When Do Challengers Succeed? Nongovernmental Actors,Administrative Agencies,and Legal Change: Shifting Rules for Oregon's Private Forests

Regulatory regimes are notoriously resistant to change, so when less powerful actors manage to reshape long‐established rules and gain increased access to a natural resource the interesting question is why? This article investigates relations between different claimant groups and the state in the reshaping of the regulations governing Oregon's private forestlands, how this process was mediated by broader political opportunities and constraints, and the conditions that supported a shift in the legal regime that benefited less advantaged interests. The intent is to deepen our understanding of the circumstances under which well‐established rules of governance are altered. Analysis points to each of the following variables as significant for successful reform: (1) active challengers and their success in reframing issues to support their goals, (2) new political opportunities facilitating wider participation in the rulemaking process, and (3) concurrence between local and national aspirations supporting reform. While each condition is noteworthy, it is insufficient on its own. Rather, my study comparing two contested administrative rules suggests that a clear alignment of all three variables provides the strongest impetus for legislative and administrative rule changes at the state level benefiting less advantaged interests.     

Does Intimate Partner Violence Epidemiology Differ Between Homes With and Without Children? A Population-Based Study of Annual Prevalence and Associated Risk Factors

We sought to determine whether intimate partner violence (IPV) risk factors differed depending upon the presence of children in the home, and to estimate the annual prevalence of IPV first in the general population and then in homes with and without children. We analyzed data from a cross-sectional random sample of 6,836 women in southeastern Pennsylvania interviewed by telephone in 2004. The magnitude of association between IPV and risk factors varied between homes with and without children for women’s alcohol problems (with children, odds ratio (OR) 7.7; 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.9, 20.9; without children, OR 2.4; 95% CI 0.9, 6.0), and mental health problems (with children, OR 4.0; 95% CI 1.8, 8.9; without children, OR 3.0; 95% CI 1.6, 5.7). Poverty was significantly associated with IPV only in homes without children (OR 3.6; 95% CI 1.9, 7.2). Annual IPV prevalence was 1.2% overall, 1.4% in homes with children, and 1.1% in homes without children. One in 63 children lived in a home with IPV. Differences in IPV risk factors in homes with and without children suggest distinct underlying IPV mechanisms or consequences in these contexts.