Examining Ethnic Identity and Self-Esteem Among Biracial and Monoracial Adolescents

The psychological well-being and ethnic identity of biracial adolescents are largely underrepresented topics in current scholarly literature, despite the growing population of biracial and multiracial individuals in the United States. This study examined self-esteem, ethnic identity, and the relationship between these constructs among biracial and monoracial adolescents (n = 3282). Using analysis of covariance, significant differences emerged between biracial and monoracial adolescents on both a measure of self-esteem and a measure of ethnic identity. Specifically, biracial adolescents showed significantly higher levels of self-esteem than their Asian counterparts, but significantly lower self-esteem than Black adolescents. Furthermore, biracial adolescents scored significantly higher than Whites on a measure of ethnic identity, but scored lower than their Black, Asian, and Latino peers on the same measure. Finally, correlational analyses revealed a significant and positive relationship between ethnic identity and self-esteem for all groups.     

DNA typing revealing high HLA-Cw polymorphism completes availability of major histocompatibility complex loci in forensic medicine

Studies of human population genetics in Hungary have revealed relevant heterogeneity in the major histocompatibility complex. In the present studies, two isolated ethnic groups were chosen: people living in the Káli Basin westward from the Danube River, and those living in Opusztaszer, a village eastward from Danube, who are known as native ancient Hungarians. Blood samples were collected from 70 people in the Káli Basin and from 45 people in Opusztaszer. The frequency of HLA-Cw alleles was determined by serology as well as by DNA typing in 46 and 32 samples of the two populations, respectively, and in 44 randomly selected subjects of Hungarian origin. Compared with a random population of cadaver donors (the deaths having resulted mostly from accidents or, in a smaller number, strokes or heart infarcts) and voluntary bone marrow donors (typed in the last 10 years) recruited from all parts of Hungary and representing the mixed Hungarian population, remarkable differences were found in haplotype and allele frequencies. HLA-A, -B, -Cw typing was performed by serology and, in the case of the HLA-Cw locus, by polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-SSP and/or PCR-SSOP techniques, as well. The PCR-SSO oligotyping procedure allowed the identification of 32 Cw alleles in contrast with the 9 serologically detectable types. Because of the combination of low antigen expression and the lack of specific serologic reagents of good quality, no HLA-Cw antigens were detectable in 41%, and only one was detected in 48%, of the investigated individuals by standard serologic typing. With PCR-SSO typing, however, 97% of the investigated individuals proved to be heterozygous for HLA-Cw alleles. The two isolated populations differed from each other, from mixed Hungarian and other Caucasian populations in HLA-Cw* allele frequencies, as well as in haplotype distribution. This newly recognized polymorphism at the HLA-Cw locus completes the availability of major histocompatibility complex typing in forensic science and practice.     

DNA mixtures in forensic casework: a 4-year retrospective study

Occasionally interpretation guidelines from validation studies are difficult to apply to real forensic casework, especially in the case of mixed samples. Exogenous contamination, an unknown number of contributors or unbalanced proportion of each one in the sample and a varied degree of degradation of the biological materials, contribute to the difficulties in the interpretation of sample profiles. In this paper we have reviewed all the mixed genetic STR profiles encountered in our laboratory over 4 years (1997-2000) and evaluated the problems in the interpretation of the results. From 1547 criminal cases with 2424 samples typed, 163 showed a mixed profile (6.7%). We have observed that occasionally, a mixture appeared in the same sample with one multiplex amplification kit (e.g. Blue) and not with another (e.g. Green). From our results, it can be suggested that technical characteristics of the different fluorochrome groups in the multiplexes override the molecular characteristics of each STR in their capacity to detect mixtures.     

The concept of democracy: moments,meanings and images in the “long term” (a proposed rethinking of conceptual history in the Ibero-American world)

ABSTRACT

In recent years there has been a notable increase in the practice of conceptual history in the Ibero-American world. There has been a particular focus on the use of fundamental concepts previous and subsequent to the Independences (1750–1850). This work is a proposal to broaden the temporal framework of analysis, until the Second World War at least. It also suggests the introduction of three central aspects: incorporation of images as a complement to texts in the analysis of concepts; identification of the historical moments at which there occurs a change in the dominant semantic of each concept; and consideration of the Ibero-American sphere, not in isolation but in interaction with the global world. To illustrate this new approach, we provide a case study related to a paradigmatic key concept of modernity: Democracy.     

Book reviews

How Nuclear Weapons Spread By F. Barnaby. Routledge, London, 1993, Hbk. £30.00.

Germany and the Approach of War in 1914 By V.R. Berghahn. Macmillan, London, second edition 1993 (first edition 1973), Hbk. £35.00, Pbk £10.99.

The Age of Migration’, International Population Movements in the Modern World By Stephan Castles and Mark Miller. Macmillan, Basingstoke, 1993, Hbk. £35.00, Pbk. £10.99.

Ideas and Foreign Policy, Beliefs, Institutions and Political Change Edited By Judith Goldstein and Robert O. Keohane. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, 1993, Hbk. S41.25, Pbk. S16.45.

European Monetary Union: Lessons from the Classical Gold Standard By Milivoje Panic. St. Martin's Press, New York, 1993.

In Defense of Naval Supremacy: Finance, Technology and British Naval Policy, 1889–1914 By Jon Tetsuro Sumida. Routledge, London, 1993, Pbk. £12.99.