A closer look at adolescent sexual activity

This study of 1228 parochial students in the eastern United States answered questions about adolescent sexuality. Few of the students surveyed claimed that sex was forced or even pressured. Over half of the students reported going steady as their relationship status when experiencing their first intercourse. Another fourth reported that they were dating or knew each other well. Approximately one-fifth of the students reported that drugs or alcohol was used at the time of first sex and three-fourths of them had first sex at either their own home or a friend's home. Nearly half of the students wished they had waited longer before having sex, especially the females and the more religious students. One-half of the nonvirgin students in the sample reported having had only one sexual partner. The implications of this information for setting social policy, designing and implementing effective sex education programs are discussed.Received Ph.D. in family studies/family science, Brigham Young University in 1994. Research and writing interests include adolescent sexuality and related problems, character education, and parenting.serving a sabbatical at BUY—Hawaii currently. Received Ph.D. in psychology at Michigan State in 1966. Research interests concern gender issues, parenting, and adolescent problems.In 1978 received Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Washington. Research interests include adolescent problems and social policy.     

The Political Sociology of Private Armies in Colombia and the United States

This paper provides a comparative sociological analysis of private armies in Colombia and the United States. Private armies in both nations have economic and political underpinnings. An ethic of economic inequality pervaded Colombian life and institutions since colonialism, creating a milieu for private armies to develop. The cocaine industry seized a historic moment in the weakness of the Colombian state, and private armies in their employ helped to manage the risks of cocaine production. Occasionally the armies were used for counterinsurgent purposes. Beyond this, a remarkable diversity of roles played by private armies was noted. In the United States, an ethic of equality provided the social milieu for legitimate private armies to appear. Militias enjoyed social status early on, but later were viewed as antidemocratic and authoritarian. Militia groups since 1865 focused attention upon internal threats first and later external ones. They did not get involved in an illegal business enterprise, and thus overall their social network was less complicated than their Colombian counterparts. Moreover, state power has limited their effectiveness and ability to gain mass appeal in the United States. In the 1990s, armies in both countries underwent change, and their situations became more complex. Diversity of roles played by the Colombian militias is highlighted during this period, while in the United States, militia ideologies were a complex mix of Constitutionalism and Christian Identity.     

Politics,national symbols and the Romanian Orthodox Cathedral

Among religious denominations in Romania, the dominant Orthodox Church has been the closest to the state, often positioning itself in opposition to the budding civil society. The prolonged negotiations for a location in downtown Bucharest suitable for the new Orthodox Cathedral for National Salvation best illustrate the interactions between different segments of the political class, the Orthodox Church, and a variety of civil society groups seeking to define the public space and the country's new democracy. They further illustrate how contesting actors use the recent past to define the politics of the present.     

Police officer support for quasimilitary stress training and orientation toward outsiders and nonlaw enforcement functions

This paper is about the meaning of police officers' support for the traditional socialization model of the quasi-military stress academy and its effects on their attitudes toward outsiders and non-law enforcement functions. More specifically, it examines consequences of quasi-military training on attitudes toward civilians in police departments, on serving minority groups and the community, and on criticality ratings of job functions such as mediation, crime prevention and community policing. Based on part of a larger job task survey conducted under the auspices of a state criminal justice training council, it includes over 70 percent of all patrol officers and their first-line supervisors in a rural New England state.