Sleep disturbance in adolescents: Sleep quality,sleep habits,beliefs about sleep,and daytime functioning

This study examined the prevalence and correlates of sleep disturbance in adolescents. Two hundred seventy-seven 9th- and 10th-grade students completed a questionnaire on sleep quality, sleep habits, beliefs about sleep, and daytime mood and functioning. Based on their responses, subjects were classified as good sleepers (66%), occasional poor sleepers (23%), and chronic poor sleepers (11%). Occasional and chronic poor sleepers reported being significantly more depressed, without energy, tense, moody, and irritable and less rested and alert than good sleepers. They were also more likely to describe themselves negatively. However, poor sleepers were not consistently more tired than good sleepers. Rather, they tended to be least tired in the evening, the time when most good sleepers reported feeling tired. There were few differences in the sleep habits and beliefs about sleep of good and poor sleepers. All subjects reported shifts in bedtimes and waketimes from weekdays to weekends, with occasional and chronic poor sleepers showing a tendency toward greater shifts, a possible factor contributing to their sleep disturbance. Occasional and chronic poor sleepers also reported more observable behaviors and feelings of stress than good sleepers. The need for early intervention with particular attention to teaching adolescents about good sleep habits and the need for stable bedtimes and waketimes and the possibility of joint intervention on daytime stress and sleeping problems are discussed.     

Money and politics in a small open economy

A time series analysis indicates monetary growth and the Gallup Poll in Canada are systematically related at ‘electoral cycle’ periodicities (5 to 20 quarters) under flexible exchange rates, and demonstrates the absence of an electoral component in Canadian monetary growth under fixed rates. These results confirm empirically a widely accepted extension of the Mundell-Fleming argument that monetary policy is effective only under flexible rates, which to my knowledge has not before been directly investigated: international constraints on the small open economy under fixed rates lead to the abandonment of monetary policy as an active instrument in electoral politics.     

Gender differences in self-reported moral reasoning: A review and new evidence

Sixty-four undergraduates wrote responses to the question, “When faced with a moral dilemma, what issues or concerns influence your decision?” The responses were coded according to one or more of 13 themes by independent raters blind to the subjects' gender. Six of the themes were identified as “feminine” themes and seven as “masculine” themes on the basis of previous work by Gilligan ([1982],In a Different Voice, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts), Kohlberg ([1976], “Moral Stages and Moralization: The Cognitive-Developmental Approach,” in Lickona, T. [ed.],Moral Development and Behavior: Theory, Research, and social Issues, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York), and others. Only one association between gender and the presence of any given theme reached statistical significance: Thus, there is little evidence to support the idea that men and women differ in their reports of how they think about moral dilemmas. For all subjects, the average proportion of possible feminine themes in a response was higher than the proportion of possible masculine themes. This finding supports the idea than an exclusive focus on themes such as rights and responsibilities will fail to capture many of the considerations all subjects regard as most important.     

Reactive Responses: The Complementary Role of Federal and State Courts

The recent revival of state constitutional law has contributedsignificantly to the development of a dynamic judicial federalism.While interaction between federal and state courts is hardlynovel, acknowledgments of reciprocity have occurred more frequentlythan in the past. The Burger Courts receptivity to state judicialactivism inaugurated an era marked by creativity as well ascooperation. Thus far, major departures from established practiceshave been limited to a readily identifiable and recurring numberof state courts. All the same, the case studies included inthis article range across a variety of factual contexts andexplore an impressive array of links, both explicit and implied,between the federal and state courts. A disquieting new requirement,introduced as the result of a 1983 Supreme Court decision, exactsof state judges an unambiguous declaration of reliance on independentstate grounds as the price of ensuring federal nonintervention.Whether judicial federalism will continue to flourish withinso confining a framework remains problematic.     

The Southern Presidential Primary: Regional Intentions With National Implications

Fifteen southern and border states have decided to hold presidentialprimaries around the second Tuesday in March 1988. Democraticparty reformers have backed this regional primary in hopes thatit will advantage politically moderate candidates for the presidency.This article discusses how enactment of the southern primarycame about and why this reform seems unlikely to achieve theintentions of the reformers. Four major criticisms of the reformsare discussed: 1) Republicans, not Democrats, could benefit;2) the importance of earlier primaries and caucuses—Iowaand New Hampshire in particular—could grow dramatically;3) the desired moderating influence on Democratic candidatescould be frustrated by plurality wins; and 4) the southern regionalprimary is not southern or regional but national.