The Family Antecedents and the Subsequent Outcomes of Early Puberty

The purpose of this study was to examine both the family antecedents and the outcomes of early puberty, with a particular focus on factors related to family socioeconomic status (SES). The study employed a comprehensive measurement of pubertal development and longitudinal data from the Canadian National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth. The sample (N = 8,440; 49% girls) included four cohorts of children who were followed biennially for 10 years, starting from age 4–11 to 14–21 years. Data were drawn at different years of age from these cohorts of children. Girls whose fathers were unemployed were more likely to experience early puberty than those whose fathers were employed. For boys, those living with fathers who had not finished secondary school were more likely to experience early puberty. Early maturing girls tended to engage in smoking and drinking at an earlier age compared with their peers. These findings provide support for psychosocial acceleration theory and suggest that different aspects of low family SES may act as a psychosocial stress for early pubertal maturation in boys versus girls, which may lead to engagement in drinking and smoking at a younger age, at least for girls.     

Safety in Intimate Partnerships: The Role of Appraisals and Threat

For most intimate partners, safety is an important goal and basic need. How a partner perceives safety has an impact on what happens in the relationship, and this will in turn affect the responses from the other partner. Lack of safety can provoke negative emotions and actions which can lead to relationship deterioration and violence. However, little is known about this process from the insider’s perspective. In this study, constructivist grounded theory methods were used to analyze interviews from individuals (n = 37) to better understand individual appraisals of relational safety. The results include a theory that illustrates the process of relational safety and threat. This model articulates how certain relational conditions precede a perception of safety or threat, which then leads to corresponding actions. Implications of the model include a focus on interaction and context when assessing for safety and abuse, as well as the importance of self regulation.     

Differential outcomes of court-supervised substance abuse treatment among California parolees and probationers

To explore the effectiveness of court-supervised drug treatment for California parolees, offender characteristics, treatment experiences, and outcomes were examined and contrasted to those of probationers. The analysis used statewide administrative data on 4,507 parolees and 22,701 probationers referred to treatment by Proposition 36 during fiscal year 2006-2007. Compared with probationers, parolee problems were more severe at treatment entry, more were treated in residential settings, treatment retention was shorter, and fewer completed treatment. Regarding outcomes, fewer parolees were successful at treatment discharge and more recidivated over 12-months post admission. Both groups improved in many areas by treatment discharge, but improvements were generally smaller among parolees. Significant interaction effects indicated that parolees benefited from residential care and more treatment days, even after controlling for covariates. Court-supervised drug treatment for parolees can "work;" however, parolees have more frequent and diverse needs, and their outcomes are enhanced by more intensive treatment. Findings suggest methods for optimizing the effectiveness of criminal-justice-supervised programs for treating drug-dependent offenders.     

Social anxiety as a predictor of dating aggression

By far, most research on the behavior of socially anxious individuals has focused on the "flight" rather than the "fight" response described in the traditional conceptualization of anxiety. More recently, however, there has been some speculation and emerging evidence suggesting that social anxiety and aggression may be related. The present study examined social anxiety as a predictor of dating aggression within a late adolescent sample. Two forms of dating aggression were assessed: physical aggression, such as slapping, use of a weapon, or forced sexual activity, and psychological aggression, such as slamming doors, insulting, or refusing to talk to one's partner. One aspect of social anxiety, Fear of Negative Evaluation (FNE), emerged as a significant predictor of male dating aggression, even after controlling for relationship quality. Notably, FNE was most predictive of increased aggression of both types when men also perceived their romantic relationship to be more antagonistic. Despite its demonstrated importance as a contextual variable, however, relationship quality did not mediate the association between FNE and psychological or physical aggression. Implications for prevailing conceptualizations of social anxiety and dating aggression are discussed.     

Potholes on the Path to Purity: Gideon Yaffe’s Overly Ambitious Attempt to Account for Criminal Attempts

Gideon Yaffe??s ??subjectivism about attempts?? rest on the Transfer Principle: ??If a particular form of conduct is legitimately criminalized, then the attempt to engage in that form of conduct is also legitimately criminalized.?? From the perspective of a moral concern with culpability, this principle seems to get to the heart of the matter: the true essence of what is wrong with attempting to commit a crime. Unfortunately, Yaffe??s argument for the Transfer Principle is based on an equivocation and therefore logically unsound. The moral core of the Principle is still sound, but we can??t tell from Yaffe??s book how far that principle would take us in the criminal law.     

Evaluating collaborative institutions by segregation and homophily in policy networks

Many policy systems are experimenting with collaborative institutions to manage complex policy problems in the face of persistent conflict and scientific uncertainty. Policy networks are central to the theory of why collaborative institutions are effective. While many policy systems naturally become segregated, fragmented, or siloed due to homophily, collaborative institutions are hypothesized to create more integrated systems of organizational collaboration. Collaborative institutions may, therefore, be evaluated by the extent to which they reduce the tendency toward homophily and increase the integration of policy networks. This paper evaluates three collaborative institutions in regional land-use planning and specifies a theory of the program from two prominent frameworks: Institutional Collective Action and the Advocacy Coalition Framework. Results show that three forms of homophily are at work, and that in some cases, collaborative institutions successfully reduce the tendency toward network segregation.     

Sincerely held beliefs: evidence on how religion in the classroom affects private school enrollments

Public Choice - Schools are one of the ways parents transmit their cultural values. US public education historically promoted Protestantism. We examine two conflicts over classroom religious...