Can service providing NGOs build democracy? Five contingent features

This article studies the role of service providing NGOs in the Middle East in promoting democracy. Challenging the assumption that service providing NGOs are apolitical, the authors argue that service providing NGOs play important roles in promoting democracy. They do so by serving as public arenas, or spaces in which members and beneficiaries practice democratic habits such as discussion and debate, collective problem solving, free expression, rights claiming, and the like—all of which contribute to the cultivation of a participatory form of democracy. Drawing upon existing literature, interviews, and participant observation of NGOs in Egypt, Lebanon, and Palestine, the authors argue that five features shape the role of service providing NGOs in promoting democracy. These include: (1) organizational readiness, or the organization's embeddedness in its beneficiary community and its organizational capacity; (2) organizational governance, or organization's commitment to participatory representation and transparency; (3) the nature of service an organization provides; (4) an NGOs' collaboration with other NGOs and the government; and (5) donor risk tolerance. The article's analysis contributes to our understanding of the varied, and often overlooked, roles of service providing NGOs, advancing the literature on NGO-state relations, NGO-donor relations, and democracy promotion.     

Examining Multiracial Youth in Context: Ethnic Identity Development and Mental Health Outcomes

Although multiracial individuals are the fastest growing population in the United States, research on the identity development of multiracial adolescents remains scant. This study explores the relationship between ethnic identity, its components (affirmation, exploration), and mental health outcomes (anxiety, depressive symptoms) within the contexts of schools for multiracial adolescents. The participants were multiracial and monoracial minority and majority high school students (n = 4,766; 54.6 % female). Among the participants, 88.1 % were Caucasian, 7.4 % were African American, and 4.5 % were multiracial. The research questions examined the relationship between ethnic identity exploration and affirmation on mental health outcomes and explored the role school context plays in this relationship. The findings suggested that multiracial youth experience more exploration and less affirmation than African Americans, but more than Caucasians. In addition, multiracial youth were found to have higher levels of mental health issues than their monoracial minority and majority peers. Specifically, multiracial youth had higher levels of depressive symptoms than their African American and Caucasian counterparts. Multiracial and Caucasian youth had similar levels of anxiety but these levels were significantly higher than African Americans. School diversity did not influence mental health outcomes for multiracial youth. These findings provide insight into the experiences of multiracial youth and underscore the importance of further investigating factors that contribute to their mental health outcomes.     

Expert Testimony on Psychological Injury: Procedural and Evidentiary Issues

This article introduces psychologists to aspects of the legal process most pertinent to their role as expert witnesses in civil litigation. It summarizes the role of psychological evidence in the adjudication of common law tort claims, the structure of the court system, and the stages of the litigation process. It also explains the various roles a psychological expert may play during litigation and the implications of those roles for expert confidentiality and disclosure. The article then provides an overview of legal policy governing the admissibility of psychological expertise, especially as admissibility is affected by the “Daubert” standard applied in most North American courts.     

Gambling, substance use, and other problem behaviors among youth: A test of general deviance models

Understanding the relationships between youthful gambling, substance use, and other problem behaviors is of interest to researchers studying deviance and to policymakers developing improved prevention strategies. This study used first-order and second-order factor models to test the hypothesis that gambling, alcohol misuse, other drug use, and delinquency were manifestations of a single general deviance construct. Respondents were seventeen to twenty-one year-old youth who were interviewed in two separate general population studies. Contrary to the hypothesis, the second-order model with a single deviance construct did not fit as well as a model specifying only correlations among all first-order factors. A single latent variable representing general deviant behavior did not explain deviance as well as distinct types of problem behaviors. This was true for overall samples and for gender-specific subgroups. Thus, while problem behaviors were related, there also must be uncorrelated antecedents predicting distinct types of youthful problem behaviors.     

Governance in the UK Public Sector: the Involvement of the Governing Board

Governing boards are a prominent feature of many public sector organizations today. These boards have been modelled on the private sector board of directors. Like company boards, one of their main functions is to provide strategic leadership and policy direction for the organization. The role of managers and chief executives is to implement this. This paper examines the extent of involvement of one public sector board, the school governing body, in strategic activity. Using empirical evidence from a number of semi-structured interviews conducted in schools, its findings indicate that governing bodies are not involved at a high level in strategy within schools. Rather, headteachers are more likely to be undertaking this activity. Reflections are made about the relevance of the 'board of directors' model for both governing bodies and the public sector more generally.     

Service Personalization as a Response to Noncompliance with Routine Childhood Vaccination

Governmental reaction to citizens’ noncompliance with policy is often portrayed as a retrospective enforcement effort, in which incentives and information serve as the main mechanisms to change citizens’ noncompliant behavior. This study suggests that government may adapt existing policy arrangements to encourage compliance rather than enforce implementation. Such responses recognize that noncompliance is an ongoing decision‐making process rather than a single event, with scope for government intervention at different points. Drawing on toddlers’ nonvaccination in Israel as a test case, findings indicate that to minimize noncompliance and its public health implications, officials have responded by personalizing the standardized service. Personalization is a pragmatic response that recognizes that hesitant parents may be amenable to modified interventions as an alternative to complete exit. Nevertheless, personalization challenges the very notion of a public health intervention based on a standard protocol and raises new dilemmas around where private responsibilities end and public ones begin.