Same- and Cross-Gender Sexual Harassment Victimization in Middle School: A Developmental-Contextual Perspective

Using a developmental-contextual framework, the present study investigated risk factors for same- and cross-gender sexual harassment victimization in 986 middle school students. Participants completed questionnaires in the fall and spring of the same school year so risk factors could be explored longitudinally. Results revealed that gender differences existed for same- and cross-gender forms of harassment. While girls reported more instances of receiving same- and cross-gender unwanted sexual attention, boys were more likely to report being victims of same-gender gender harassment. Important differences in risk factors also existed. Being bullied in the fall and feeling disconnected from school were risk factors for same-gender victimization but not for cross-gender victimization. Romantic relationship status, which was a significant risk factor for both same- and cross-gender victimization, was qualified by significant gender interactions. Results are explained through a developmental-contextual lens and implications for intervention are discussed.     

Genetic and environmental contributions to stability and change in levels of self-control

Purpose

There has been an emerging body of research estimating the stability in levels of self-control across different sections of the life course. At the same time, some of this research has attempted to examine the factors that account for both stability and change in levels of self-control. Missing from much of this research is a concerted focus on the genetic and environmental architecture of stability and change in self-control.

Methods

The current study was designed to address this issue by analyzing a sample of kinship pairs drawn from the Child and Young Adult Supplement of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (CNLSY).

Results

Analyses of these data revealed that genetic factors accounted for between 74 and 92 percent of the stability in self-control and between 78 and 89 percent of the change in self-control. Shared and nonshared environmental factors explained the rest of the stability and change in levels of self-control.

Conclusions

A combination of genetic and environmental influences is responsible for the stability and change in levels of self-control over time.     

Social Support Related to Women Who Have Remained with Their Partners After the Physical Violence has Ceased

Using a U.S. nationally representative sample (N?=?5,692; U.S. National Comorbidity Survey- Replication Part II [NCS-R]; Alegria et al. 2007), this research explored social support as a possible protective factor for abused women. Women who were physically abused by their partners, but not during the past year reported more positive social support from friends than women who continued to experience physical violence or women who had not experienced partner violence. Women who had experienced recent physical violence reported more negative social support than women who had not experienced partner violence. These findings suggest that positive social support might be a protective mechanism for women in abusive relationships.     

Transforming Prevention Systems in the United States and The Netherlands Using Communities That Care

Josine Junger-Tas introduced the Communities That Care (CTC) prevention system to the Netherlands as a promising approach to address the growing youth violence and delinquency. Using data from a randomized trial of CTC in the United States and a quasi-experimental study of CTC in the Netherlands, this article describes the results of a comparison of the implementation of CTC in 12 U.S. communities and five Dutch neighborhoods. CTC communities in both countries achieved higher stages of a science-based approach to prevention than control communities, but full implementation of CTC in the Netherlands was hampered by the very small list of prevention programs tested and found effective in the Dutch context.     

Are they different? A comparison of risk in Dangerous and Severe Personality Disordered and Personality Disordered hospitalized populations

Abstract

There has been considerable interest internationally in the assessment and treatment of individuals who have a severe personality disorder and who might pose a high risk of future recidivism. In the UK, the Dangerous and Severe Personality Disorder (DSPD) programme was initiated to deal with just this group. It is unclear, yet, whether those admitted to these services are different from those admitted to conventional personality disorder (PD) services. In the present study, 60 patients admitted to DSPD services, under DSPD criteria, were compared with 44 patients admitted to personality disordered (non-DSPD) services within the same high secure psychiatric hospital, on risk measures, including (1) an index of predicted future violence, (2) previous offending behaviour and (3) ‘pre-treatment’ levels of institutional risk-related behaviour. Results indicated that DSPD patients do pose a greater clinical and management risk, have a higher number of ‘pre-treatment’ risk-related behaviour, and have a greater number of convictions and imprisonments after age 18, relative to PD patients. The implications and limitations of these results are discussed.     

A Strange Drift to the Right: The Civic Historiography of Michael Sandel

Michael Sandel's Democracy's Discontent strives to contribute to the project of "democratic theory," which aims to bring people together across ideological differences. Sandel wants to revitalize citizenship by uniting religious conservatives and those committed to a more just political economy through an appeal to the American tradition of civic republicanism. However, his project is fundamentally incoherent. First, Sandel's narrative conflates the republican and religious aspects of the American founding, ignoring the fact that civic republican political theory actually developed in direct opposition to the ideal of a Christian polity. Second, his version of civic republicanism deviates from the historic tradition in a way that renders it much more conservative than it actually was and might still be. Third, his reading of American history consistently highlights conservative themes. Consequently, Sandel ultimately undercuts the progressive aspects of his own vision, detracting from rather than contributing to the transideological aspirations of "democratic theory."     

Social networks and the study of relations: networks as method,metaphor and form

Abstract

Networks have recently become fashionable in social analysis but most of the new network approaches have paid scant attention to the long history of reflections upon the potential of networks as an analytical device in the social sciences. In this paper we chart the developments in networking thinking in two disciplinary areas – social network analysis and social anthropology – in order to highlight the enduring difficulties and problems with network thinking as well as its potential. The first half of the paper explores the uses of network approaches over the past fifty years, situating theoretical and methodological questions in their broader disciplinary contexts. The authors then show how emerging issues from both bodies of work offer the promise of new kinds of networking thinking.