Factor similarity of the Conflict Tactics Scales across samples,spouses, and sites: Issues and implications

Wide variations in prevalence estimates of marital aggression point to the absence of a uniform and adequate definition of marital aggression. To focus on the construct validity of Straus' (1979) Conflict Tactics Scales, the most frequently used measure of marital aggression, two studies were conducted. Based on responses to the Conflict Tactics Scales, two consistent factors (viz. Physical and Psychological Aggression) emerged in separate samples of 187 couples seeking therapy for marital problems, and 398 nonclinic couples in beginning marriages. The factor structure was consistent across clinic and nonclinic samples, sex, geographical sites, time, and socioeconomic status. Implications for the measurement of interspousal physical aggression are raised (e.g., mild, moderate, and severe aggression load on the same factor) and appropriate directions for further research on the construct validity of the Conflict Tactics Scales are suggested (e.g., conducting similar factor analyses on aggressive couples).     

Ideology and performance: service delivery in a community mental health center

This study examines the relationships between ideology and service delivery performance in an established community mental health center which is beginning major structural changes. Ideological pluralism among several separate and internally-cohesive units within one organization led to diversity in staff productivity. The implications of ideological pluralism for planned organizational change, policy implementation and administration are explored.     

The primary investigation of material evidence and the evaluation of its suitability for expert biological identification by genomic "dactyloscopy"

Use of DNA "fingerprinting" method for biological analysis of material evidences exhibit new potentials for making concrete expert conclusions. But such expertise is time consuming and difficult to perform that's why it is important to evaluate fitness of expert material for DNA fingerprinting at early stages of object investigation. Method of preliminary treatment of objects sent for DNA fingerprint expertise in case of sexual assault is suggested and tested. This method allows one to evaluate objects easily from the standpoint of possibility to perform such investigation.     

On Tourism and the Constructions of ‘Paradise Islands’ in Central America and the Caribbean

A comparative perspective of the tourism industry in the islands of Colón, Panama and Carriacou, Grenada is presented in this article. The islands have long histories of association with colonial powers, coupled with more recent histories of ‘discovery’ as tourist destinations. The historical constructions of ‘paradise islands' and the appropriation of tourism for nation‐building purposes in these territories are analysed. The discussion assesses the underlying reasons for the differing responses by African Caribbean populations toward tourism development, in spite of similar colonial and postcolonial histories.