The effects of academic and interpersonal stress on dating violence among college students: a test of classical strain theory

This study examines Merton's Classical Strain Theory (1938) as a causative factor in intimate partner violence among college students. We theorize that college students experience general life strain and cumulative strain as they pursue the goal of a college degree. We test this strain on the likelihood of using intimate partner violence. Strain due to unrealistic expectations of intimate partnership and economic strain are also examined. The analysis examines the following causative factors representing strain: 1) the College Undergraduate Stress Scale (Renner & Mackin, 1998); 2) cumulative academic strain measured by college classification; 3) cumulative intimate partner strain measured as the length of time in the relationship; 4) academic strain measured by number of hours studied weekly, and 5) economic strain measured by number of hours worked weekly. Additionally, we examine the extent to which gender and race/ethnicity differentially affect intimate partner in the context of these measures of strain. The Conflict Tactics Scales II (Straus et al, 1996) are used to measure dating violence and include indicators for sexual coercion, physical aggression, injury, and psychological aggression. Data were collected from 142 students in lower-division classes from Texas Tech University. Results show that general strain and cumulative intimate partner strain increase the use of dating violence among college students. The longer dating partners are in a relationship, the higher the chances of psychological aggression, physical assault, and sexual coercion. Converse to our expectations, time spent working reduces psychological aggression due to reducing time spent together rather than reflecting economic strain.     

Taking Wrongs Seriously: Acknowledgment, Reconciliation, and the Politics of Sustainable Peace, Trudy Govier

Calls for truth commissions and similar public processes topromote social reconciliation after national conflicts oftenreflect admirable aspirations but muddy thinking. This subtleand careful analysis of the processes of political reconciliationafter periods of mass violence opens for analysis the spectrumof potential meanings associated with ‘reconciliation,’ranging from social unity and harmony to the cessation of physicalviolence. Informed by philosophic analysis, social psychological studiesand historical case studies, Taking Wrongs Seriously     

Reviews & Resources

Theatre

The Miss Firecracker Contest, by Be A Henley at Westside Arts Theatre, New York City.

Me and My Shadow by Terry Wolver‐ton, at ABC No Rio in New York City, Fall 1984.

A Good American Novel, by Beth Lapides, at P.S. 122, New York City, December 1984.

nubs? (?nubs/'nebz/n: an ugly woman), by Lisa Goldberg, produced at SUNY‐Binghamton Fine Arts Center, December 1984.

Out/In The World: Life in the Work of Jane Bowles, created, directed and performed by Ellie Covan, produced by Open Channels in New York City, October‐November, 1984.

Dance

Pooh Kaye and Eccentric Motions at Dance Theatre Workshop, New York City, October 1984.

Sequestered Gestures, Carol Martin, Experimental Intermedia Foundation, December 1984.

Senta Driver's Harry, Emanu‐El Midtown YM‐YWHA, New York City, October 1984.

Marie Chien Noir at the Jerusalem Festival, Israel, Summer 1984.

Film

A Question of Silence, directed by Marlene Gorris, Netherlands. A Quartet Films Release, 1982.

An earlier version of this review, “Ordinary Women Who Kill,” appeared in the New York Native, August 13–26, 1984.

Books

The Diaries of Judith Malina: 1941–1957 by Judith Malina. NY: Grove Press, Inc., 1984. 464 + index. Cloth: $22.50; paper: $11.95.

Women in Motion by Alexa L. Foreman. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green University Popular Press, 1983. 245 pp. + bibliography. Cloth: $19.95.

Women Composers, Conductors, and Musicians of the Twentieth Century by Jane Weiner LePage. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, Inc., Volume I, 1980; Volume II, 1983. 275 pp. and 360 pp. respectively, index. Cloth: $18.50 and $21.50 respectively.

Stormy Weather: The Music and Lives of a Century of Jazzwomen by Linda Dahl. NY: Pantheon Books, 1984. 268 pp. + notes, discography, bibliography, index. Paper: $12.95.

Mother of the Blues: A Study of Ma Rainey by Sandra B. Lieb. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 1981. 173 pp. + discography, appendices, notes, bibliography, two indices. Paper: $9.95.

Listings     

NGO–government partnerships for scaling up: sexuality education in Mexico

Governments in developing countries need effective programmes to advance public policies and improve social welfare. NGOs often have well-tested programmes and research outcomes that are relevant to such needs, yet the scaling up of pilot programmes to national level is difficult to achieve and frequently unsuccessful. This article presents a case of successful scaling up for an adolescent sexual-health and psychosocial-competencies programme in Mexico, through an NGO–government partnership involving IMIFAP, a Mexican NGO. The case illustrates how an NGO can create a successful partnership with government to scale up effective programmes, in ways that meet key needs of the target population while protecting the NGO's core values.     

A comparison of adolescent inpatients with and without substance abuse using the Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory

We compared clinical syndromes, expressed concerns, and personality styles of adolescent inpatients with substance use disorders (SUD; n=44) vs. without substance use disorders (non-SUD; n=61) using the Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory. The two groups did not differ with regard to age, sex, ethnicity, functional severity, or the frequency of other major psychiatric disorders, and were drawn from the same overall sample population. SUD subjects showed significantly higher levels of delinquent predisposition and lower levels of anxiety. Consistent with these syndromal findings, we found that SUD subjects were characterized by higher levels of unruliness and social insensitivity and lower levels of submissiveness. Our findings suggest that, in severely disturbed adolescents who require psychiatric hospitalization, externalizing phenomena are closely associated with SUD. Our findings also suggest that internalizing problems also exist in SUD, although not at levels greater than that observed in non-SUD inpatients.Received Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Pittsburgh. Research interests include eating and weight disorders, addictive behaviors, behavioral medicine, psychological assessment, and psychiatric comorbidity.Received Psy.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Hartford. Research interests include psychological assessment, adolescent psychopathology, and psychiatric comorbidity.Received B.A. in Psychology from Swarthmore College. Research interests include perception, developmental psychopathology, and psychosis proneness.Received Ph.D. in clinical psychiatry from DePaul University. Research interests include the assessment and treatment of substance abusing psychiatric populations.     

Environmental survey for four pathogenic bacteria and closely related species using phylogenetic and functional genes

Bacterial species with high DNA sequence similarity to pathogens could affect the specificity of assays designed to detect biological threat agents in environmental samples. The natural presence of four pathogenic bacteria, Bacillus anthracis, Clostridium perfringens, Francisella tularensis, and Yersinia pestis and their closely related species, was determined for a large collection of soil and aerosol samples. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and gene sequencing were used using group-specific 16S rRNA primers to identify pathogens and related species, and pathogen-specific virulence genes. Close relatives of B. anthracis (B. cereus group species) were detected in 37% of the soils and 25% of the aerosol samples. The B. anthracis protective antigen (pag) gene or a close homolog was detected in 16 of these samples. For the other three pathogen groups, the frequency of detection was much lower, and none of the samples were positive with both the phylogenetic and virulence gene primer sets.