Family interaction patterns among families with normal,disturbed, and drug-abusing adolescents

The relationships between family interaction patterns and the symptomatology of the individual family member are central to many therapeutic approaches. This study was designed to determine whether family interaction patterns differ significantly among three groups of families defined according to the adolescent offspring's symptoms. Thirty families were evaluated in a one-hour interview while three observers behind a one-way mirror rated verbal behavior and the quality of interaction between father, mother, and adolescent. Assessed behaviors included the ability to reach a decision, decision time, scapegoating, and double-bind messages. In addition, the quality of the family's interaction was assessed at four different times during the interview. The results established that the three family groups did not differ demographically. A comparison of the two disturbed family groups yielded no significant differences, with the exception of the adolescent's presenting problem and behaviors. The normal group was significantly different from the other two groups in frequency of scapegoating of the adolescent and the ability to reach a decision. Additionally, the normal families displayed clearer communication, more freedom of expression, more cooperation, and greater sensitivity among members. Several variables did not discriminate the normal group from the disturbed family groups.Received her Ph.D. from Bryn Mawr College. Research interests are adolescent psychopathology as it relates to family, group psychotherapy with adolescents, and use of the therapeutic milieu.     

Preventing HIV transmission via HIV exposure laws: applying logic and mathematical modeling to compare statutory approaches to penalizing undisclosed exposure to HIV

Twenty-four U.S. states have enacted HIV exposure laws that prohibit HIV-positive persons from engaging in sexual activities with partners to whom they have not disclosed their HIV status. There is little standardization among existing HIV exposure laws, which vary substantially with respect to the sexual activities that are prohibited without prior serostatus disclosure. Logical analysis and mathematical modeling were used to explore the HIV prevention effectiveness of two types of HIV exposure laws: "strict" laws that require HIV-positive persons to disclose their serostatus to prospective partners prior to any sexual activity and "flexible" laws that require seropositive status disclosure only prior to high-risk sex (e.g., unprotected anal or vaginal intercourse). These laws were compared relative to each other and to a no-law alternative. The results of these analyses indicate that, under most (though not necessarily all) circumstances, both strict and flexible exposure laws can be expected to reduce HIV transmission risk relative to the no-law alternative, with flexible exposure laws producing the greater reduction in risk. This study demonstrates how logical analysis and mathematical modeling techniques can make an important contribution to the construction of a rational basis for decisions about a highly contested public health policy issue.     

Subterranean successes: Durable regulation and regulatory endowments

Scholars sometimes criticize durable regulatory systems for being costly, inefficient, ineffective, and inequitable. This article reassesses regulation, arguing that a mis-categorization of types of regulatory activity has led critics astray. More specifically, the article observes that regulation “hardened” by being built into infrastructure often ceases to be seen as regulation and its benefits are therefore inappropriately omitted from assessments of regulatory accomplishments. Hardening into one or another durable form can create two important benefits: durable regulation moves some items off the agenda of regulators, conserving resources for other regulatory work; durable regulation also creates regulatory endowments, preserving key bargains struck at the time infrastructure was created and reducing future opportunities for capture. Such endowments can then become the foundation for other regulatory work. Examples from the regulation of drinking water in the United States and brief discussions of road safety and disability regulation illustrate the argument.     

Custodial Relationships Of Grandparents Raising Grandchildren:Results of a home-based intervention study

The phenomenon of grandparents raising grandchildren has increased significantly over the past two decades. The literature documents that health, financial, and legal worries top the list of concerns for grandparents who raise grandchildren. The authors describe the results of a multidisciplinary study that provides home visitation with social, nursing, legal, and educational support to grandparents raising grandchildren in parent absent households. This article examines the custodial relationships of one hundred and sixty-three children being raised in sixty-eight families headed by grandparents in an urban population in the South. The data showed that of the 163 children, 70 were in the guardianship of their grandparents, 40 of the children had no legal relationship with their grandparents, 28 were in the custody of the State Department of Family and Children's Services, 21 were in the temporary custody of their grandparents, and four were adopted by their grandparents. Recommendations from this study include educating service providers and grandparents raising grandchildren regarding the potential financial benefits under Title IVE adoption assistance and supporting legislative reform to increase the stability of intergenerational kinship care. This project demonstrates an innovative approach of combining university-based research with multidisciplinary education while providing cost-effective support services through a partnership with the community.     

