Genetic and Environmental Influences on the Association Between Pubertal Maturation and Internalizing Symptoms

The literature consistently shows an association between pubertal maturation and internalizing problems in girls. The association for boys is less clear. The present study examines genetic and environmental influences on the association between pubertal maturation and internalizing problems for boys and girls in two primarily Caucasian adolescent twin/sibling studies: The Swedish Twin study of CHild and Adolescent Development (706 same-sex twin pairs aged 13-14, M = 13.7 years, 50 % female), and the Nonshared Environment in Adolescent Development sample (US-based, 687 same-sex twin/sibling pairs aged 10-18, M = 13.6 years, 47 % female). For girls, more advanced pubertal maturation was associated modestly with more internalizing problems, and that association was entirely explained by shared environmental influences. For boys, the association between pubertal maturation and internalizing problems was weak and inconsistent. Results for girls were remarkably consistent across samples. Findings suggest that nongenetic mechanisms mediate the association between pubertal maturation and internalizing problems. Findings have implications for intervention such that environmental influences shared by twins/siblings may provide the best targets for intervention strategies designed to minimize the potential negative effects of pubertal maturation on internalizing symptoms in girls.     

Corruption in cultural context: Contradictions within the Korean tradition

Appreciating the many, varied and sometimes ambiguous elements within what may be called ‘Korean culture’ is crucial to a balanced assessment of its relationship to corruption. In particular, it is important to recognise its multivocality and thus its paradoxical relationship with its environment, its tendency to be shaped as well as shape modern institutions and the degree to which it is open to interpretation and contestation and thus to being compromised or altered to meet historical contingencies or political objectives. This approach provides the basis for the type of cultural analysis that can identify some of the cultural influences not only on some forms of corruption but on how a society understands the norms of good governance and what constitutes a deviation from these norms and thus what political corruption involves and why. It may also help us to understand how corruption can be disguised or justified within the Korean context.     

Predictive accuracy of static risk factors for Canadian Indigenous offenders compared to non-Indigenous offenders: implications for risk assessment scales

ABSTRACT

The over-representation of Indigenous offenders in Canadian prisons highlights the importance of research on the generalizability of potential static risk factors for this group. The current investigation examined whether 87 static indicators currently assessed in Canadian federal prisons were differentially present and related to outcomes (revocations, general recidivism, and violent recidivism) for Indigenous (n?=?1500) and non-Indigenous (n?=?6684) male federal offenders. The follow-up was eight months for revocations and five years for any/violent recidivism. Indigenous offenders scored significantly higher risk than non-Indigenous offenders on the majority of the indicators (particularly criminal history indicators). Generally, most criminal history indicators and some offence severity indicators predicted revocations, general, and violent recidivism for Indigenous offenders; however, several of the indicators had significantly lower accuracy for Indigenous offenders (particularly criminal history indicators). Overall, Indigenous offenders are a higher risk population and several static risk indicators do not perform as well for this group as for non-Indigenous offenders. Nonetheless, there were numerous static indicators that did predict outcomes for Indigenous offenders. The current findings suggest that it is possible to meaningfully assess static risk for recidivism among Indigenous offenders.     

Local Conflicts and International Compromises: The Sustainable Use of Vicuña in Argentina

The vicuña Vicugna vicugna is a wild South American camelid with a fiber so highly valued that the species was hunted almost to extinction. Strict conservation regulations and international treaties have been successful in causing vicuña populations to recover to a level where it is now possible to develop “sustainable use” programs. In Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, and Argentina, vicuña management plans have been developed, with differing biological and socioeconomic implications. The major issue is whether vicuña are managed in the wild or in captivity. The aim of this paper is to examine the forces that have, in recent years, shaped policies concerning vicuña management, and especially the underlying conflict between economic growth and conservation. The analysis draws largely on primary data from Argentina and a report written by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service concerning the reclassification of vicuña from endangered to threatened. This report is important both directly (because FWS is the key advisory body to the U.S. government and the United States is a major potential market for the fiber), and indirectly, because the views of the United States and its advisers will in turn have a major influence on other actors.     

Teenage childbirth and young adult criminal convictions: A quasi-experimental study of criminal outcomes for teenage mothers

Purpose

Teenage childbirth is associated with poor psychosocial outcomes for teen mothers. One example is that teen mothers have higher rates of antisocial behavior. The extant research has not been able to determine if teenage motherhood is independently associated with criminal behavior, or if the association is due to selection factors associated with both teenage childbirth and criminal behavior.

Methods

We used longitudinal data from Swedish national registers and sibling-comparisons (both full- and half-siblings) to identify the extent to which there is an independent association between teenage childbirth and mothers’ likelihood of criminal conviction between ages 20-30, or if the association is confounded by familial (including genetic or environmental) factors that make sisters similar.

Results

Women who began childbearing as teenagers were more likely to be convicted of a crime in young adulthood compared to women who delayed childbearing. When sisters were compared, the association between teenage childbirth and criminal convictions disappeared. Multivariate behavior genetic analyses suggest genetic and shared environmental account for the association.

Conclusions

The statistical association between teenage childbirth and early adulthood criminal convictions is confounded by genetic and shared environmental factors that influence both the likelihood of teenage childbirth and risk of early adulthood criminal conviction.     

Older African American Women and Barriers to Reporting Domestic Violence to Law Enforcement in the Rural Deep South

Victims of domestic violence are legally entitled to police protection, but multiple barriers exist in contacting law enforcement. In this study, we used Federal Bureau of Investigation data, key informant interviews, and focus groups to examine barriers to reporting domestic violence among older African American women in the rural Deep South. Three primary barriers were identified: gender roles, age dependency, and mistrust of law enforcement. The main finding was that reports of domestic violence were deterred by fears of being stigmatized by church, family, and community. The one compelling and feasible resolution is for law enforcement to take a leadership role in educating clergy and other community leaders about domestic violence as a crime against older women.     

Turning Off the Tap: Urban Water Service Delivery and the Social Construction of Global Administrative Law

This article explores the development of a cross-border dimensionto the delivery of urban water services as an arena for thesocial construction of global administrative law. When companiesfrom one country deliver water services in another country underdecades-long concession contracts, the ensuing political andlegal struggle engages one of the central strands of administrativelaw traditionally understood: the question of participationin decision-making processes that affect vital individual interests.Moreover, it does so in an arena that embeds public and privateactors in hybrid routines of both formal and informal participationat multiple levels of governance. Using Argentinian and SouthAfrican case studies, the article teases out in detail the interplaybetween international and domestic levels of the forms and processes(both formal and informal) that facilitate participation intransnational urban water services governance. The process ofsocially constructing global administrative law is centred initerative interaction between formal legal and informal politicalmodes of participation, especially social protest and politicalnegotiations. It is a process with two modes, political andtechnical, and the political salience of global administrativelaw is shaped first by differential capacities to deploy bothmodes, and secondly by the capacity to switch between nationaland international levels of governance.     

An Examination of the NAIC White Paper Entitled “The Potential Impact of Climate Change on Insurance Regulation”

The battle between insurers and policyholders over coverage for climate change liability has already begun. Commentators have paid less attention to the positive role that insurers can play in coping with climate risk, or the negative impact should climate change liability create massive insurance insolvencies. The NAIC has now addressed these issues in its first White Paper on climate change. Everyone in the insurance industry must pay attention to the risks that the NAIC identifies, and the measures that it recommends.