and if these strategies undermine memory to a similar extent as claiming amnesia. Methods. Participants performed a mock crime. Next, they were either instructed to minimize culpability for this mock crime in a simulated interrogation or asked to respond honestly. One week later, memory for the mock crime was tested. Results. None of the participants claimed amnesia when trying to minimize culpability. Conversely, all participants fabricated an alternative account of their role in the crime. Compared with responding honestly on both tests, fabricating an alternative story on the first test undermined memory for the mock crime in terms of commission errors. Correct recall was unaffected. It appeared that this effect was related to story length: the longer the fabricated story, the more the commission errors when telling the truth 1 week later. Conclusions. Fabricating an alternative story (i.e. lying) did not compromise correct recall, but induced more commission errors. The findings are discussed in terms of possible underlying mechanisms.     

Why Medical Child Support is Important—and Complex

Courts resolving child support cases involving separated, divorced, and non‐marital children are charged with defining responsibility for health care coverage for the children under that order. This article explores historical and current medical child support requirements under Title IV‐D of the Social Security Act—the national child support enforcement (“IV‐D”) program. It analyzes legal requirements and policy recommendations, and provides a practical tool judges may use to determine whether health care coverage available to either or both parents is appropriate—that is, comprehensive, accessible, and affordable.     

Marriage patterns among unwed mothers: Before and after PRWORA

The promotion of marriage and two‐parent families became an explicit public policy goal with the passage of the 1996 welfare reform bill. Marriage has the putative effect of reducing welfare dependency among single mothers, but only if they marry men with earnings sufficient to lift them and their children out of poverty. Newly released data from the 2002 cycle of the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG), along with data from the 1995 cycle, allow us to compare pre‐ and post‐PRWORA differences in (1) cumulative marriage rates among unwed mothers, and (2) patterns of marital choice (that is, differences in characteristics of the men these mothers marry, such as their education and employment status). Overall, our results show that unwed childbearing is associated with lower marriage rates and marital quality. Difference‐in‐difference models show that welfare reform was not strongly associated with pre‐ and post‐welfare reform changes in marriage among nonmarital birth mothers, even among the most disadvantaged mothers. Compared with other women, nonmarital birth mothers also were less likely than other women to marry “economically attractive” men in the post‐welfare reform period. The success of marriage promotion initiatives may depend heavily on whether women themselves are “marriageable” and whether potential spouses have the ability to support a stable family life. © 2008 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.     

Horizontal mergers and efficiencies; theory and anti trust practice

Horizontal mergers can be challenged by anti trust authorities under both the US and EU Horizontal Merger Guidelines. More horizontal mergers are unconditionally approved in the US than in the EU. EU merger policy toughened after 1998 but became more in line with US practices after 2004. Differences in merger policies between the US and the EU can be explained by a greater scope of the efficiency argument in the US. The paper argues that firms only want to merge in oligopoly, if they expect to realize substantial merger specific efficiency gains, which counterbalances the price increasing effect of merger.      

Assessing child maltreatment risk in the recently divorced parent-child relationship

Reports of single-parent-child relationships characterized by child maltreatment have increased in recent years. The present paper discusses Belsky's child maltreatment/parenting model concerning parenting and the etiology of this problem. The model may serve as a source of conceptual unification of this risk in single-parent homes. It is proposed that the model also may have heuristic value in identifying highest risk single-parent families who warrant intervention.