Visiting Marriages and Remote Parenting: Changing Strategies of Rural–Urban Migrants to Hanoi,Vietnam

Despite the ongoing centrality of marriage and reproduction in Vietnam, family and spousal separation is an increasing reality for many poor rural–urban migrants. We offer a social relational analysis of reproduction to explore how migrant men and women in their peak child-bearing and child-rearing years negotiate conjugal strategies and expectations. Labour migration for these poor men and women involves high costs for family relations, social identities and emotional experiences which are strongly patterned by gender. This social relational analysis of reproduction deepens analyses of changing marriage relations and studies of internal labour migration.     

The genetic and environmental overlap between aggressive and non-aggressive antisocial behavior in children and adolescents using the self-report delinquency interview (SR-DI)

Purpose

This study investigated genetic and environmental commonalities and differences between aggressive and non-aggressive antisocial behavior (ASB) in male and female child and adolescent twins, based on a newly developed self-report questionnaire with good reliability and external validity -- the Self-Report Delinquency Interview (SR-DI).

Methods

Subjects were 780 pairs of twins assessed through laboratory interviews at three time points in a longitudinal study, during which the twins were: (1) ages 9-10 years; (2) age 11-13 years, and (3) age 16-18 years.

Results

Sex differences were repeatedly observed for mean levels of ASB. In addition, diverse change patterns of genetic and environmental emerged, as a function of sex and form of ASB, during the development from childhood to adolescence. Although there was some overlap in etiologies of aggressive and non-aggressive ASB, predominantly in shared environmental factors, their genetic overlap was moderate and the non-shared environmental overlap was low.

Conclusions

Taken together, these results reinforced the importance of differentiating forms of ASB and further investigating sex differences in future research. These results should be considered in future comparisons between youth self-report and parental or teacher report of child and adolescent behavior, and may help elucidate commonalities and differences among informants.     

Coping with crime: Individual female responses

Freedom from personal attack and security of one's personal possessions are goals to which almost everyone subscribes ¾ from the derelicts clutching their bottles of cheap wine to millionaires worried about intrusions into their mansions. Reducing the risk of crime against our homes, our property and ourselves is a goal about which much consensus exists (Levine, et al., 1980: 22). Since formal means of crime control through the Criminal Justice Agencies only have been found to be ineffective, women must turn to community‐oriented policing as a welcome alternative for self‐protection. This article discusses the strategies women employ to cope with the rising incidence of crime.     

Investigating the Roles of Neighborhood Environments and Housing-Based Social Support in the Relocation of Persons Made Homeless by Hurricane Katrina

This study examined whether social support tied to relocation efforts and neighborhood social climate may mediate the effects of stressful life events on mental health outcomes following Hurricane Katrina. Participants were 108 adult persons made homeless by Hurricane Katrina and evacuated to Columbia, South Carolina. Civic leaders developed an intervention model that emphasized (a) a one-stop point of entry, (b) living in hotels and apartments rather than shelters, and (c) matching hotels with volunteer “hosts” to assist in relocation efforts. Results revealed that perceived neighborhood factors and satisfaction with host relationship were related to several mental health outcomes. Neighborhood social climate partially mediated several mental health outcomes. Implications of this intervention model and the utility of social ecological perspectives on homelessness interventions are discussed.     

Domestic credit and the balance of payments in Ghana: A comment

This article provides evidence from a randomised control trial conducted among potato farmers in Ecuador about the impact of mobile phone text messages on farmer knowledge about and adoption of integrated pest management (IPM) practices. Using psychological constructs, we examine competing explanations for non-standard decision-making leading to low adoption of beneficial agricultural technologies. Farmers who received text messages have significantly higher knowledge and are more likely to adopt most IPM practices than those in the control group. Findings provide evidence that text messages lead to behavioural changes by reducing inattention and sub-optimal heuristics in the face of complex decisions.     

Latin America's Left Turns: beyond good and bad

In rapid succession leftwing parties have been elected to government in some of the most important countries in the Latin American region. I challenge the view that there are two distinct variants of the left—one populist, the other social democratic—and argue that variation on the left reflects the diverse conditions under which these forces emerge and evolve. I outline common features shared by the left in Latin America; suggest how the concept of populism and analysis of social movements can help explain this variation; and show how the left's commitment to egalitarianism, balancing markets, and, in some cases, its appeals to the constituent power of the people enabled it to benefit from disillusionment with the results of neoliberalism, the poor performance of democratic governments in Latin America, and the evolving international context.