Reliability of Third Molar Development for Age Estimation in a Texas Hispanic Population: A Comparison Study*

Abstract: Evaluating third molars from 950 Hispanic individuals aged 12–22 years using Demirjian’s schematic for crown and root formation found that Hispanic third molar development was 8–18 months faster than American Caucasians as reported by Mincer, Harris and Berryman in 1993. This represents a statistically significant increase. Earlier development was more apparent in the later stages F through H. Hispanic males reach developmental stages faster than Hispanic females and maxillary third molars reach developmental stages faster than mandibular third molars in both sexes. The earliest age observed for stages B–H (e.g., Stage H first observed at age 13.92 years in females) and the oldest age observed for Stages B–G were developed to facilitate age prediction of unknown individuals. Prediction tables for minimum and maximum age for an observed stage (e.g., if a female maxillary third molar is stage F it means she is older than 13 years) for each sex‐jaw group were calculated.     

Relationship between type of trauma exposure and posttraumatic stress disorder among urban children and adolescents

This study examines the association between trauma exposure and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among 157 help-seeking children (aged 8-17). Structured clinical interviews are carried out, and linear and logistic regression analyses are conducted to examine the relationship between PTSD and type of trauma exposure controlling for age, gender, and ethnicity. Confrontation with traumatic news, witnessing domestic violence, physical abuse, and sexual abuse are each significantly associated with PTSD. Witnessing a crime, being the victim of a crime, and exposure to accidents, fire, or disaster are not associated with PTSD. These findings underscore the association between interpersonal violence and childhood PTSD.     

Balancing regulatory controls and incentives: toward smarter and more transparent oversight in long-term care

Government oversight of long-term care involves inspections of patients' records, limited observations of patients and care practices, reviews of policies and procedures, and distribution of publicly available information. Although many providers bemoan the stifling consequences of excessive regulation, oversight in this area remains a highly legitimate endeavor for the public, though the public has limited trust in the existing regulatory regime. This distrust stems from many sources, not least of which includes considerable variation, both within and across states, in the way government oversight occurs. Reforming the current regulatory structure requires that we regulate "smarter" and more consistently. This means improving and maximizing use of the data already being collected, but it also means explicitly rationalizing the regulator's responsibility to review performance and apply sanctions when necessary. Oversight should more closely resemble consultancy, with regulators sharing information with providers about how to improve quality. Ideally, there needs to be an iterative process in which state inspectors identify performance problems and the nation's quality improvement organizations then help providers design quality improvement interventions to ameliorate the problems identified. The benefits of a revised regulatory approach are especially apparent in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, where more effective oversight would have identified nursing home residents at risk for low-quality care before the disaster occurred while better identifying those in need of evacuation or assistance afterward.     

Dimensions of Athletic Identity and their Associations with Drinking Behaviors among a National Sample of University Athletes in the United States

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - Although prior studies have indicated athletic identity plays a role in alcohol use among college athletes, this research has largely drawn on a unidimensional...     

The Criminology of Homicidal Ideation: Associations with Criminal Careers and Psychopathology among Federal Correctional Clients

Homicidal ideation is a clinical construct that is almost entirely absent from the criminological literature. The current study examines the criminology of homicidal ideation using archival data from a population of federal supervised release felons from the Midwestern United States. ANOVA, Poisson regression, negative binomial regression, and epidemiological tables indicated that 12 % of offenders experienced evidence of homicidal ideation and these offenders perpetrated more murders, attempted murders, kidnappings, armed robberies, and aggravated assaults, had more severe and extensive psychopathology, and were more likely to be chronic offenders. Homicidal ideation is an important construct that should be studied more not only for its association with murder, but as an omnibus risk factor for severe criminality.     

The international politics of air disasters: lessons for aviation disaster governance from Asia, 2014–2015

Abstract

Through a qualitative analysis of three air disasters from Asia in recent years—MH370, MH17 and QZ8501—this article investigates the puzzle of how aviation disasters open up a sovereign state’s domestic governance and foreign policy to international questioning within an anarchic international system. This enquiry thereby highlights the gaps in the global governance of aviation, particularly in the areas of safety and recovery in the wake of aviation disasters. Three linked literatures demonstrate this dynamic. First, aligned with the ‘emotional turn’ in international relations, we show that the portrayal of air disasters and grieving next of kin in global media highlights the politics of grief and trauma. Second, aviation disasters surface the politics of disaster diplomacy in the guise of ‘security competition by proxy’ in the recovery process. Third, we emphasize that these shortfalls in domestic governance and international cooperation demonstrated by the attention-grabbing spectacle of aviation disasters consequently underscore important knowledge, norms and compliance gaps in global aviation governance. Aviation disasters and their aftermath thus shine an international spotlight on the state’s domestic governance and foreign policies in these three manners.     

Forming a security community: lessons from ASEAN

At its Ninth Summit in October 2003 the Association of SouthEast Asian Nations (ASEAN) announced its intention to createan ASEAN Community based upon three pillars: ASEAN EconomicCommunity, ASEAN Security Community and an ASEAN Socio-CulturalCommunity. A year later ASEAN established the Vientiane ActionProgramme to realise this goal. The official discourse of communitybuilding is complemented by a vibrant academic debate over whetherASEAN's norms indicate that it is a nascent security communityready to transform itself into a fully-fledged security community.In this article I argue that ASEAN has never been a nascentsecurity community but has instead been a security regime andtherefore its norm compliance does not provide evidence of communitybuilding. If ASEAN is to form a security community then newsocialising norms will need to emerge, which will need to includethe active involvement of regional civil society organisationsin order to bring plurality to ASEAN decision making. Only thenwill the people of ASEAN be able to take ownership of the communitybuilding process. Received for publication December 14, 2005. Accepted for publication July 13, 2006.     

Family Transitions and Later Delinquency and Drug Use

Changes in the family structure can be very disruptive to adolescents who live in those families. This article examines the impact of the number of family transitions on delinquent and drug-using behavior. Specifically, the effect of family transitions is hypothesized to be mediated by problems within the family, school, and peer settings. A sample of 646 boys (73%) and girls (27%) taken from a longitudinal panel study of high-risk adolescents are used to examine these hypotheses. For girls, little support is found for the direct or the indirect effect of family transitions on delinquent behavior or drug use. For boys, however, both forms of problem behavior are influenced by family transitions directly and indirectly through changes in, and problems with, peer associations. The findings suggest that during times of family turmoil, the friendship network of adolescent male children is also disrupted, leading to an increase in associations with delinquent others and, in turn, an increase in problematic behaviors.