The Reciprocal Relationships Among Parents’ Expectations,Adolescents’ Expectations,and Adolescents’ Achievement: A Two-Wave Longitudinal Analysis of the NELS Data

Previous research has consistently demonstrated the importance of parents’ expectations and adolescents’ expectations on adolescents’ academic achievement. Less is known, however, about the reciprocal relationships among these constructs. To address this issue, we analyzed two waves of data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88) using longitudinal cross-lagged path models. The sample consisted of 14,376 students (51.1% females; 6.5% Asian, 11.1% Hispanic, 9.2% African American, and 73.2% White). Results indicated that there was a reciprocal relationship between parents’ expectations and adolescents’ expectations (i.e., they had mutual influence on each other). Moreover, there was a reciprocal relationship between expectations (both parents’ and adolescents’) and adolescents’ academic achievement. Multiple-group analyses of gender and ethnicity revealed that the effects of parents’ expectations on students’ expectations were stronger among males than among females. With respect to ethnic differences, the effects of adolescents’ expectations were weakest on parents’ expectations among African Americans as compared to the other ethnic groups (i.e., Asian, Hispanic and White). Implications of these findings are discussed.     

An apparently jawless cadaver: a case of post-mortem slippage

Passer-by witnesses reported a human cadaver in woodland associated with an agricultural college to police in Northern Ireland. The cadaver comprised reasonably preserved feet, legs and pelvis, with poorly preserved arms and torso, lying with the torso down-slope abutting a fallen tree. A search of the area around the torso, and for some 20m around, failed to find the cranium and mandible. The mandible was found, embedded inside the chest cavity. The cranium was found some 30m away. The victim was later identified as a 24-year old drug addict who had absconded from a local hospital. Mapping of the area led us to speculate that he had tripped and fallen down-slope: other reasons for the body location were also considered. After death, the cadaver had further slipped down-slope forcing the mandible into the chest cavity: slippage of human remains is well-known in forensic and archaeological literature but not well documented. Knowledge of this process of cadaver 'slip' may save wasted police resources in future similar environments where the mandible, and possible other nearby bones appear missing yet are inside the body.     

Tourism,Development, and Media

Tourism has long figured in municipal and state-wide plans for economic development and revitalization. Such plans often articulate themes subsequently used to organize tours, advertising campaigns, and merchandising. In the 1990s, some residents of Roswell, New Mexico, tried to build tourism using typical southwestern themes. Others capitalized on Roswell’s unique association with an alleged crash of an extraterrestrial craft. Early support from the New Mexico Tourism Department (NMTD) facilitated the success of Roswell’s UFO-based tourism. In 2007, NMTD launched its own alien-based advertising campaign promoting New Mexico as a tourist destination.

Productivity ratings of graduate programs in criminal justice based on publication in ten critical journals

This article examines scholarly productivity among faculty members of graduate programs in criminal justice. Studies of scholarly productivity in other disciplines have frequently appeared in the literature. Cartter's early work on “prestige levels” was cited as being the forerunner in this respect. The authors obtained rankings of the “ten most critical” journals from graduate criminal justice program directors. After the list of journals was compiled, these journals were searched for the most recent five-year period. Articles published by full-time faculty members at fifty-two institutions were included in the study. In addition to total productivity, data on productivity adjusted for faculty size was also presented. Problems and controversy associated with this type of work are cited by the authors.     

Comparing the Social Service Utilization, Exposure to Violence, and Trauma Symptomology of Domestic Violence Female “Victims” and Female “Batterers”

Although some authors have suggested that women batterers may really be self-defending victims, to date, no research has been initiated to empirically support this assertion. This paper describes the design and outcomes of a research project that investigated the similarities and differences between women adjudicated as domestic violence batterers and women identified as domestic violence victims. Findings indicated group similarities in the areas of exposure to violence and social service utilization. Although both groups reported high levels of trauma symptomology, victim scores were significantly higher.     

The part-time option? : Women and part-time work in the European Community

Part-time working has become one of the most significant patterns of work in the European Community in that it represents a growing segment of the increasingly service-oriented labour market. This has occured alongside the feminisation of the labour force through the expansion of ‘pink collar’ occupations in the service sector industries. This paper briefly examines data for part- time working in the European Community. These patterns and trends are related to female participation rates, labour shortages, and the relative importance of the service sector in the European economies. The role of the trade unions and the state in providing support for working parents and/or encouraging part-time initiatives is also considered. The paper concludes with some possible reasons for the variations in part-time participation in individual member states and the implications of these for women's future participation in the labour force.