Patterns of Intimate Partner Violence in Mothers At-Risk for Child Maltreatment

Using three interviews spanning 3 years, we identified intimate partner violence (IPV) classes and determined how class membership changed over time amongst a sample of 217 mothers at-risk for child maltreatment that were enrolled in an early childhood home visitation evaluation study. Data on perpetration/victimization, IPV type (verbal, physical, and sexual abuse and injury) and severity were used to conduct latent class analyses at each time point. Latent transition analyses established the proportion of mothers who changed classes over time. A three-class solution (minimal, moderate, and high IPV) was indicated at each time point. All classes included mutual IPV. Partners used minor verbal abuse in the minimal class, minor and severe verbal abuse and minor physical abuse in the moderate class, and all IPV categories in the high class. At each transition, 40 % or more women moved from minimal to moderate or high IPV. This movement emphasizes the need to screen women frequently and develop interventions recognizing the dynamic nature of IPV.     

Why we should eliminate personal belief exemptions to vaccine mandates

We argue that personal belief exemptions to the mandate for childhood immunizations should not be allowed. Parents who choose not to immunize their children put both their own children and other children at risk. Other children are at risk because unimmunized children go to school or day care when they are contagious but asymptomatic, exposing many more children to potentially dangerous infections. The risks to children from disease are much higher than the risks of vaccines. There are, of course, some bona fide reasons why children should not be immunized. Some children have known allergies or other medical contraindications to certain immunizations. Immunization refusals based on parental beliefs, however, do not fall into this category. In those cases, children are denied the protection of immunizations without any medical or scientific justification. By eliminating personal belief exemptions to those childhood vaccines associated with contagious diseases that have high rates of childhood mortality, we would better protect children and would more fairly spread the burdens of this important public health program.     

Law, Diagram, Film: Critique Exhausted

What potential can be found in the work of Deleuze and Guattari for critical legal scholarship? The authors argue that their work can be deployed to re-think ??critique?? by directly addressing the place and role of the ??critic??. It is argued that the continued commitment to a stance of ??resistance?? in CLS is underpinned by never-ending dualisms which, if not confronted and replaced, can only make CLS ever more redundant. The authors ask: ??what is critique beyond the dualism of power and resistance, of state and nomad??? This question arises from a belief that critique is still capable of being effective, but only if there is the courage to experiment, and to think creatively. In this sense, the ??exhaustion?? of critique is framed as an opportunity to re-think and re-engage with the politics of law. The paper diagrams, through image and film, a critical thought: the potential of the artisan. Film is utilised not as representation, nor as illustration, but as a thinking mind in its own right, through which questions relating to the state, political action, and creative thinking can be (re)framed. Such a re-framing is essential, it is argued, for an engagement with the emergence of societies of control.     

Keeping mum about dad: "contracts" to protect gamete donor anonymity

This article considers the legal status of so-called contracts for anonymity between fertility clinics and donors of gametes that were made in the period before legislation authorising disclosure. It notes that while clinics frequently cite the existence of these "contracts" to argue against retrospective legislation authorising disclosure of the donor's identity, they may be nothing more than one-sided statements of informed consent. However, the article notes that even if an agreement between a donor and a clinic is not contractual, it does not follow that a person conceived through assisted reproductive technology has any right of access to the identity of the donor. The writer has not been able to locate examples of written promises by the clinics promising anonymity. There are written promises by the donors not to seek the identity of the recipients. These promises do not bind the resulting offspring nor do they appear to be supported by consideration. The article suggests that the basis for any individual donor to restrain a clinic from revealing their identity may be found in promissory estoppel. Nevertheless, there is no real issue in Australia concerning clinics revealing these details absent legislative authority. The issue is whether parliaments will legislate to authorise the disclosure. The article notes that it would be rare for parliaments to legislate to overturn existing legal contracts but suggests that the contract argument may not be as strong as has been thought.     

Accounts and accountability: Theoretical implications of the right-to-information movement in India

The work of a small and unusual activist group in the north Indian state of Rajasthan has raised a series of practical and theoretical issues concerning the best means for combating specific instances of corruption, and for promoting accountability more generally. The Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS)-literally-:Workers' and Farmers' Power Organisation-has waged a campaign to secure the right of ordinary people to gain access to information held by government officials. In the process of experimenting with methods of compiling, sharing and verifying expenditure data at very local levels-thus far, in the absence of a statutory entitlement to such informationthe MKSS has developed a radical interpretation of the notion that citizens have a right both to know how they are governed and to participate actively in the process of auditing their representatives. This article examines the process by which this campaign emerged and the means by which it pursues its goals. It then analyses the implications of the MKSS experience, and the larger movement it has spawned, for contemporary debates in three areas: human rights, participatory development and, of course, anti-corruption.     

The protective role of coping and social resources for depressive symptoms among young adolescents

Early adolescence is a period of the life course involving high levels of challenge that are stressful for some, perhaps resulting in depressive symptoms. In this study, adolescents were divided into four groups based on indices of depression and negative life events. Group differences in coping style, mastery, optimism, and social resources as well as group differences in patterns of change were investigated. Participants were 458 adolescents in sixth and seventh grade from a rural working class community. Subjects were assessed twice over a one-year period. Analyses revealed that the four groups were characterized by different levels of coping and social resources. Asymptomatic youth reported higher levels of optimism, mastery, active coping, and more positive relationships with parents and peers than did symptomatic adolescents. These same characteristics distinguished the resilient adolescents from the vulnerable adolescents, suggesting potential stress-buffering effects. One year later, the adolescents who were low on both depressive symptoms and negative life events continued to report more individual and contextual resources than the adolescents in the other groups.This research was supported by a grant from the William T. Grant Foundation (8912789) to Anne C. Petersen, Principal Investigator. The writing of this article was supported by The National Institute of Mental Health Research Training Grant 5 T32 MH18387-06 in Child Mental Health/Primary Prevention.Received Ph.D. from the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at Pennsylvania State University, and did a postdoctoral fellowship in prevention research at Arizona State University. Research interests include adolescent development, prevention, and community psychology.(on leave to the National Science Foundation). Received Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. Research interests include biopsychosocial development at adolescence, adolescent depression and interventions to prevent it, gender issues, and developmental methodology.