Active living as an institutional challenge: lessons from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's "Celebrate Fitness" program

Native American youth suffer disproportionately from a range of adverse health conditions. Empowering youth leaders to work on community-based solutions has proved effective in reducing tobacco use and gun violence and is now emerging as a promising approach to improving fitness and health. This article, based on direct observation and interviews with key informants, examines the implementation of a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded project that gave tribal youth councils minigrants to design and run diverse projects that encourage physical activity in their communities. The article highlights the institutional challenges that confront health-promotion strategies for disadvantaged populations. Unless they take proper account of organizational, political, environmental, and cultural forces, funders' interventions have limited chances for success and sustainability.     

Substance use and PTSD symptoms impact the likelihood of rape and revictimization in college women

The present study utilized a mixed retrospective and prospective design with an 8-month follow-up period to test a model of revictimization that included multiple childhood (i.e., child sexual, physical, and emotional abuse) and situational variables (i.e., substance use, sexual behavior) for predicting rape among 276 college women. It was of particular interest to determine whether traumatic responses (e.g., posttraumatic symptomatology or risky behavior) increased vulnerability for revictimization. During the 8-month follow-up period, 9% of participants were raped; 88% of assaults involved substance use by the victim. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology predicted rape, substance use, and sexual behavior. Substance use, but not sexual behavior, mediated the relation between PTSD symptomatology and rape during the follow-up period. Sexual behavior indirectly impacted risk for rape via substance use. Results suggest that college women with PTSD symptomatology may be at greater risk for rape if they use substances to reduce distress.     

Agreement on intimate partner violence among a sample of blue-collar couples

This study assessed agreement level about the occurrence of past-year male-to-female partner violence (MFPV) and female-to-male partner violence (FMPV) among a sample of 897 blue-collar couples. Intimate partner violence (IPV) was measured with the Physical Assault subscale of the revised Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS2). Agreement level was assessed with Cohen's kappa statistic. Lower-bound estimates (based on couple agreement that an IPV event occurred) and upper-bound estimates (based on uncorroborated reports from either partner that an IPV event occurred) were calculated. Results indicated low agreement for most IPV behaviors (kappa < .40). Estimated lower- and upper-bound rates for MFPV were 6.7% and 21.2%, for FMPV, 7.1% and 24.2%, and for any IPV, 10.1% and 30.2%. Findings suggest that single-point IPV prevalence estimates are biased; lower- and upper-bound estimates using collateral reports should be calculated when possible. In addition, findings underscore the importance of conducting IPV research among understudied populations, such as working-class couples, that may be at elevated IPV risk.     

PACT: A Collaborative Team Model for Treating High Conflict Families in Family Court

This article describes a court‐community model program for high conflict divorced families that is designed to reduce the level of inter‐parental conflict including: a) child exposure to inter‐parental conflict; and b) the frequency of re‐litigation over residential arrangements and parenting plans. The six‐session (16‐hour) program combines conflict resolution and group/community support. The program provides a “Personal Support Team” and “Personal Plan of Action” to help each parent control emotions and maintain agreement. The results of research conducted to explore the effect of the program on level of triangulation and inter‐parental conflict, as well as the frequency of re‐litigation over parenting plans, residential arrangements, and parenting time are reported.     

The Dynamic Prediction of Criminal Recidivism: A Three-wave Prospective Study

A three-wave, prospective panel design was used to assess the extent to which static and dynamic risk factors could predict criminal recidivism in a sample of 136 adult male offenders released from Canadian federal prisons. Static measures were assessed only once, prior to release while dynamic measures were assessed on three separate occasions: pre-release, 1 month, and 3 months post-release. Recidivism was coded during an average of 10.2-month follow-up period (SD = 19.2). A series of Cox regression survival analyses with time-dependent covariates and Receiver Operator Characteristic (ROC) analyses were conducted to assess predictive validity. Although the combined static and time-dependent dynamic model (AUC = .89, CI = .81–.93) significantly (p < .01) outperformed the pure static model (AUC = .81, CI = .73–.87) the confidence intervals did overlap to some extent. Implications for dynamic risk assessment and management are discussed.

The public sector and co-creation in turbulent times: A systematic literature review on robust governance in the COVID-19 emergency

The capacity of public sector of co-creating with other stakeholders is challenged by the increasing presence of disruptive turbulent events, such as the COVID-19. At this regard, robustness has been identified as a suitable response to deal with this kind of events. Through a systematic literature review, we analyzed how public sector organizations have co-created with other actors during the COVID-19 and what have been the contribution of robust governance strategies. Our findings point firstly to the empirical validity of the robustness concept, providing evidence of the extensive use of robust governance strategies into the co-creation processes. Second, we identified a configurational approach to robustness, with governments co-creating by simultaneously employing several robust strategies. Thirdly, we observed a more active involvement of societal stakeholders, with emergence of proto-institutions and potential threats to the political system.     

The Public Participation Act: A Comprehensive Model Approach to End Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation in the USA

Commentators have documented the disturbing use of the courtroom to silence those who speak out on important issues. Too often, parties resort to meritless lawsuits in response to another's free expression or communication with the government. These lawsuits are called SLAPPs, or Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation. In the USA, they have emerged as a significant threat to the rights of expression and petition guaranteed in the First Amendment to the US Constitution. A majority of the US States have passed 'anti-SLAPP laws', but there is no uniform protection. The model legislation outlined in this paper is intended to guide those who seek uniform, comprehensive protection against SLAPPs.     

Characterisation of forward stutter in the AmpFlSTR® SGM Plus® PCR

PCR amplification of tetrameric short tandem repeats (STRs) can lead to Taq enzyme slippage and artefact products typically one repeat unit less in size than the parent STR. These back stutter or n ? 4 amplification products are low-level relative to the amplification of the parent STR but are widely seen in the forensic community where tetrameric STRs are employed in the generation of DNA profiles. To aid the interpretation of DNA mixtures where minor contributor(s) might be present in comparable amounts to the back stutter products, the typical amounts of back stutter generated have been well characterised and guidelines for interpretation are in place. However, further artefacts thought to be Taq enzyme slippage leading to products with one repeat unit greater than the parent sequence (n + 4 or forward stutter) or two repeats less (n ? 8 or double back stutter) also occur, but these have not been well characterised despite their potential influence in mixture interpretations. Here we present findings with respect to these additional artefacts from a study of 10,000 alleles and include guidelines for interpretation.     

Vladimir Putin and the Reaffirmation of Central State Power

Using post-Soviet Kazakhstan as a conceptual point of departure, this article considers the role that proactive framing and persuasion play in ensuring regime survival in soft authoritarian contexts. Drawing on interviews, opinion polls, news media, and the scholarly literature, the authors use three examples—Kazakhstan's OSCE bid, the global financial crisis, and "Rakhatgate"—that highlight the regime's varying proportions of persuasive and coercive efforts. The ways a soft authoritarian leader responds to potentially threatening events are examined. Non-material sources of regime durability are analyzed as essentials for understanding authoritarian regime dynamics and, by implication, for developing a full theory of regime change.