System intervention problems in child sexual abuse investigations: the mothers' perspectives

On learning that her child was sexually abused, a mother must interact with professionals charged with the implementation of investigations, treatment, and legal remedies. This qualitative study, based on data from three focus groups (n = 19) and open-ended survey questions (n = 40), documents mothers' experiences with these professionals. Mothers report a lack of support from many professionals including receiving poor services, being criticized, insensitivity to their concerns, and being accused of false allegations and state that they have difficulty seeing the "system" as a positive future resource. Mothers reported appreciation for helpful professionals, whom they most often identified as therapists. Determining which mothers are reporting system problems and the effect of negative maternal-system interactions on mother and child outcomes are recommended as follow-up research.     

Reconciling Autonomy and Beneficence in Treatment Decision-Making for Companion Animal Patients

This article explores how the concept of consent to medical treatment applies in the veterinary context, and aims to evaluate normative justifications for owner consent to treatment of animal patients. We trace the evolution of the test for valid consent in human health decision-making, against a backdrop of increased recognition of the importance of patient rights and a gradual judicial espousal of a doctrine of informed consent grounded in a particular understanding of autonomy. We argue that, notwithstanding the adoption of a similar discourse of informed consent in professional veterinary codes, notions of autonomy and informed consent are not easily transferrable to the veterinary medicine context, given inter alia the tripartite relationship between veterinary professional, owner and animal patient. We suggest that a more appropriate, albeit inexact, analogy may be drawn with paediatric practice which is premised on a similarly tripartite relationship and where decisions must be reached in the best interests of the child. However, acknowledging the legal status of animals as property and how consent to veterinary treatment is predicated on the animal owner’s willingness and ability to pay, we propose that the appropriate response is for veterinary professionals generally to accept the client’s choice, provided this is informed. Yet such client autonomy must be limited where animal welfare concerns exist, so that beneficence continues to play an important role in the veterinary context. We suggest that this ‘middle road’ should be reflected in professional veterinary guidance.     

TWO FACES OF BAIL REFORM: AN ANALYSIS OF THE IMPACT OF PRETRIAL STATUS ON DISPOSITION PRETRIAL FLIGHT AND CRIME IN HOUSTON

Bail reform is under attack by public officials historically identified with the cause of social justice. Release on personal recognizance is increasingly assailed as significantly contributing to the problem of pretrial flight and crime. Are these observations valid or have such reforms represented a step toward equal justice-without seriously threatening public safety? To test the argument against bail reform, the authors analyzed the outcome of randomly selected felony cases in Houston, Texas. All defendants were monitored by a computerized information system for athirty month period. The results of the major hypotheses were mixed. Pretrial status was found to have no significant effect on conviction outcome. However, as expected, a significantly higher proportion of convicted detained defendants were sentenced to prison than their bonded counterparts. While failure to appear rate was found relatively high for both defendants released on recognizance and money bail, the actual fugitive rate (2%) and pretrial crime rate (7%) for total bonded defendants were low. Finally the results indicated that bail reform, as experienced in this major southwestern jurisdication, has not significantly affected pretrial flight or crime.     

Alcohol Use, Outcome Expectancies, and HIV Risk Status among American Indian Youth: A Latent Growth Curve Model with Parallel Processes

Alcohol use is cited as a risk factor for exposure to HIV infection through risky sexual behavior, especially among adolescents. From Social Cognitive Theory, positive outcome expectancies about the use of alcohol have often been presented as a critical aspect of alcohol use. Yet little is known about how they might be related to different aspects of HIV risk. Using latent growth curve modeling with data from 292 American Indian youth across seven years, both alcohol use and positive expectancies increased significantly; a lower-risk group showed significantly slower increases in both. Changes in alcohol use and outcome expectancies were significantly interrelated, providing support for reciprocal influence between the two constructs. Positive alcohol outcome expectancies may provide a preventive intervention point worthy of further consideration as influencing alcohol use and lowering HIV sexual risk among adolescents.Associate Professor at the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center. She received her Ph.D. in Community Psychology from Michigan State University. Her major research interests are adolescent development among minority youth with an emphasis on positive and problem behaviors.Associate Professor at the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center. She received her Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the University of Michigan. Her major research interests are in areas of American Indian mental health and services research.Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center. She received her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Michigan. Her primary research interests are in demography and contextual effects of individual health behavior, with a special emphasis on adolescent development.In addition to the above people, the Project Team included Sonia Bauduy, Cathy A.E. Bell, Cecelia K. Big Crow, Dedra Buchwald, Nichole Cottier, Amy D. Dethlefsen, Ann Wilson Frederick, Ellen M. Keane, Shelly Hubing, Natalie Murphy, Angela Sam, Jennifer Settlemire, Jennifer Truel, and Frankee White Dress.     

