Variations in Behavior Problems of Preschoolers Exposed to Domestic Violence: The Role of Mothers’ Attunement to Children’s Emotional Experiences

The purpose of this study was to identify aspects of family relationships that may protect young children from the pathogenic effects of family violence. Using a sample of 30 preschool-age children whose mothers were physically abused by a partner, we investigated the associations between children’s externalizing and internalizing behavior problems and: (1) the quality of the mother–child relationship, and (2) mothers’ attunement to their child’s sad and angry emotions. Results indicated that clinician ratings of the mother–child relationship, and mothers’ attunement to their child’s experience of emotion each made a unique contribution to the prediction of children’s externalizing behavior. These relationships remained robust, even after taking the severity of domestic violence reported by mothers into consideration. Maternal attunement, however, did not mediate the relationship between marital conflict and children’s behavior problems. No significant link was found between children’s internalizing behavior and maternal attunement to their children’s sadness and anger. Additional findings suggested that mothers with a PTSD diagnosis tended to be less attuned to their child’s experience of sadness. This investigation was supported by grants from the Irving B. Harris Foundation, the Pinewood Foundation, the Miriam and Peter Haas Foundation, and a REAC Award from the University of California, San Francisco to the second author.     

How time influences franchise contracts: the Spanish case

This article builds a simple theoretical model for the optimal expected length of a franchise contract. The main outcome is that fixed specific investment positively impacts contract duration confirming previous theoretical conjectures. Additionally, other variables such us the price–cost margin of the franchise, the brand name or the discount factor also play a relevant role. The empirical analysis using a large sample of franchises operating in Spain confirms the main conclusions of the model. However, the connection found between investment and duration, although statistically robust, is weak from an economic point of view. This result suggests the possibility that, in general, most franchisees are not in equilibrium because of the high standardization of this contract term across franchises. In these cases, the expectation of renewal is likely to be a crucial element of adjustment.     

Human Milk in the Modern World: Breastfeeding and the Cult of the Dairy in Adam Bede and Tess of the d'Urbervilles

The lush dairy settings in George Eliot's Adam Bede and Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles have traditionally been perceived as timeless,