Aggression and sleep: a daylight saving time natural experiment on the effect of mild sleep loss and gain on assaults

Objectives

The purpose of this study was to test the effect of a mild, short-term sleep loss/gain on assault rates.

Methods

Using National Incidence Based Reporting System data and city-reported data from Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles, we calculated the difference in assault rates on the Monday immediately following daylight saving time (DST) as compared to the Monday a week later using a Poisson quasi-maximum likelihood estimator model. The same analyses were performed to examine effects of the return to standard time in the fall. We employed several falsification checks.

Results

There were 2.9% fewer (95% CI: –4.2%, ?1.6%, p < 0.0001) assaults immediately following DST, when we lose an hour, as compared to a week later. In contrast, there was a 2.8% rise in assaults immediately following the return to standard time, when an hour is gained, as compared to a week later (95% CI: 1.5%, 4.2%, p < 0.0001). Multiple falsification analyses suggest the spring findings to be robust, while the evidence to support the fall findings is weaker.

Conclusions

This study suggests that mild and short-term changes in sleep do significantly affect rates of assault. Specifically, there is support for the theory that mild sleepiness possibly associated with an hour loss of sleep results in reduced assaults. This contradicts the simple inverse relationship currently suggested by most of the correlational literature. This study and the mixed findings presented by experimental studies indicate that measurement variability of both sleep and aggression may result in conflicting findings.

     

The Unintended Consequences of Structural Change: When Formal and Informal Institutions Collide in Efforts to Address Wicked Problems

Significant restructuring of bureaucracies has occurred to facilitate joined-up working. This article draws on new institutionalism to explore the rationale behind the use of structural change for the promotion of joined-up working. It argues that a strong institutionalized myth has emerged which has created isomorphic pressures in the public sector to instigate structural changes in the name of vertical integration. These combine with informal institutions in ways that can be both productive and unproductive, highlighting the need to find a balance between formal institutional change and informal institutionalized practices, which often go unacknowledged as a powerful influence on policy.     

“FU”: One Response to the Liminal State Immigrant Youth Must Navigate

Undocumented youth experience partial integration in some institutional spaces but remain barred from others. Although they are permitted to attend and graduate from K–12 public schools, the geographic unevenness of immigration policy leads to inequitable access to higher education for undocumented youth. In this article, we examine undocumented higher education access and how an underground freedom school is providing an alternative. We apply the theoretical lens of spaces of care within the framework of geographies of care to understand the uneven legal geographies that exist and the structures that emerge to equip and empower youth to leverage their experiences with illegality.     

Editors’ Introduction to the Special Issue, “Southern Criminologies: Methods,Theories and Indigenous Issues”

Critical Criminology -     

Pubertal timing and adolescent delinquency†

Early pubertal timing (PT) increases the risk of adolescent delinquency, whereas late development reduces this risk; however, the mechanisms explaining PT effects on delinquency remain elusive. Theoretically, the PT–delinquency relationship is as a result of changes in parental supervision, peer affiliations, and body-image perceptions or is a spurious reflection of early life risk factors. Using intergenerational data from the Millennium Cohort Study, a prospective sample of children followed from infancy to age 14 years in the United Kingdom (N = 11,556 parent–child pairs), we find that for both boys and girls, early PT is associated with heightened risks of delinquency, relative to on-time puberty, whereas late PT is associated with lower risks, even after controlling for a large share of childhood confounders. Mediation test results indicate that changes in parental supervision, peer affiliations, and body-image perceptions from ages 11 to 14 partly account for associations between off-time PT and delinquency. Our findings are most consistent with criminological theories in which the psychosocial, familial, and peer group changes that accompany off-time pubertal development are emphasized. Changes in peer substance use, in particular, were the primary explanatory factor for the relationships between early and late PT and delinquency, for both boys and girls.     

The Slippery Slope: Struggling for Equity in the Academy in the Era of #MeToo

The complexity of the sexual harassment language of the #MeToo movement creates discontinuities that may muddy intended communications. Yet understanding this language provides a fuller picture of the experiences that women face. Gender harassment has persisted in the workplace despite long-standing antidiscrimination policies, perhaps because of a universal failure to recognize all forms of it—some of which are more pervasive and common than sexual abuse. This article considers the ability of the academy to affect sexual harassment in public administration. It discusses the implications of gender harassment, the least recognized form of sexual harassment, and makes recommendations for overcoming gender barriers in the academy and in practice. Evidence-based guidance for advancing women in the academy may create more equitable and just spaces for teaching and learning. Public administration classrooms and scholarship represent critical opportunities to recognize patterns of organizational practice and systematically redress gender harassment in the workplace.     

Careers of women public managers: Career needs of women public managers across generations

This study examines women's managerial experiences in leadership roles and reflects on their career needs. Women's career needs are understood by applying the Kaleidoscope Career Model (KCM), which is yet to be widely explored in public sector settings. The KCM recognizes the interplay of multiple experiences that shape the career development of women in the workforce. Using 21 in-depth interviews with women municipal government leaders in the United States; we find that while all three parameters of the KCM model are relevant for women public managers, the need for balance is overwhelmingly evident for women across all generations. Further, we demonstrate how the relationality of women public managers and the interplay of personal and professional needs drive their career goals. The findings from this study are relevant to human resource development policies and practices that consider generational differences into account. Work-life balance needs are relevant for women across all generations (Baby Boomer, Generation X, and Generation Y), and organizations play a vital role in mitigating the burden for women managers. Women public managers' need for balance dominates across generations over the need for challenge and authenticity. Human resource management programs should consider policies and programs that are responsive to the specific needs of women across different generations. Women managers from Generation X and Baby Boomer generational cohorts express interest in leaving their current position or look forward to retirement in the future.