Similarities or Differences in Identity Development? The Impact of Acculturation and Gender on Identity Process and Outcome

This study examined the effects of variations in acculturation and gender on identity processes and outcomes. Three hundred fifty-seven students at a culturally diverse university completed measures of identity processes (exploration, commitment, and identity style) and outcomes (identity status). The generalizability of the underlying identity processes across contextual variations was ascertained by evaluating the consistency of factor solutions across immigrant generation and gender. Results suggested that the processes underlying identity development are consistent across variations in acculturation and gender. Supplemental analyses revealed effects of acculturation and gender on the extent to which individuals utilized various identity processes and manifested various identity outcomes.     

Sexual problems found in users of a student mental health clinic

The authors were interested in discovering the spectrum and prevalence of sexual problems among young adults. With this goal in mind, they devised a Sexual Problems Check List as a comprehensive instrument utilizable by both clinicians and researchers. The Sexual Problems Check List was derived by reviewing therapists' treatment summaries and 146 recent answers to applications written by patients themselves as the first step in applying for treatment at a university mental health clinic. Data were then obtained from 52 subsequent student mental health clinic patients; such patients were selected as the sample because they were late adolescents and young adults thought likely to exhibit a broad range of clinically significant probelms. General patterns of concerns were noted which indicated that the sexual revolution has not been as liberating as the respondents were led to believe.Received his M. D. from Yale University School of Medicine in 1963. Psychiatric Residency at Yale, 1964–1967. Main interests include psychiatry residency training, psychoanalytic study of peotry, student mental health.Receved his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia in 1971. Psychiatric Residency at University of Chicago, 1972–1975. Main interests include hospital psychiatry and group treatment for rheumatoid arthritis.Received his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Chicago in 1968. Main interests include urban problems, socialization, and deviance.     

Using resolution calculations to assess changes in capillary electrophoresis run parameters

Capillary electrophoresis is widely used in the forensic community for the analysis of Short Tandem Repeat DNA. The CE system used in most forensic laboratories allows the user to modify standard operational protocols to accommodate some samples that fall outside of interpretational guidelines. We have made operational changes and monitored system resolution and the ability of the software to identify alleles as a result of these modifications. Increased amount of amplified product in the injection preparation, lengthened injection times or repeated injections of the same sample were all investigated along with variations in run voltages. Certain protocol modifications offer some advantages to the analysis of STRs and may allow the analyst to avoid extraction of additional portions of crime scene samples to achieve interpretable results.     

Ideology and interests in congressional voting: The politics of abortion in the U.S. Senate

Many studies suggest that personal ideology accounts for much more of congressional voting behavior than does attention to the desires of the electorate. There are two main explanations given for this seemingly robust conclusion: 1) poor measures of constituency preferences compared to those for ideology or behavior, and 2) representatives “shirk” on an inattentive electorate. We argue that existing studies have been biased against the “interest” explanation by ignoring the structure of American Congressional elections, in particular the party primary process. Correcting for the party primary effect, we show, within the context of abortion politics, that constituency interests possess greater explanatory power than previous models would suggest.     

Deregulating Federalism? The Politics of Mandate Reform in the 104th Congress

This article examines the politics and substance of mandatereform in the 104th Congress. It briefly describes the evolutionof the mandate issue, examines the process by which the issuewas placed on the national agenda, and traces the formulationof a legislative response. It analyzes in detail the politicsof enacting mandate-reform legislation, paying particular attentionto patterns of support and opposition and to changes in thesepatterns over time. It concludes by examining the prospectsfor successful implementation of the legislation and its likelyconsequences for the intergovernmental system.     

Better than Raw: A Guide to Measuring Organizational Performance with Adjusted Performance Measures

Like oysters on the half shell, some things are better when they're raw. In evaluating the performance of organizations and providing guidance for improving performance, however, raw performance measures, such as test scores or success rates, are often inferior to performance measures adjusted for client and environmental characteristics, or adjusted performance measures (APMs). Using examples from a variety of public services and data on public schools in Georgia, we compare the performance data generated by raw scores and by APMs. We conclude with guidance for constructing and using adjusted performance measures.     

Statutory interpretation, capture, and tort law: the regulatory compliance defense

The regulatory compliance defense holds firms liable whose productsor product warnings fail to satisfy federal regulatory standards,but does not exculpate firms that comply. Rather, complianceis relevant evidence for a jury to consider in a products liabilityaction. This article argues that the defense should exculpatecompliant firms as a matter of law. A Congress that thoughtabout the matter would prefer this judicial construction ofan unclear safety statute. To defend this view, the articleargues that a legislature can have intentions in a normativelymeaningful sense, that claims that a Congress or its agenciesare captured by special interests should be nonjusticiable,and that, when a court is in doubt as to what a legislatureintended, it should adopt that construction of the relevantstatute that would be easiest for the legislature to correctif the court errs. In this case, it is easier for Congress tocorrect a construction that it intended to exculpate compliantfirms than a construction that it did not.     

Let Them Eat Lunch: The Impact of Universal Free Meals on Student Performance

This paper investigates the impact of extending free school lunch to all students, regardless of income, on academic performance in New York City middle schools. Using a difference-in-differences design and unique longitudinal, student-level data, we derive credibly causal estimates of the impacts of “Universal Free Meals” (UFM) on test scores in English Language Arts (ELA) and mathematics, and participation in school lunch. We find UFM increases academic performance by as much as 0.083 standard deviations in math and 0.059 in ELA for non-poor students, with smaller, statistically significant effects of 0.032 and 0.027 standard deviations in math and ELA for poor students. Further, UFM increases participation in school lunch by roughly 11.0 percentage points for non-poor students and 5.4 percentage points for poor students. We then investigate the academic effects of school lunch participation per se, using UFM as an instrumental variable. Results indicate that increases in school lunch participation improve academic performance for both poor and non-poor students; an additional lunch every two weeks increases test scores by roughly 0.08 standard deviations in math and 0.07 standard deviations in ELA. Finally, we explore potential unintended consequences for student weight outcomes, finding no evidence that UFM increases the probability that students are obese or overweight. We also find no evidence of increases in average body mass index (BMI). Instead, we find some evidence that participation in school lunch improves weight outcomes for non-poor students. Results are robust to an array of alternative specifications and assumptions about the sample.     

The Effects of Youth Mentoring Programs: A Meta-analysis of Outcome Studies

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - Mentoring programs, which pair youth with caring, non-parental adults with the goal of promoting positive youth development, are an increasingly popular strategy...