Officer Preferences for Male Backup: The Influence of Gender and Police Partnering

Much of the extant literature regarding women in policing focuses on job stress, perceptions of job performance, and inherent difficulties associated with their immersion in a traditionally male-dominated profession. Little attention, however, has been given to perceptions regarding gender and backup preferences among police officers. This study sought to examine the impact of professional and demographic characteristics of municipal police officers in a southern state on preferences for male police officers as backup. Multivariate analysis indicated that gender, partner status, race, and marital status significantly impacted officer preferences for male backup. However, further examination of the interaction effect between gender and partner status revealed a gap in the preferences for officers with no partners. Although officers with no partners reported lower overall preferences for male backup than officers with female or male partners, the disparity of preference between male and female officers with no partners was sizeable.     

Public health and vulnerable groups

Editors' Introduction

Public health and vulnerable groups     

Public Engagement for Informing Science and Technology Policy: What Do We Know,What Do We Need to Know,and How Will We Get There?

This article examines social science relevant to public engagements and identifies the challenges to the goal of meaningful public input into science and technology policy. Specifically, when considering “which forms, features, and conditions of public engagement are optimal for what purposes, and why?” we find social science has not clarified matters. We offer a model to guide systematic research that defines and empirically connects variations in features and types of public engagement activities to specifically defined variations in effective processes and outcomes. The specification of models, as we have done, will guide policy makers, practitioners, and the public in determining what kinds of engagement techniques are optimal for what kinds of purposes. Our model is presented to start conversations and inspire research that in the future should help to ensure meaningful public participation that meets the promise of contributing thoughtful societal values and perspectives into governmental policies impacting science and technology research.     

Poor parenting and antisocial behavior among homeless young adults: links to dating violence perpetration and victimization

Though research has examined risk factors associated with street victimization among homeless young people, little is known about dating violence experiences among this group. Given homeless youths' elevated rates of child maltreatment, it is likely that they are at high risk for dating violence. As such, the current study examined the association between child maltreatment and parental warmth with dating violence perpetration and victimization through substance use and delinquency among a sample of 172 homeless males and females. Results from path analysis revealed that physical abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect were all significant correlates of both substance use and delinquency, whereas lack of parental warmth was only associated with substance use. Neglect and substance use had direct effects on dating violence and substance use and was found to mediate the relationship between physical abuse and dating violence. Finally, females, older youth, and non-Whites had significantly higher levels of dating violence compared with their counterparts.     

The successful DNA typing of samples following a thermal cycler power loss

An approach for generating DNA profiles when critical samples have been consumed and a power outage occurs during the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification reaction is described. This study demonstrates that a complete and accurate DNA short tandem repeat profile can be obtained: (1) when single source DNA samples are amplified for 26, 27, or 28 cycles using the Profiler Plus and COfiler Amplification Kits after an interruption in amplification, (2) from mock samples when PCR amplification has been interrupted early (after five cycles) or late (after 18 cycles) and the sample is subjected to an additional round of amplification, even after incubation of the sample at room temperature overnight, and (3) from nonprobative casework samples interrupted after approximately 18 cycles of amplification, an overnight incubation at room temperature and subjected to one or two additional rounds of PCR amplification for approximately 26 total cycles. Samples interrupted before five completed cycles and subjected to additional PCR cycles yielded variable results.     

Late adolescents' perceptions of their relationships with their parents: Relationships among deidealization,autonomy, relatedness,and insecurity and implications for adolescent adjustment and ego identity status

Questionnaire data from 376 undergraduates (mean age=19.3 years) were used to test a model describing interrelationships among deidealization, relatedness, autonomy, and insecurity in late adolescents' relationships with their parents. As expected, deidealization predicted greater autonomy and less relatedness (i.e., more disengagement), greater disengagement predicted greater insecurity, and greater insecurity predicted less autonomy. However, disengagement from parents proved to be a double-edged sword in that it was linked not only to insecurity, but also to feelings of greater separateness and self-directedness in relation, to parents. Additional analyses identified significant associations between the adolescent/parent relationship variables and the adolescents' psychological health and ego identity status.Received her Ph.D. from Yale University. Major interests are in parent/child relationships during late adolescence and young adulthood.Received her B.A. from University of Virginia and M.A. from Michigan State University. Major interests are in adolescent development and pediatric psychology.Received her B.A. from Duke University and M.A. from Michigan State University. Major interests are in adult children of alcoholics and adolescent separation/individuation.     

Management standards and development practice in the South African aid chain

The article addresses how South African non‐governmental organisations (NGOs) approach the management of their development activities and the influences upon their approaches. Based on interviews, field visits and programme documents from 40 organisations working in South Africa, the article explores the extent to which NGO programme priorities and adopted management practices arise out of donor conditions, succeed in their stated aims and generate other unintended consequences. Four aspects of contemporary NGO management dynamics are explored: logical frameworks, participatory processes, impact enhancement and financial probity. While donor requirements in these four areas generally impose heavy costs on South African NGOs and poorly achieve their stated aims, the research documents cases, in which local managers were able to work effectively and learn within these constraints, found ways around the more intrusive requirements, or challenged donors to change their policies to permit more equitable donor‐recipient relationships and better development practice. However, an unintended impact of tighter funding requirements is an observable differentiation within the South African NGO sector, with smaller community‐based organisations excluded as larger professional organisations establish more enduring links with international development organisations. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.