Dysphoria and Hopelessness Following Battering: The Role of Perceived Control, Coping, and Self-Esteem

Coping, perceived control, dysphoria, hopelessness, and self-esteem in a sample of 100 battered women were assessed. Participants reported dysphoria and low self-esteem, but not hopelessness. High perceived control over current abuse and greater use of drugs, behavioral disengagement, denial, and self-blame as coping mechanisms were associated with increased dysphoria and low self-esteem. High expectations for control over future abuse were associated with decreased dysphoria and hopelessness and increased self-esteem. After controlling for the effects of abuse severity and low self-esteem, self-blame was a unique contributor to dysphoria and high expectations for control of future abuse were unique contributors to hopelessness. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for clinical intervention with battered women.     

“Sitting on a Man: Colonialism and the Lost Political Institutions ot lgbo Women”: A Reply to Judith Van Allen

Présenté par ses promoteurs comme une initiative renouvelant l'approche du Développement en Afrique, le Nouveau Partenariat pour le Développement de l'Afrique (NEPAD) suscite dans la littérature des travaux essentiellement normatifs. Dans cet article, nous cherchons à savoir s'il introduit une innovation ou s'il perpétue des politiques préexistantes. En explorant la genèse, les idées et les stratégies du NEPAD, nous montrons que l'innovation postulée est limitée et mettons en évidence deux phénomènes explicatifs. Elle est limitée d'abord en raison de la dépendance au sentier précédemment balisé notamment par les institutions financières internationales; dépendance qui provient des phénomènes de diffusion des idées et de rigidité des structures et normes politiques institutionnalisées et implique une continuité avec les politiques antérieures. Elle est limitée ensuite en raison des stratégies instrumentales des dirigeants africains qui, répondant à l'appel des partenaires extérieurs, "jouent le jeu" en adoptant les idées, les discours et les stratégies dominantes en vue de recevoir des ressources subordonnées à cette attitude conformiste.     

The iron law of Erdogan: the decay from intra-party democracy to personalistic rule

Michels’ ‘iron law of oligarchy’ suggests that oligarchic party rule is inevitable, yet many parties have shown a strong commitment to intra-party democracy. However, Turkey’s akp is a typified case of Michels’ law, displaying an explicit commitment to intra-party democracy, only to later abandon it. I ask what factors have facilitated this transformation. Why does the iron law of oligarchy display itself in some parties but not in others? I argue that intra-party democracy owes its existence to three indicators – inclusiveness, decentralisation and institutionalisation. Conversely, it should be observed that a party shifting from democratic to oligarchic or personalistic intra-party rule will display decreasing levels of these three indicators in terms of policy formation and candidate selection. By tracing akp’s internal party operations since its founding in 2001, I demonstrate a gradual deterioration in these indicators, reflecting a gradual deterioration of democracy within the party to oligarchy and then to personalism.     

Historisches Erinnern und Gedenken im Übergang vom 20. zum 21. Jahrhundert

With data from a 1990–1992 panel survey determinants and political consequences of attitudes towards the abortion law in Germany are investigated. Compared to other issues, the topic is found not to be personally very salient to the average respondent. If it is perceived as highly important, however, such attitudes can be well accounted for, and have significant effects on voting intentions. General value orientations emerge as most important determinants, and the strongest impact on partisan preferences is found among women in the former GDR.     

Heuristics in causal reasoning and their influence on eyewitness testimony

Abstract

In two experiments the effect of knowledge of the seriousness of an event's outcome on the estimated strength of its causes was studied. In experiment 1 participants (n=87) were shown a video of a homeless man being evicted from a police station by a police officer, during which the evictee fell. One group of participants were told that the homeless man subsequently died; the other group was told that he was uninjured. Participants who thought the homeless man had died more often blamed the policeman for the man's fall. Estimations of the force of the push were not directly related to the outcome of the event, but rather to the attribution of blame, with those who blamed the officer giving higher estimates of the force of the push. In experiment 2, before watching a revised version of the video, the participants (n=88) were assigned to one of four groups. Groups A and B were told that the homeless man had died; groups C and D were told that he had survived. In an effort to counter interference of blame attribution, groups A and C were told that the officer was to blame for the man's fall, and groups B and D that the officer was not to blame. The manipulation of guilt was not successful, but this time a significant relation between event outcome and push force was found, with those who thought the homeless man had died giving higher estimates of the force of the push than those who thought that the man had survived. As in experiment 1, those who thought the homeless man had died more often blamed the policeman and those who blamed the policeman again gave higher estimates of the force of the push. It appears then that the more tragic the outcome of a violent incident, the more blame witnesses tend to attribute to the perpetrator, and the more they tend to overestimate the amount of violence involved.     

The violent reconvictions of sexual offenders

The violent reconvictions of a sample of sexual offenders discharged from prison between 1992 and 1996 (who had not been reconvicted of a sexual offence) were examined. The hypothesis was that a proportion of these violent reconvictions would have a sexual motivation. The sample consisted of 104 adult male sexual offenders for whom detailed information regarding their violent reconviction was available. The sample was categorized according to the motivation of the violent reconviction. It was found that a proportion of the violent reconvictions were sexually motivated (12%) and that some of these had resulted from an original charge for a sexual offence. Significant differences were found between the sexual motivation and violent motivation group on the number of criminal history and victim characteristic variables. It was concluded that, in the case of sexual offenders, violent convictions might mask the true motivation of the offence.     

Death by compaction in a garbage truck

We report on two deaths by compaction in a garbage truck that recently occurred in this county. In both cases, the victim apparently climbed into a recycling dumpster to sleep, and was emptied with the contents of the receptacle into a garbage truck. Subsequent compaction of the victim with the load led to death. We also discuss several similar fatalities that have been reported to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.