The Stability of Perceived Pubertal Timing Across Adolescence

It is unknown whether perceived pubertal timing changes as puberty progresses or whether it is an important component of adolescent identity formation that is fixed early in pubertal development. The purpose of this study is to examine the stability of perceived pubertal timing among a school-based sample of rural adolescents aged 11-17 (N=6,425; 50% female; 53% White). Two measures of pubertal timing were used, stage-normative, based on the Pubertal Development Scale, a self-report scale of secondary sexual characteristics, and peer-normative, a one-item measure of perceived pubertal timing. Two longitudinal methods were used: one-way random effects ANOVA models and latent class analysis. When calculating intraclass correlation coefficients using the one-way random effects ANOVA models, which is based on the average reliability from one time point to the next, both measures had similar, but poor, stability. In contrast, latent class analysis, which looks at the longitudinal response pattern of each individual and treats deviation from that pattern as measurement error, showed three stable and distinct response patterns for both measures: always early, always on-time, and always late. Study results suggest instability in perceived pubertal timing from one age to the next, but this instability is likely due to measurement error. Thus, it may be necessary to take into account the longitudinal pattern of perceived pubertal timing across adolescence rather than measuring perceived pubertal timing at one point in time.     

New Millennium,New Public Management and the New Zealand Model

Recently the much‐discussed ‘New Zealand model’ of new public management (NPM) has become significantly revised. It now lacks the theoretical coherence and the market‐led focus that it relied on between 1987 and 1996. Labour‐led governments since 1999 have undertaken gradual and pragmatic – yet significant – changes in public management structures and principles, refining and sometimes reversing the model implemented in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This article does a ‘stock‐take’ of public management developments in New Zealand from 1999 to 2008, and argues that New Zealand can no longer be viewed as a leading exponent of market‐led NPM. Some NPM principles have been refined, but others have been quietly abandoned. The new National‐led government appears unwilling to undertake radical reforms, and, while it may seek a greater role for the private sector, looks set to continue with the ‘gradual and pragmatic’ approach adopted since 1999.     

Cross-National Perspectives for Aiding Policy Choice

The field of public policy analysis, centered about practical choices, is being extended by this journal to include useful comparisons among nations or other political units, as well as borrowing or lesson-drawing. This extension should remain close to the practical orientation of the field, rather than seeking to contribute to those disciplinary theories that lack practical usefulness in the short term (several decades). Implications of this admonition are spelled out in the form of a list of suggested topics for articles in this journal.     

Political Identity,Public Memory and Urban Space: A Case Study of Parcul Carol I,Bucharest from 1906 to the Present

This article analyses the inter-relationship between political identity, public memory and urban space in South-east Europe through a case study of Parcul Carol I (Carol I Park) in Bucharest, Romania from 1906 to the present. The article analyses how the urban cultural landscape has been reshaped to support the political ambitions of three successive regimes—Romania as a kingdom and liberal constitutional monarchy (1881–1938); state-socialist Romania (1947–1989); and the post-socialist Romanian state from 1989. The article highlights complex continuity from the state-socialist period under post-socialism, rather than destruction of the landscape of state-socialism, combined with the return of pre-socialist landscape elements. The article argues for the need for studies of the fate of state-socialist urban landscapes under post-socialism which consider the complexities introduced by the persistence of landscape elements from the pre-socialist and state-socialist periods and their combination with pre-socialist and post-socialist landscapes to produce hybrid memory-scapes and spaces of the nation.     

Expertise in Fingerprint Identification

Although fingerprint experts have presented evidence in criminal courts for more than a century, there have been few scientific investigations of the human capacity to discriminate these patterns. A recent latent print matching experiment shows that qualified, court‐practicing fingerprint experts are exceedingly accurate (and more conservative) compared with novices, but they do make errors. Here, a rationale for the design of this experiment is provided. We argue that fidelity, generalizability, and control must be balanced to answer important research questions; that the proficiency and competence of fingerprint examiners are best determined when experiments include highly similar print pairs, in a signal detection paradigm, where the ground truth is known; and that inferring from this experiment the statement “The error rate of fingerprint identification is 0.68%” would be unjustified. In closing, the ramifications of these findings for the future psychological study of forensic expertise and the implications for expert testimony and public policy are considered.