The (Un)Acceptability of Betrayal: A Study of College Students' Evaluations of Sexual Betrayal by a Romantic Partner and Betrayal of a Friend's Confidence

Because loyalty and trust are viewed as key requirements for relationships with friends as well as with romantic partners, acts of betrayal, which violate the trust on which these relationships are based, are viewed as serious transgressions. This study focused on 2 commonly occurring kinds of betrayal—betrayal of a friend's confidence despite a promise not to do so and sexual betrayal by a romantic partner despite an agreement to be monogamous. Approximately 261 college students, aged 18 to 23, answered questions concerning the acceptability of betrayal under a variety of different conditions and described their self-restraint, tolerance of deviation, and betrayal behavior. Despite pervasive disapproval of betrayal, the extent of disapproval was a function of the type of betrayal (whether of a romantic partner or a same-sex friend), the justification for the betrayal, the sex of the transgressor, and the characteristics of the respondent. There was greater acceptance of sexual betrayal than betrayal of a friend's confidence, of male than female transgression, and by male than female respondents. These results are largely accounted for by the finding that male respondents gave high ratings of acceptance of sexual betrayal by male transgressors. Acceptance of both forms of betrayal was correlated with lack of self-restraint, tolerance of deviation, and behavioral betrayal.     

The Impact of Tax Price on Spending Preferences

In this article, we explore the influence of tax price information on citizen preferences for taxes and spending using mail surveys. We explore the effects on service support when varying levels of cost information. We also observe how the magnitude of service costs influences service support. While the presence of cost information corresponded with lower levels of respondent support for the most costly services, it was associated with higher levels of support for less expensive services. These effects were the same whether the tax price represented the respondent's actual household cost or the jurisdiction average household cost for each service.     

Idiopathic precocious puberty in girls: Psychosexual development

A promising model syndrome for the examination of the role of physical maturation in the development of female sexuality is idiopathic precocious puberty (IPP). In this first controlled study of psychosexual development in IPP females, 16 females between 13 and 20 years of age with a history of IPP were compared to 16 control subjects with a history of normal puberty pair-matched to the index subjects on the basis of sex, race, age, socioeconomic level, and menarcheal status. The psychosexual history and the current psychosexual status were assessed by a systematic half-structured interview. The IPP females on average passed the psychosexual milestones at an earlier age than their normal maturing peers, with a particularly early onset of masturbation. Those who were sociosexually active tended to report a higher total orgasmic outlet and a higher sex drive. There was no increase in homosexuality among IPP girls. The timing of puberty has a (modest) influence on psychosexual development in females.This work was supported by NIMH Center Grants MH 30906-01A and MH 30906-03 and by a grant from the Spencer Foundation.     

The competitive impact of health maintenance organizations on hospital finances: an exploratory study

In this study we explore whether HMO-induced competition has contained expenditures in Minneapolis/St. Paul hospitals. Specifically, we assessed the impact of HMOs on revenue, cost, and net income per admission in Twin Cities hospitals from 1979 to 1981. Some HMOs have obtained negotiated discounts from hospitals. We found that hospitals which gave larger discounts did not have lower costs per admission. This finding suggest that discounts do not force hospitals to operate more efficiently. In addition, hospitals with a large share of patients from HMOs or government Medicare and Medicaid programs did not have lower costs per admission than other hospitals during the years from 1979 to 1981. This finding casts doubt on the claim that discounts are justified by lower costs for HMO or government patients. Finally, neither HMO market share nor discounts had an adverse effect on hospital profits. During the three years studied, hospital profits in the Twin Cities showed an upward trend. This study concludes that if competition is to succeed it must encompass more than HMOs. HMOs may be important, but they are only one agent in the market. Thus, public policy created to induce competition must go beyond the simple stimulus of HMO growth.     

Diffusion of responsibility in crime,punishment, and other adversity

Three studies tested the hypothesis that an individual acting alone, compared with an individual group member, would be held more responsible for behavior leading to a negative consequence. In one study, 240 subjects read scenarios of an event with a negative outcome involving one, two, three, or four individuals. As predicted, there was a significant inverse relationship between the number of participants and the degree of attributed responsibility. The second study investigated subjects' attributions of responsibility for criminals committing a crime alone or with a partner. Single perpetrators were considered more responsible than those acting with a partner, although there was no difference in sentence length assigned. In the third, archival-type study, prison sentences for criminals who had actually committed a robbery alone or with others were examined. Again, there was diffusion of responsibility: criminals acting alone received significantly longer sentences than perpetrators who had committed a similar crime, but who had acted with others.     

Principles for Public Management Practice: From Dichotomies to Interdependence

In this essay we explore the relationship between management practices and a basic governance dilemma: how to manage flexibly and accountably. The challenge is both practical and theoretical. Managers must respond flexibly to the changing demands and expectations of the public and the ever-changing nature of public problems, yet they must do so in a manner that provides accountability to the public and political overseers. A dichotomous approach to the study of leadership as management action and the governance structures within which managers operate has inhibited the search for a public management theory that reconciles the dilemma. Emphasis upon managers as leaders typically focuses on the flexible actions managers might take to overcome structural "barriers," while emphasis upon governance structures typically focuses on the essential role of structure in ensuring accountability and restraining or motivating particular management efforts. The practicing manager, however, cannot deal with these aspects of the work separately. Managers must attend to demands for both flexible leadership action and structures that promise accountability. Anecdotal evidence provides illustrations of some of the ways that managers can integrate these demands. We suggest that these efforts point to an alternative theoretical framework that understands action and structure as mutually constitutive, creating a dynamic tension in which attention to one requires attention to the other.