Histories of constrained compassion: the idealised refugee family and the Australian nation, 1947–1975

Abstract

By way of introduction to this special issue, I examine the idealised family as a technology of Australia’s white nation-building project in a period of growing internationalism. I place the articles in this context, highlighting their contributions to a history of compassion propelled by Australia’s emerging sense of itself as a global citizen and constrained by a nationalist agenda defined by economic and social aims and informed by a history of racial anxiety. Racialised and gendered productions of the family have been deployed by the Australian nation to embrace, regulate and reject refugees in the period since 1947. This special issue contributes to historicising these techniques and their effects, which remain with us in reconfigured forms in the present.     

The WORSHIP II study: a pilot of psychodynamic interpersonal therapy with women offenders who self-harm

Abstract

The Women Offenders Self Harm Intervention Pilot II (WORSHIP II) study was conducted in three female prisons in England and piloted a treatment intervention for self-harm. WORSHIP II specifically aimed to reduce thoughts and actions of self-harm and suicide risk, through an evidence-based intervention Psychodynamic Interpersonal Therapy (PIT), which is also known as the conversational model. This paper provides an outline of this pilot evaluation of using the PIT approach in prison settings. Therapeutic obstacles associated with implementing WORSHIP II in a correctional environment are discussed, together with successful strategies to overcome these difficulties. Finally, examination of some of the quantitative outcomes suggests that WORSHIP II is a promising approach for this difficult area.     

Pubertal Timing and Depressive Symptoms in Early Adolescents: The Roles of Romantic Competence and Romantic Experiences

In spite of the large literature supporting the link between early pubertal timing and depression in adolescent girls, there are some exceptions. This suggests that there may be factors that interact with pubertal timing, increasing risk for depression in some girls, but not others. This study examined two such factors, romantic competence and romantic experiences, and their role in the cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between pubertal timing and depressive symptoms among 83 early adolescent females (89% Caucasian). For on-time maturing girls (but not for early- or late-), lower levels of competence were associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms concurrently, but not longitudinally. In addition, for on-time maturing girls, more romantic experiences were associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms both concurrently and longitudinally. The discussion focused on the need for greater conceptual and empirical clarity regarding the pubertal timing-depression association and its potential moderators.

Legal Empowerment of the Poor through Property Rights Reform: Tensions and Trade-offs of Land Registration and Titling in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

Land registration and titling in Africa is often advocated as a pro-poor legal empowerment strategy. Advocates have put forth different visions of the substantive goals this is to achieve. Some see registration and titling as a way to protect smallholders’ rights of access to land. Others frame land registration as part of community-protection or ethno-justice agendas. Still others see legal empowerment in the market-enhancing commodification of property rights. This paper contrasts these different visions, showing that each entails tensions and trade-offs. The analysis helps explain why land law reforms aiming at legal empowerment may be controversial or divisive in African countries.     

How Early Stressful Life Experiences Combine With Adolescents’ Conjoint Health Risk Trajectories to Influence Cardiometabolic Disease Risk in Young Adulthood

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - Research has primarily focused on additive (unique) associations between early stressful life experiences (specifically, socioeconomic adversity and maltreatment)...     

Patterns of Problem Behavior in Relation to Thriving and Precocious Behavior in Late Adolescence

Several studies have indicated that an early onset of delinquent and problem behaviors is associated with a greater risk of subsequent behavioral and mental health problems. This study builds on that literature by examining histories of behavior problems in relation to indicators of thriving and precocious behavior during late adolescence. Using longitudinal data from 289 high-risk adolescents, participants were classified according to their problem behavior histories at ages 15 and 19. Findings indicated that although some adolescents experienced decline over time in their overt behavior problems, those youth showed fewer indicators of thriving when compared to adolescents with no history of behavior problems. Youth with an earlier onset of behavior problems also evinced an increased risk for precocious behavior. Gender differences and implications for prevention through youth development programming are discussed.

Delivering Lasting Peace, Democracy and Human Rights in Times of Transition: The Role of International Law

¹The increasing scope of international legal regulation, particularlyin the field of human rights, has facilitated the impositionof sustained policies of domestic reform aimed at entrenchinginternationally accepted standards of governance in transitionalsocieties. At the point of such societal change, however, thesymbolism of who makes and enforces the law is important. Thequestion of the relationship between national and internationallaw is therefore one that bears scrutiny. This article examinesthe theoretical basis upon which such policies are based, namelythe idea of a liberal peace, considering the extent to whichthe blanket implementation of international standards can addressthe need of transitional societies to reestablish the legitimacyof both political and legal authority in order to ensure thefuture protection of human rights.