Gender constructions and gender relations in cotton and chain-making in England: a contested and varied terrain

Abstract

While scholars have emphasised the positioning of women as wives and mothers in working-class culture in late nineteenth-century England, their position in the workforce remained significant, even in such disparate industries as cotton and chain-making. In the former, while excluded from spinning, women's employment in powerloom weaving brought them into the heart of the production process, encouraging their participation in workplace struggles and ultimately influencing a transformation in the working-class family in terms of fertility control. In chain-making, while some male workers attempted to position women in the domestic sphere, others were dependent on their labour. Cultural constructions of gender were thus undermined, as the struggle for the minimum wage superseded attempts to remove women from the workforce. In neither industry was equality between men and women realised, while antagonism on the basis of gender persisted. Yet women's identification with their work remained evident while mutuality across gender lines was also apparent, as women themselves played an active role in the shaping of gender relations. Conceptions of gender, as they intersected with particular labour market structures, thus came under duress. Consequently, a more complex picture of gender in working-class life emerges than an analysis which privileges cultural constructions would allow.     

Trajectories of Substance Use Among Young American Indian Adolescents: Patterns and Predictors

Substance use often begins earlier among American Indians compared to the rest of the United States, a troubling reality that puts Native youth at risk for escalating and problematic use. We need to understand more fully patterns of emergent substance use among young American Indian adolescents, risk factors associated with escalating use trajectories, and protective factors that can be parlayed into robust prevention strategies. We used growth mixture modeling with longitudinal data from middle-school students on a Northern Plains reservation (Wave 1 N = 381, M age at baseline = 12.77, 45.6 % female) to identify subgroups exhibiting different trajectories of cigarette, alcohol, and marijuana use. We explored how both risk (e.g., exposure to stressful events, deviant peers) and protective (e.g., positive parent–child relationships, cultural identity) factors were related to these trajectories. For all substances, most youth showed trajectories characterized by low rates of substance use (nonuser classes), but many also showed patterns characterized by high and/or escalating use. Across substances, exposure to stress, early puberty, and deviant peer relationships were associated with the more problematic patterns, while strong relationships with parents and prosocial peers were associated with nonuser classes. Our measures of emergent cultural identity were generally unrelated to substance use trajectory classes among these young adolescents. The findings point to the importance of early substance use prevention programs for American Indian youth that attenuate the impact of exposure to stressful events, redirect peer relationships, and foster positive parent influences. They also point to the need to explore more fully how cultural influences can be captured.     

The Role of Protective Factors in Supporting the Academic Achievement of Poor African American Students During the Middle School Transition

In this study of 62 African American families living in poverty, we examined the main and interactive effects of psychological, family, and school factors on students' grade point average across the middle school transition. Both parent interviews and student surveys were collected, resulting in three major findings. First, students experienced a significant decline in grade point average across the transition from elementary to middle school. Second, students who felt more academically efficacious had higher grade point averages across the transition than did their peers. Third, significant interactions were found between family and school factors. These results suggest that rather than focusing exclusively on either parental involvement or the school environment, the combination of both family and school factors may be most effective in supporting the academic achievement of poor African American students during the transition to middle level schools.     

The ego-virtue of fidelity: A case for the study of religion and identity formation in adolescence

Extrapolation from Erik Erikson's theory of human development suggests the ego-virtue of fidelity provides a conceptual link between religion and identity formation. It is argued here that fidelity, within identity statuses, is characterized by commitment (i.e., foreclosure and achievement). Further, due to the connection between fidelity and ideology, greater evidence of fidelity and identity commitment should be observed among religious minority adolescents and among adolescents who more frequently attend church. Partial support was shown for these predictions. Mormon adolescents, who were minorities in the broader societal context, but majorities in their local community context, were found to score higher in identity foreclosure in comparison to Catholic and Protestant adolescents who were religious minorities in their local community context. It was suggested that premature foreclosure among Mormon adolescents may be due to the importance of exhibiting indicators of fidelity as efforts to strengthen one's minority identity and one's minority group in respect to the broader society. More frequent church attendance was related to higher scores in commitment identity statuses (i.e., foreclosure and achievement). Apparently, consistent church attendance is not required for heightened scores in the exploration status of moratorium.Received Ph.D. in developmental psychology from the Department of Psychology, Utah State University. Research interests: identity formation and psychosocial maturity in adolescence, ethnic and religious minority adolescents, and social relationships.Received Ms.C. in Consumer Studies, University of Guelph. Research interest: facilitating learning of computer software.Received B.S. in psychology at Utah State University.