A Comparison of the Dispositions of Juvenile Offenders Certified as Adults with Juvenile Offenders Not Certified

Abstract In recent years, the transfer of juveniles to adult courts has been seen as one way of “getting tough” on juvenile crime. This study examined juvenile cases transferred to adult court, and compared them with a random sample of delinquents adjudicated in juvenile court for conduct that would constitute felonies if committed by an adult. The results indicated that juvenile cases transferred to adult court were far more likely to be pending and unresolved, as compared to the sample from the juvenile justice system. Furthermore, the results did not support the proposition that juveniles transferred to adult court would receive greater punishment than they could expect in juvenile court. Except for a small number of offenders, the prospect of transfer did not appear to provide a deterrent to crime.     

FROM CHILDREN'S SHOES TO CHILDREN'S VOICES

This article considers the sudden rush of enthusiam to hear children's voices in divorce proceedings in countries such as the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, and elsewhere and points to the problems that are likely to occur if the family law system really does mean to treat children seriously. It argues that children give complex accounts that may not fit neatly into either adult or legal agendas. Notwithstanding the difficulties that flow from this development, it is argued that it is essential to include children's understandings in the formulation of future policy and practice.     

Correlates of moral development in juvenile delinquents

Moral reasoning and development have been the focus of considerable research in the past two decades, stimulated primarily by Kohlberg’s formulation of the stages of moral development. Studies of juvenile delinquents have indicated that youthful offenders are at lower developmental stages of moral reasoning than their nondeliquent counterparts. Some research has also examined patterns among juvenile delinquents with respect to moral judgments, as it is recognized that they are heterogeneous as a group. In order to further examine correlates of moral judgments among juvenile delinquents, a sample of 411 adolescent offenders was obtained. The sample consisted of all adjudicated male delinquents aged twelve to fifteen admitted to a state training school over a sixteen month period of time. Data was obtained on a measure of moral judgment, the Morality-Immorality Scale (Baker, Stewart, Kaiser, Brown & Barclay, 1979), along with a variety of measures of personality, behavioral, social, intellectual and educational skills. The adolescents were divided into three groups based on their scores on the MIS. The highest scoring group on MIS had better scores on a variety of behavioral, intellectual and personality indicators, while the lowest scoring group had the worst scores on such measures. Moral-religious emphasis in the home was not associated with the scores on the Morality-Immorality Scale, but a measure of family pathology was negatively related to these scores. Implications of the findings for research and for the development of moral education programs for delinquents is discussed.     

College Women and Sexual Assault: The Role of Sex-related Alcohol Expectancies

This study examined the relationship between alcohol, sex-related alcohol expectancies, and sexual assaults among women college students. Participants completed measures of sexual behaviors, sexual victimization experiences, sex related alcohol expectancies, and drinking habits. Based on participants’ responses women were categorized as having experienced no assault, unwanted sexual contact, sexual coercion, attempted rape, and rape. It was observed across groups that relative to controls, women reporting attempted rape and rape consumed higher levels of alcohol. Within group comparisons revealed that relative to controls, victimized women endorsed higher levels of sex-related alcohol expectancies. In the prediction of severity of sexual victimization, regression analyses revealed an interaction between alcohol consumption and expectancy of vulnerability to sexual coercion. At higher levels of alcohol consumption women endorsing high vulnerability to sexual coercion experienced more severe victimatization. Implications of the findings are discussed. This work was conducted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree by the first author under the direction of the third author.