DEVELOPMENTAL ISSUES IN THE IMPACT OF CHILD MALTREATMENT ON LATER DELINQUENCY AND DRUG USE*

Developmental psychopathology emphasizes the impact that early childhood maltreatment has on adolescent and early adult development. The life‐course perspective, however, emphasizes more proximal events—adolescent maltreatment, for example—as developmentally disruptive. Prior research suggests that childhood maltreatment is a risk factor for adolescent delinquency and drug use. However, the results appear to depend on a loose definition of childhood. This study utilizes a four‐category maltreatment classification—never, childhood‐only, adolescence‐only, and persistent—to re‐examine the maltreatment‐delinquency relationship. Using data from the Rochester Youth Development Study, we find no relationship between childhood‐only maltreatment and adolescent delinquency or drug use; yet, we do find a consistent impact of adolescence‐only and persistent maltreatment on these outcomes.     

The Problem with Programs: Multiple Perspectives on Program Structures in Program‐Based Performance‐Oriented Budgets

Often the transition to performance‐based budgeting requires the initial development of a program structure. While a substantial body of literature is available to assist governments in developing performance measures, program development has received little recent attention in the scholarly literature. This research draws on a case study of the State of Georgia's effort to develop a program structure. The problems encountered by Georgia provide the foundation for an analysis that explains how programs interact with competing budgetary purposes and agendas. The analysis in turn suggests ways that budget structures might be adjusted to better balance competing purposes.