Adolescents' moral dilemmas: The context

The purpose of this paper is to present a methodology which outlines the kinds of real-life moral dilemmas adolescents spontaneously present in open-ended semiclinical interviews. A coding procedure is introduced which delineates three aspects of these moral dilemmas, conflicts, context, and content, and an analysis is done of the category labeled context. One hundred forty-eight adolescents from two school settings were interviewed. The results show that the majority of both boys and girls in these samples describe moral conflicts in the context of a relationship, particularly involving friends. However, boys are more likely than girls to focus on the the self as the context of the moral dilemma with no other relational context present and significantly more girls than boys focus on relationships rather than self.The authors thank the Dodge, Klingenstein and Kendall Foundations for funding these studies.Her Ed.D. is from Harvard University, M.Ed. from Boston University, and A.B. from Ohio University. She was the Project Director for Carol Gilligan on a coed high-school study. Her present research interests are preservice teacher training and women's development.She is the Project Director of a longitudinal study of moral and social development in female children and adolescents and is the editor ofA Guide to Reading Narratives of Moral Conflict and Choice for Self and Moral Voice. Her Ed.D. is from Harvard University and B.A. is from Ottawa University, Ottawa, Kansas. Her research focuses on a developmental analysis of narratives of relationship in girls.Her B.A. is from Brown University and her research interests are in female development and children of alcoholics.     

Attitudes,behaviors, and the influence of the family: A reexamination of the role of family structure

Political socialization researchers have long declared the importance of the family to the socialization of young people. But political science has not kept pace with the dramatic changes in family over the last 25 years. Where, in the past, family was generally a two-parent family, today more than 25 percent of the families with children under 18 are single-parent families. This research seeks to reexamine the traditional assumptions about how family structure influences socialization by testing the hypothesis that young adults raised in single-parent families experience different patterns of political socialization than those raised in two-parent families. However, the data provide no support for this hypothesis. There is no relationship between family structure and political efficacy, political knowledge, or political participation, and only a weak one between structure and political trust.     

Assessing the Effects of Public Participation

This article presents the results of research designed to test participatory democracy assertions that high-quality public participation can affect participants' beliefs in desirable ways. It examines the relationships between exposure to quality participation and participant beliefs about the trustworthiness and responsiveness of a public agency and the value of including different viewpoints in public meetings. After participation in quality project meetings, participants were significantly more likely to believe the agency was responsive to public concerns. The results indicate that some specific aspects of quality participation are positively associated with expectations about the agency's responsiveness and performance. Positive associations were also found with tolerance for differences of opinion. These results have important implications for public administrators and theorists of participatory democracy.     

Electro-acupuncture to prevent prolonged postoperative ileus:A randomized clinical trial

AIM:To examine whether acupuncture can prevent prolonged postoperative ileus(PPOI)after intraperitoneal surgery for colon cancer. METHODS:Ninety patients were recruited from the Fudan University Cancer Hospital,Shanghai,China. After surgery,patients were randomized to receive acupuncture(once daily,starting on postoperative day 1, for up to six consecutive days)or usual care.PPOI was defined as an inability to pass flatus or have a bowel movement by 96 h after surgery.The main outcomes were time to first fl...     

Building Capacity in Election Administration: Local Responses to Complexity and Interdependence

Public administration research has identified networks, professionalization, and collaboration with community interests as potential principles by which public organizations can enhance their capacity and effectiveness. This article explores the implementation of these principles by election administrators at the local level, where their ability to conduct elections is the subject of current scrutiny. Findings indicate that election administrators established networks, professional organizations, professionalization requirements and community collaborations prior to the passage of the Help America Vote Act of 2002. Findings also suggest that local election efforts may become more effective as a result of certain provisions of the act that promote centralization and information dissemination. Local election administrators may also continue to build capacity by applying these public administration principles.