“Developing a community soul”: A Comparative Assessment of the Australian Assistance Plan in Three Regions, 1973–1977

The Australian Assistance Plan (AAP) was an innovative yet largely forgotten social welfare program from the 1970s. A key platform of the Whitlam Labor government, which established a series of Regional Councils for Social Development across Australia, the AAP reframed citizens’ participation in their communities, stimulated voluntary organisations and volunteering and attempted to transform engagement among all levels of governments and the voluntary sector. Through an analysis of three Regional Council case studies in Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia, this article focuses on the themes of regionalism and regional distinctiveness in order to assess how questions of regional difference can impact on the development of policy practices.     

Depressive Symptoms and Sexual Experiences Among Early Adolescent Girls: Interpersonal Avoidance as Moderator

Building on the growing body of research that supports the relationship between depressive symptoms and sexual activities in adolescence, we examined how individual differences in interpersonal avoidance and anxiety might moderate this association. Data were collected from 71 early adolescent girls (M age 13.45 years; SD = 0.68; 89% Caucasian) concurrently and 1 year later. Results indicated that greater depressive symptoms predicted a greater frequency of sexual intercourse both concurrently and 1-year later, particularly among more interpersonally avoidant girls. However, greater depressive symptoms predicted a greater frequency of non-intercourse activities 1-year later among less avoidant girls. Implications for understanding how individual differences in interpersonal style may serve as risk or protective factors in dysphoric girls’ sexual experiences are discussed.     

Letting “the people(s)” decide: peace referendums and power-sharing settlements

Referendums have been used to legitimate power-sharing settlements in deeply divided societies transitioning from conflict. This article assesses the capacity of referendum rules to facilitate the “voice” of multiple groups or “peoples” in the decision to share power as a “constitutional moment.” Drawing on the constitutional referendums in Northern Ireland in 1998 and Iraq in 2005, the author demonstrates that referendum rules matter in highlighting the variable degrees of support for the elite-negotiated deal on the part of the contending groups. The institutional design process prior to the referendum is crucial for incentivising groups to support the settlement, particularly the previously dominant group. When faced with a choice between a simple majority threshold and countermajoritarian procedures, majoritarianism is appropriate only in so far as the main groups see their constitutional preferences satisfied and concurrent majorities can be secured. A qualified majority referendum threshold to protect a minority group is appropriate for divided states where the groups are regionally concentrated and when the groups agree to such rules. Important for the legitimation of power-sharing, referendums highlight the likely variable extent of approval on the part of the main groups, necessitating ongoing efforts to foster public support for the deal.     

A Reevaluation of the Effects of State and ACA Dependent Coverage Mandates on Health Insurance Coverage

We study state and federal health insurance coverage mandates for young adults. Despite consistent findings that the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) federal mandate was effective, research has disagreed on whether preexisting, state-level mandates were successful in increasing coverage. We reconsider the issue with a new analytical perspective and newly available accurate data on state mandates. We show that the impact of the state mandates was substantive and concentrated among young adults between ages 19 and 23. Our estimates indicate that dependent coverage rose by 3.9 percentage points and overall coverage rose by 3.3 percentage points. Crowd-out of coverage through young adults’ own jobs was negligible. For those above 23, we find little evidence of changes in coverage. We incorporate these insights into analysis of the ACA's mandate, showing its effects were focused among those who were not eligible for state mandates, or were eligible but older than 23. Our results suggest that eligibility restrictions played important roles in limiting the scope of the state mandates, but they can be practical and effective tools for policymakers looking to ensure or expand coverage for young adults in the face of uncertainty about the ACA.     

Adolescent Risk of Dating Violence and Electronic Dating Abuse: A Latent Class Analysis

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - Electronic forms of dating violence among youth are common yet little is known about how these forms of violence overlap with the commonly studied domains of...     

Towards community‐based monitoring in Manitoba's hog industry

Abstract: Rapid changes in the hog industry in Manitoba have resulted in a gap in the province's resource and environmental policy regime. Concerns about potential, uncertain environmental impacts and an outdated regulatory framework led to a moratorium on new hog industry operations and a provincial hearing. Based on extensive literature, documentary and legislative reviews, this article explores the role of monitoring, and the potential for community‐based monitoring specifically, to address these policy issues. Given the non‐point nature of the pollution in question, the social and economic conditions in southern Manitoba and the strengths of community‐based monitoring initiatives, this approach is a promising solution. Furthermore, the existing legal framework provides an existing grounding through which the program could be vested with authority. Sommaire: Des changements rapides dans l'industrie porcine au Manitoba ont entraîné un fossé entre la politique des ressources et celle de l'environnement de la province. Les inquiétudes au sujet d'éventuelles conséquences environnementales et d'un cadre de réglementation dépassé ont conduit à un moratoire sur les nouvelles opérations dans l'industrie porcine et à une audience provinciale. En s'appuyant sur une importante documentation et sur des études documentaires et législatives, cet article approfondit le rôle de la surveillance, et plus particulièrement le rôle possible de la surveillance communautaire, pour s'attaquer à ces questions de politiques. Étant donné la nature non ponctuelle de la pollution en question, les conditions sociales et économiques dans le sud du Manitoba et la force des initiatives communautaires, cette approche est une solution prometteuse. En outre, le cadre juridique actuel fournit une base existante qui permettrait au programme d'être investi d'une certaine autorité.     

JUDICIAL DISPUTE RESOLUTION

Judicial Dispute Resolution or JDR is a pre-trial settlement process involving judges as settlement facilitators. In October 2000 the Family and Youth Court in Edmonton, Alberta launched a yearlong JDR pilot project to determine whether JDR would help in resolving family and child welfare matters before the court. The project was very successful and has become a permanent program in Edmonton. This article explains how the Edmonton JDR polit project was set up and evaluated as well as its success as a permanent program. The article describes the JDR process in detail and discusses the current statistics from the program. The design and development of the new JDR Centre in the Edmonton courthouse is also addressed.     

Promoting awareness and prevention of child sexual victimization using the Red Flag/Green Flag program: An evaluation with follow-up

This study describes an evaluation of a school-based sexual abuse awareness and prevention program that featured the “Red Flag/Green Flag People” coloring book and included presentation of a film (“Better Safe than Sorry II”) and discussion of hypothetical and actual experiences involving inappropriate physical touching. Children, parents, and teachers from two experimental schools participated in the program and were compared to similar groups from a control school. Outcomes were evaluated using pre-post (2-month) assessment questionnaires. Among the findings obtained, experimental group children reported learning more about the differences between good and bad touching, and being more likely to both report instances of sexual victimization and utilize program-specific preventive skills, relative to controls. Parents exposed to program materials acknowledged greater improvements in knowledge about program goals and more positive communication at home about abuse. Although no significant differences were obtained for teachers, the ratings for one experimental group were consistently higher than those of the other groups. Staff volunteers evaluated the program as overwhelmingly positive and without adverse effects. Still, some children from all groups reported being touched inappropriately. Some of these improvements were also noted for the experimental group at 6-month follow-up assessment. The findings were discussed in the context of conceptual, clinical, training, and empirical considerations.