Child Abuse and the Experience of Violence in College Dating Relationships: Examining the Moderating Effect of Gender and Race

Prior research suggests that being abused during childhood significantly increases one’s risk for the involvement in violent intimate relationships across the life course. The current study contributes to the literature by using a large sample of college students to explore the moderating effects of race and gender on the relationship between child abuse and later experiences of intimate partner violence. Results indicate that for both men and women, child abuse increases the risk for dating violence. Findings also suggest that specific race and gender combinations moderate the relationship between child abuse and later experiences of IPV, specifically regarding the risk for mutual or bidirectional violence. Implications for prevention and intervention and directions for future research are discussed.     

Law,psychology, and children

Society's treatment of children and families is guided by the premises that children lack the ability and/or the capacity to be autonomous directors of their own lives and that the private autonomous family is best suited to provide for the best interests of children. These premises are based on two assumptions: (a) that parents will act in their children's best interests, and (b) that parents possess the maturity, experience, and judgment required to make life's difficult decisions, which children lack. We explore these premises and assumptions along with the concept of the best interests of children and the relationship between children's capacities and children's rights. We conclude that collaboration between legal scholars and social scientists will enhance the likelihood of more informed decision making about these issues.Appreciation is expressed to Sarah L. Cook, without whose assistance this special issue would never have been completed.     

National Character and Governance Styles: A Comparison between Parliamentary and Presidential Styles of Government with Reference to Walter Bagehot (1826–1877)

Walter Bagehot's nineteenth century comparison between the American presidential system and the English parliamentary system gives good insight into how political regimes may be the result of the specific character of their nations. Both nations had fought to create a government based on the main features of their national temperaments: egalitarianism on the one hand and deference on the other. This insight leads in turn to what Bagehot believed were two distinct definitions of liberty and democracy. His original sociopolitical theory enables us to consider the steps developing countries should take in order to evolve peacefully.