The fairness of sanctions: some implications for optimal enforcement policy

In this article we incorporate notions of the fairness of sanctionsinto the standard model of public enforcement. When both theprobability and magnitude of sanctions may be varied, the usualsolution involves a very high sanction and a relatively lowprobability of enforcement if individuals are risk neutral.When the issue of fairness is added to the analysis, the optimalsanction generally is not extremely high because such a sanctionwould be seen as unfair. The optimal probability of imposingsanctions may be higher than in the usual case (to offset thelower sanction) or lower than in the usual case (because thelower sanction reduces the effectiveness of enforcement).     

J.M. Keynes and the Personal Politics of Reparations: Part 2

The second part of this article shows that John Maynard Keynes worked closely with the German Finance and Foreign ministries as a supposed neutral expert in October 1922. He supported passive resistance to the French in the Ruhr without regard to its effects on the currency, secretly collaborated in writing the German reparations note of June 1923, and then praised his own work in a weekly that he controlled. Keynes opposed the 1929 Young Plan that re-scheduled the German debt and declined to accept modern thinking on overcoming the transfer problem.     

The Poverty of Democracy: Neoliberal Reforms and Political Participation of the Poor in Mexico

Twenty years after governments across Latin America began implementing neoliberal reforms in earnest, concern is growing about their impact on the quality of democracy in the region. This article examines this issue in the case of Mexico by exploring how patterns of political participation, especially among the rural and urban poor, have changed since the implementation of free market reforms. It asks whether the institutional innovations associated with free market reforms make it easier or more difficult for the poor to participate in Mexico's political process. The answer is not encouraging. Despite democratic openings, the new linkages between the state and citizens established as a result of the transition to a free market development model stifle the voice of the poor not through the threat of force or coercion, but by creating obstacles and disincentives for political mobilization that affect the poor more severely than other groups.     

Youth Development Outcomes of the Camp Experience: Evidence for Multidimensional Growth

Three thousand, three hundred and ninety-five families, whose child attended one of 80 different day or resident summer camps for at least one week, completed customized questionnaires that measured growth from precamp to postcamp in four domains: Positive Identity, Social Skills, Physical & Thinking Skills, and Positive Values & Spirituality. Parents, children, and camp staff reported significant positive change in these four domains; more than would be expected by maturation alone. Most gains were maintained or showed additional growth six months later. Few of the camp's structural elements correlated with growth, nor did striking gender, age, or ethnicity differences emerge. The study highlights the particular strengths of camp as an educational institution and social movement and suggests that different variations of summer camp can provide potent developmental experiences. Christopher A. Thurber is full-time faculty at Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire. He received his PhD in clinical psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1997. His major research interests include homesickness, youth camping, and developmental psychopathology. Margery M. Scanlin is the Executive Officer for Research at the American Camp Association in Martinsville, Indiana. She received her EdD from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA, in 1982. Her major research interests include youth development outcomes, program improvement in youth organizations, and organizational aspects of effective camps. Leslie Scheuler Whitaker is a Senior Associate with Philliber Research Associates in St. Louis, Missouri. She received her PhD in social science research from Washington University in St. Louis in 2000. Her primary research areas include youth development, arts education, and program evaluation. Karla A. Henderson is a professor in the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism at North Carolina State University. She received her PhD in education from the University of Minnesota in 1979 and is currently a member of the American Camp Association Board of Directors. Her research interests include leisure behavior theory, camping and outdoor education, and gender and diversity issues.     

Parenting Behaviors,Association with Deviant Peers,and Delinquency in African American Adolescents: A Mediated-Moderation Model

The aim of the present study was to examine a model positing that association with deviant peers mediates the relation between adolescent perceived parenting behaviors (maternal monitoring and involvement), the interaction of these parenting behaviors, and delinquency in a sample of 135 urban African American adolescents (13–19 years of age). Regression analyses revealed a monitoring by involvement interaction among African American females, suggesting that maternal monitoring may effectively reduce delinquency among African American female adolescents, and that this reduction may be enhanced by increased maternal involvement. Among African American males, only the relation between association with deviant peers and delinquency was supported, suggesting that maternal parenting behaviors may, in isolation, be insufficient in the prevention of delinquent behaviors in African American male adolescents. The results suggest that the pathways from parenting to association with deviant peers and delinquency may differ in males and females, and the salience of certain parenting behaviors may differ across gender. This article is based on research that was submitted by the first author in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the master’s degree in psychology at the University at Albany, State University of New York. Support for this research was provided by a Faculty Research Award to the second author. Doctoral student in the Clinical Psychology Program at the University at Albany, State University of New York. Her major research interests include risk and resiliency processes in minority youth and measurement equivalence of risk and resiliency constructs. Assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at the University at Albany, State University of New York. She received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of North Texas. Her major research interests are ecocultural models of risk and resiliency in minority youth and measurement equivalence of risk and resiliency constructs. Post-doctoral fellow with the Prevention Research Center at Arizona State University. He received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University at Albany, State University of New York. His major research interests are ecocultural models of risk and resiliency in children, preventive intervention development for diverse children, and quantitative methodology and applications in developmental and cross-cultural psychology.     

