Road aggression among drinking drivers: Alcohol and non-alcohol effects on aggressive driving and road rage

This study specified aggressive driving (AD) and road rage (RR) and examined a number of alcohol and non-alcohol effects on and the reciprocity between the two behaviors in a drinking driving population. The sample contained 431 clients (79 percent men) who volunteered to complete a self-report survey from fifty alcoholism and substance abuse treatment facilities across New York State. All subjects were undergoing alcoholism treatment because of a drinking driving-related reason. Structural equation modeling with the LISREL program was employed to estimate the reciprocal effects between AD and RR. The results demonstrated that AD and RR were two separate behaviors that simultaneously influenced each other. Additionally, AD and RR, as problem behaviors, tended to be affected mostly by other problem behaviors, such as alcohol problems, impaired driving, and feelings of depression, rather than general situations or behaviors, such as the frequency of alcohol use, driving after drinking, and the experience of stressful life events. The findings convey a message to the criminal justice field as well as alcoholism and substance abuse treatment professionals that addressing the problem of road aggression requires special attention to persons with alcohol problems and especially those with multiple drinking driving offenses.     

Commercial contracts and human connectedness

She is author of The Madam as Entrepreneurand has published articles in the fields of the sociology of deviance and the sociology of law. Her recent research and publications have been on the legal impact of federal legislation in the education of handicapped children.     

The relationship of observed maternal behavior to questionnaire measures of parenting knowledge,attitudes, and emotional state in adolescent mothers

Although relationships have been found between maternal psychological characteristics and cognitive and emotional outcomes in children, the behaviors which may mediate these relationships are seldom examined. This is especially true for adolescent mothers, whose children are thought to be at high risk for adverse outcomes. In this study, adolescent mothers in two special programs completed questionnaires measuring perception of the newborn (Neonatal Perception Inventory), knowledge of influences on child development (Infant Caregiving Inventory), and emotional state (General Health Questionnaire); they were also systematically observed while interacting with their infants in a naturalistic situation. Specific maternal behaviors were found to vary with the age of the mother and of the baby. Mothers with neutral or negative perceptions of their infants touched them less than did mothers with positive perceptions. Degree of emotional disturbance was inversely related to the amount of time that the mother looked at her infant while in physical contact.This research was supported in part by NIH Biomedical Research Support Grant No. BRS 507 RR 05445-19 to Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health.Received her Sc.D. in mental hygiene (comparative behavior) from Johns Hopkins University. Main interests include relationships between observable behavior and reported psychological states, and behavioral and emotional disorders of children.Received her Ph.D. in population dynamics from Johns Hopkins University. Main interests are adolescent health and pregnancy and population changes influencing perinatal health.Received her Ph.D. in psychology from George Peabody College. Main interests include parenting of infants and children's rights.Received her Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Florida. Main interests include adolescent health and utilization of health services by children and adolescents.Received his Ph.D. in child psychology from the University of Iowa. Main interests are infant and child development, with focus on measurement of developmental status and its determinants.     

Experimental criminology: looking back and forward on the 20th anniversary of the Academy of Experimental Criminology

Journal of Experimental Criminology - This article summarizes key points made in a panel at the American Society of Criminology (ASC) meeting in Atlanta in November 2018, entitled “20th...     

Continuing education: Toward a life-course perspective on social learning

Sutherland's differential association theory and the life-course perspective have at times been conceptualized as contrasting theories of criminal behavior. I argue instead that our understanding of delinquency, the dynamics underlying criminal persistence and desistance, and intergenerational patterns will be enhanced by a more explicit integration of these two traditions. I focus on family processes as these are foundational intimate relationships that remain underappreciated as a source of lifelong learning and influence. Although family support and variations in parental supervision have been amply investigated, “direct transmission” takes place within the family as well as within the confines of the more heavily studied world of adolescent peer groups. I identify five dimensions of direct transmission and illustrate these dynamic processes with qualitative data from two longitudinal studies and results of recent quantitative analyses. The analysis is generally in line with Sutherland's original formulation but includes several extensions and modifications. It is important to include a role for human agency, and for “noncriminal” definitions and lifestyle factors, in addition to the directly criminogenic definitions Sutherland and subsequent researchers have emphasized. The focus on social processes is, however, consistent with Sutherland's goal of highlighting limitations of psychological and biological differences explanations.     

Violence between therapy-seeking veterans and their partners: prevalence and characteristics of nonviolent, mutually violent, and one-sided violent couples

Among male veterans and their female partners seeking therapy for relationship issues, three violence profiles were identified based on self-reports of physical violence: nonviolent, in which neither partner reported perpetrating physical violence (44%); one-sided violent, in which one partner reported perpetrating violence (30%); and mutually violent, in which both partners reported perpetrating physical violence (26%). Profiles were distinguished based on the veteran's psychiatric diagnosis, woman's age, and both partners' reports of the frequency and severity of violence. Men and women in mutually violent couples reported more verbal and physical aggression than did men or women in any other group. The three groups reported comparable rates of sexual aggression. Appraisals of marital satisfaction and intimacy were not different based on violence profile. No gender differences emerged in the self-reports of frequency and severity of verbal, physical, and sexual aggression.