From democratic socialism to neoliberalism: the metamorphoses of the people's national party in Jamaica

Why are leftist parties in government abandoning their state-led, redistributive economic development models in favor of market-determined neoliberal ones? Conventional explanations emphasize conditionality of international financial institutiosn. This argument, though, fails to account for differences in economic policy choices across countries or within a country over time. Analyzing the social democratic People's National Party of Jamaica during two periods when it accepted IMF-mandated neoliberal economic reform measures (1977–80 and 1989-present), an alternative approach is presented to illuminate why and how leftist governments switch economic policy programs. The two time periods show that IMF conditionality might be a necessary motivation for the adoption of neoliberal economic measures, but it is not sufficient motivation. I argue that the actual policies the PNP governments employed reflect changes in the relative influence of competing factions within the party. This approach, focusing on domestic actors rather than international ones to account for economic policy shifts, highlights the ways in which politicians can manipulate institutional rules to change the relative weight of different factions within the party to gain support for policy decisions that contradict the party's traditional social democratic ideology.     

Child support enforcement policy and unmarried fathers' employment in the underground and regular economies

Some scholars have suggested that a negative consequence of strengthening child support enforcement is to encourage fathers to shift from regular sector to underground employment. We employ data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to investigate the relationship between the strength of child support enforcement (CSE) and levels of underground and regular sector employment among unmarried fathers. We find that, in general, living in a city with stricter CSE is associated with fewer hours of underground employment. We find little evidence that stronger enforcement is associated with employment or hours in the regular sector. © 2007 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.     

Characteristics of Adolescents Who Report Very High Life Satisfaction

This study investigated the characteristics of adolescents who report high levels of life global satisfaction. A total of 485 adolescents completed the Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale (SLSS) (Huebner, E. S. (1991). Sch. Psychol. Int. 12: 231–240.) along with self-report measures of intrapersonal, interpersonal, and school-related functioning. Based on their SLSS scores, students were divided into three groups: “low” (bottom 20% of the distribution), “average” (middle 50%), and “high” (upper 20%). Youth in the high satisfaction group reported significantly higher adaptive functioning on all dependent variables than youth in the low satisfaction group. Relative to students with average life satisfaction, students with high life satisfaction reported superior scores on a measure of social stress, a measure of attitudes toward teachers, and on all measures of intrapersonal functioning. Also, no adolescents in the high life satisfaction group demonstrated clinical levels of psychological symptoms, whereas 7% of the average group and 42% of the low satisfaction group reported clinical levels of symptoms. Taken together, the findings suggested that high life satisfaction is associated with some mental health benefits that are not found among youth reporting comparatively lower satisfaction levels.Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology at the University of Kentucky. Research interests include positive well-being among youth, perfectionism, and peer neglect. He is a recent recipient of the APA Division 16 (School Psychology) award for scholarly contribution.Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of South Carolina. Research interests involve the conceptualization, measurement, and implications of positive psychological well-being constructs among youth. He is currently director of the School Psychology Program, and fellow of Division 16 of the APA and the International Society for Quality of Life Studies.     

The utility of the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory with offenders

Self-report instruments can provide useful information as part of a thorough clinical assessment. However, their use in forensic settings can be problematic. The State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI) has recently been proposed as an effective instrument for screening and outcome measurement in anger management programs. This study evaluated the effectiveness of this instrument in a sample of both voluntary and court-ordered anger-management clients, all of whom were determined through diagnostic interviews to have significant anger problems. Contrary to findings in nonforensic samples, the STAXI Trait Anger scale identified only about half of the participants as having anger-management problems severe enough to require intervention. Supplemental analysis with two additional scales did not significantly improve sensitivity. In addition to thorough diagnostic interviewing, forensic use of the STAXI (like similar assessment methods) may require additional validity scales to detect denial or socially desirable response patterns.