Dealing with the fall-Out: Identifying and addressing the role that relationship strain plays in the lives of girls in the juvenile justice system

Much research has found that girls and boys process strain differently. The purpose of this article, however, is to argue that a particular form of strain—relationship strain—explains why girls commit delinquency. The concept of relationship strain comes from combining key elements of feminist theories with Agnew's (1992) conception of strain which results when there is a presentation of negative or painful stimuli, or a loss of positive valued stimuli. To test our assertion, we examined data from 27 focus groups with delinquent girls, incarcerated women that were system-involved as adolescents and juvenile justice professionals that work with girls. We were interested in knowing what the participants believed got girls into trouble and whether there would be commonalties among their answers. Additionally, we wanted to know if their responses would be related to strain. A quasi-grounded theory approach was used to analyze the data. Findings indicated a great deal of congruency among groups. Nearly everything the focus group participants identified as leading girls into trouble (e.g., abuse and neglect, boyfriends, and fighting) was related to strain and boiled down to one thing—relationships. We concluded that it is likely the attempt to cope with relationship strain that leads to delinquency.     

“Forced Adoption” in the Australian Story of National Regret and Apology*

This essay places the long‐standing campaign for redress and apology of women separated from their children through adoption in an historical and political context, tracing the rise of the single mother as a political voice through the Council for the Single Mother and her Child and the emergence of birth mother advocacy groups. The political actions of these mothers must be seen alongside the two national apologies already delivered and the political activism which led to them. Activism for apologies for past wrongs ought be understood in terms of the contemporary Australian politics of apology in which, in the words of Hannah Arendt, “pity is elevated to the level of a political principle”. However, in the case of these mothers, the Australian story of national regret and apology is complicated by issues of gender and sexuality. The women, unlike the Stolen Generations, child migrants and institutionalised children, do not easily or readily fit within the terms of national apology as formulated in the apologies of 2008 and 2009 which were addressed primarily to wronged and innocent children. If and when an apology is addressed to these women, its terms will necessarily differ from the earlier apologies.     

Constructing and Conceptualizing “Interdependent Hegemony” in an Era of the Rise of the BRICS and Beyond

The paper aims to provide a framework for understanding the global impact of the rise of the “Second World” (emerging powers, such as BRICS) brought about by globalization and the transformation of international relations and international political economy. The paper takes the point of departure from one of Gramsci’s key conceptual categories and analytical apparatus, e.g. “hegemony,” to explore the extent that the upsurge of the emerging powers has reshaped the terrain and parameters of social, economic and political relations both at the national and global levels, and has exerted pressure on the existing international order in terms of both opportunities and constraints. The paper intends to examine the dialectical nexus between the role of the emerging powers as a counter-hegemonic, socio-economic and socio-political force for a new world order. The paper’s analytical approach is to combine neo-Gramscian hegemony theories with critical post-hegemony theories. The conclusion of the paper is to suggest that in an era of globalization and transformational capitalism it is impossible for the emerging powers to establish an alternative independent hegemony; rather, the world will witness a new era of “interdependent hegemony,” in which both the “First World” and the “Second World” are intertwined in a constant process of shaping and reshaping the world order in the nexus of national interest, regional orientation, common economic and political agendas, security alliance and potential confl icts.     

The impact of leadership involvement in enhancing high school climate and reducing bullying: An exploratory study

Bullying in secondary schools is a serious concern for educators and parents. The relationship between bullying and school climate has been identified and strategies to improve school climate are available. The importance of leadership in shaping school climate has been well documented. This exploratory study explores the role of leadership in implementing an approach to school climate change (positive behavior intervention and supports) in comprehensive Southwestern high schools participating in a federal school safety grant. Leadership involvement in the change process appears to be a key component leading to student-reported behavior change. Our findings suggest that although changes in school climate should lead to changes in bullying behaviors, the opposite is the case. Implications for practice and further research are discussed.     

Are repeatedly victimized households different?

Much recent victimization research has concentrated on predicting who will be victimized, with relatively little concern for the number of events suffered. This study turns to the latter issue by focusing attention on the prediction of repeat victimization. A statistical methodology is employed which allows for the explicit recognition that an initial victimization must occur prior to any repeat event. When applied to property crime information from the 1984 British Crime Survey, we find little evidence that repeat victims have distinctive characteristics compared with single victims. Nevertheless, households with characteristics which protect from victimization, in the sense of giving rise to a low initial risk, have this protection reduced for a subsequent event. Moreover, comparing two households with different risk characteristics, their repeat victimization probabilities are more similar than were those for the initial occurrence.     

Race and sex differences in the measurement of risk for drug use

The study uses data from 2018 Black and White males and females and latent-variable structural equations techniques to examine group differences in the measurement of risk factors for substance use. First, the equivalence of measurement models for four demographic groups is examined separately for 12 risk factors and 2 measures of substance use. Then these 14 measures are correlated with five external criteria to assess measurement validity. Results imply that one measurement model fits the data for 11 of the 12 risk factors. For one risk factor (Peer Drug Modeling) and the two drug use scales, observed group differences in the factor loadings stemmed from differences in the distributions of a few drug-related items which were infrequently endorsed, especially by Black females. No meaningful group difference in the validity coefficients relating the scales to external criteria were observed. The results are optimistic for the study of race and sex differences in the correlates of substance use. But research on group differences in the prediction of rare behaviors should examine group differences in distributions which may effect measurement differently for different groups.