A Rationale and Method for Examining Reasons for Linkages Among Adolescent Risk Behaviors

A large volume of research has investigated interrelations among adolescent risk behaviors. Although several theoretical accounts have been proposed, researchers have not directly examined hypotheses for why risk behaviors are linked. In the present paper, a distinction is drawn between predictive factors that explain variance in risk behaviors and “linkage factors” which may provide an explanation for why risk behaviors are interrelated. The relevance of linkage factors to risk behavior research, theory, and practice is described. Further, a simple to use and easy to interpret analytic technique for exploring linkage-related issues is illustrated. Using this technique, hypotheses regarding the role of predictors in explaining linkages among risk behaviors can be tested directly. The proposed line of inquiry will provide valuable input for intervention efforts and theoretically relevant information concerning linkages among adolescent risk behaviors. Research Associate at the Brock Research Institute for Youth Studies at Brock University, Ontario, Canada. He received his M.A. in Clinical Psychology from the University of North Dakota. His major research interests are adolescent risk behavior involvement and youth activity involvement as a context for positive development. Professor in the Department of Child and Youth Studies at Brock University, Ontario, Canada. She received her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from the University of Waterloo. Her major research interests include adolescent risk taking and resilience, including academic underachievement and media/technology influences on lifestyle choices and learning. Assistant Professor in the Department of Child and Youth Studies at Brock University, Ontario, Canada. She received her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from Brock University. Her major research interests are adolescent risk-behavior involvement, particularly related to gambling, and risk and resilience.     

Family Disputes: Diversity in Defining and Measuring Deliberation

Interdisciplinary deliberative research has grown tremendously over the last decade. Theorists are attending more carefully to the findings of empirical research. And empiricists are framing their research in ways that are tailored to track normative‐theoretical concerns. The recent surge in empirical work on deliberation, however, has led to a huge proliferation of research designs, general measurement strategies, operational criteria, and even definitions of the phenomenon. The diversity in these approaches has become sufficiently great that it seems worthwhile to step back and take stock lest the expanding deliberative research community dissipate its energies in an ironic lack of effective communication across theoretical and methodological approaches. I survey the main sources of theoretical diversity among normative theories of deliberation, along with the diversity of basic strategies for measuring deliberation that follow from them.     

Maternal Acceptance as a Moderator of the Relation Between Threat to Self Appraisals and Mental Health Problems in Adolescents from Divorced Families

Appraisals about the implications of stressful events that are evaluated as involving a threat to self (negative self-evaluation, negative evaluation from others, rejection by others) have been shown to place youth at risk for the development of mental health problems. This longitudinal study tested a protective-stabilizing interactive model, in which high maternal acceptance was predicted to mitigate the prospective relation between threat to self appraisals and change in adolescents’ mental health problems six months later. Participants were 89 adolescents from divorced families ages 10–12 and residential mothers. Adolescents reported on threat to self appraisals from the most stressful event experienced in the past month. Mothers and youth reported on maternal acceptance and mental health problems. Multiple regression analyses provided support for the protective effects of maternal acceptance on adolescents’ mental health problems. Intervention implications are discussed. Ana Brown is a pre-doctoral fellow in prevention research (NIMH 2 T32 MH18387–19) and doctoral student in the Department of Psychology at Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ. Research interests include the study of children’s appraisals and responses to stressful events in the prevention of mental health problems. Sharlene Wolchik is a clinical psychologist and professor in the Department of Psychology at Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ. Her research focuses on identifying risk and protective factors for children whose parents have divorced. She also has designed and evaluated the efficacy of preventive interventions for children from divorced families and children who have experienced parental bereavement. Jenn-Yun Tein is a research associate professor and Co-Director of the Research Methodology Core of the Prevention Research Center at Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ. Her research interests include analyses of mediation and moderation of preventive interventions as well as applications of methodology and statistics in prevention research. Irwin Sandler is a Regents’ Professor in the Department of Psychology and Director of the Prevention Research Center at Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ. His research interests focus on understanding resilience for children exposed to stress and on the development, evaluation and dissemination of programs to promote resilience and prevent mental health problems for children in stress.