Development of the severity of violence against women scales

In response to the need for more sensitive assessment instruments, scales were developed applicable to the evaluation of male violence against women. Two versions of the Severity of Violence Against Women Scale (SVAWS) were developed. On 10-point scales, college females (N = 707) rated how serious, aggressive, abusive, violent, and threatening it would be if a man carried out each of 46 acts with a woman. The mean of each act across ratings was calculated and submitted to factor analysis. Nine factors represented symbolic violence: threats of mild, moderate, and serious violence; actual mild, minor, moderate, and serious violence; and sexual violence. Community women (N = 208) rated the acts on seriousness, aggressiveness, and abusiveness. All factors were unidimensional. Second-order factor analysis confirmed the existence of two broader dimensions representing physically threatening acts and actual violence. Ratings of the amount of physical and emotional harm provided the weightings for future research with student (SVAWS-S) and adult (SVAWS) samples.     

Public Good, Private Protections: Competing Values in German Transplantation Law

Organ transplantation has become almost routine practice in many industrialized countries. Policy, ethical, and legal debates tend to center on fairness of allocation rules or alternatives to promote greater numbers of donations. There are also certain beliefs about the use of bodily materials that are often presumed to be homogenous across Euro–American societies. In Germany, however, the idea of using the bodies of some for the good of others, and the right to proclaim some bodies dead for large–scale medical and political purposes is highly charged. This is due to the historical context of medical experimentation, selection, and euthanasia under National Socialism, and the former East German socialist policies which intervened in the private lives and bodies of citizens. This article is based on an ethnography of organ procurement practices during the period when German policymakers struggled with writing a transplant law. Active public resistance revealed deep concern about state intervention in private matters and amplified the growing unrest over definitions of moral community in a changing, post–reunification society. The article shows how public disputes about health policy become a way through which societies deal with other social conflicts.     

How can small donors contribute to sustainable development in large regions? The case of NZAID in Latin America

Donors face many issues when trying to support development goals in large regions such as Latin America. In their attempts to channel assistance to appropriate end‐users, they also have to provide coherence with national strategy, balance supply and demand of technical resources, and ensure accountability to their taxpayers. Resolution of these issues requires considerable focus and a clear understanding of all relevant factors. This is particularly so for, but not exclusive to, small donors. This paper provides agencies with a model to assess regional involvement and create a decision‐making framework for future investments. It places the quality of aid above the quantity of donation.     

The impact of stress on cognitive components of child abuse potential

The purpose of the present research was to test the effects of situational stress on the components of the cognitive behavioral model, including expectations, interpretations, and behavioral responses to child behaviors (Twentyman et al., 1985). It was predicted that parental abuse potential would be positively related to inappropriate expectations, to negative and internally caused interpretations of child behavior, and to negative parental responses. Second, it was expected that interpretations and responses would be more negative as child abuse potential increased. Sixteen mothers from a child abuse prevention and treatment program completed the Child Abuse Potential Inventory (Milner and Wimberly, 1980) and provided interpretations, evaluations, and responses to a set of vignettes depicting normal child behaviors. The data supported the hypotheses. As abuse potential increased, parent responses were judged as more controlling, punishing, rejecting, and aroused. High stress strengthened the magnitude of these responses. These findings were interpreted within the context of a cognitive behavioral model.