Predicting adolescent risk behavior using a personalized cost-benefit analysis

Risk was investigated from the subjective viewpoints of adolescents, with the aim of assessing adolescents' perceptions of what constitutes risky behavior and how risk behaviors and risk judgments relate. Participants were 570 school-based adolescents. Students named risky behaviors perceived as common to similarly aged peers, then rated level of engagement in these behaviors. The perceived positive and negative outcomes of risk were also nominated, and rated on perceived likelihood and desirability/undesirability. The sample viewed risky behaviors as smoking, drinking alcohol, dangerous driving, taking drugs, criminal behavior, sporting risks, antisocial behavior, minor rebellion, school-related risks, and sexual activity. Negative outcomes of risk were categorized as death, disablement, punishment, and social consequences. Payoffs included pleasure, material gain, and avoidance of negative outcomes. There was a consistent pattern of relationships between risk participation and outcome judgment, with perceived pleasantness and likelihood of positive outcomes, and unpleasantness of negative outcomes, strongly associated with behavior.This research was supported by the Australian Rotary Health Research Fund.Received Ph.D. from Florida State University. Research interests: adolescent development, risk taking, and sexuality.Received Ph.D. from Monash University. Research interests: adolescent development, emotional development, and families.     

VOICE ALTERATIONS

The experience of divorce is difficult for everyone involved. To best help with the legal experience, we need to understand gender differences that affect the process. This article adds to the understanding of that difference by addressing women's development and the female "voice." Women have not been acculturated to the subtle rules of litigation, which are in the male "voice." The authors offer an alternative scenario to add balance to the traditional experience of divorce for women and men and to the divorce process itself.     

The importance of manufacturing extension—A state perspective

The importance of manufacturing extension programs to the states, who are both sponsors and customers of these programs, centers around the economic impact that states expect will be derived for client manufacturing firms and their local economies. States are driven by the need to preserve and enhance their manufacturing base as a vital, wealth-creating sector of their economies. They recognize that the cycle of rapid and constant change in both the use of technology and business systems which is being generated by the global economy impacts their small and medium-sized companies disproportionately. So they look to manufacturing extension programs to assist these companies through the transition, thus enabling them to survive and thrive in global competition.     

Serving the State: Constitutionalism and Social Spending, 1860s-1920s

In the 19th century, courts supervised states' social spending by limiting taxation to public purposes. The focus of this article is the courts' approach to pensions. Under a 19th-century doctrine, states could pay money to those who had served the state or, under the rubric of charity, to those who were the indigent helpless. States first paid pensions to people for military service and for serving as firemen; later in the century, the doctrine from these cases provided a framework for expanding civil service pensions as states expanded their civil service. Courts characterized the earlier pensions as earned because the service had been dangerous, requiring bravery from men and possibly leaving helpless women and children without protection. This characterization later shaped evaluations of civil service pensions. The doctrine persisted as states enacted pensions for widowed mothers; when these pensions were challenged in state courts, the courts approved of them as payments to helpless people, not as rewards to those who had served. This characterization counters recent scholarship that argues that mothers' pensions rewarded service as military pensions did.     

Building Community One Relationship at a Time: Consequences for the Seeking and Acceptance of Help

Three studies test the hypothesis that a perceived relationship is relevant to seeking and accepting help. The results first indicate a direct effect for a perceived relationship on the extent to which people are willing to seek and accept help. The findings further indicate that perceiving a relationship increases the importance of procedural justice judgments in shaping the decision to seek and accept help. This was true both in vertical relations (e.g., student–professor, resident–police officer) and in horizontal ones (e.g., student–student). The research extends prior findings showing that common group membership increases the influence of procedural justice judgments on whether people cooperate with fellow group members. The results show a parallel with the effects of a perceived relationship, suggesting a comparability between “relational” and “collective” levels of identity.     

The Intensification of Hating: A Theory

Hate, a simple word, is easily understood by young children. But as a concept, hate is vast, complex, and slippery. The study of hate is not limited to one discipline; it is studied throughout the humanities and social sciences. This paper, which presents a psychological theory of hating, argues that hate is an understudied psychological construct and has particular relevance to justice research. Hate can trigger injustice, and injustice has the capacity to trigger derogation, violence, and hate. Relying on four literatures—justice, psychology, psychoanalysis, and criminal justice—we present a theory of hating that describes the formation, perpetuation, and expression of this influential emotional state. The Intensification Theory of Hating describes hate as a dynamic process that moves from antecedents to emotions, cognitions, morals, and behaviors. Hate, we argue, is not only an emotion; it becomes systemic when interactions among its components unfold over time to intensify hate. We conclude by proposing research approaches and questions that could address hate in psychological and justice research. Submitted to David De Cremer and Kees van den Bos, “Justice and feelings: An emotional revolution”. Social Justice Research, December 11, 2006