Psychosocial Correlates of Shape and Weight Concerns in Overweight Pre-Adolescents

Shape and weight concerns among overweight pre-adolescents heighten risk for eating disorders and weight gain. Treatment and prevention efforts require consideration of psychosocial factors that co-occur with these concerns. This study involved 200 overweight pre-adolescents, aged 7–12 years (M age = 9.8; SD = 1.4), presenting for family-based weight control treatment. Hierarchical regression was used to examine the influence of pre-adolescents’ individual characteristics and social experiences, and their parents’ psychological symptoms, on shape and weight concerns as assessed by the Child Eating Disorder Examination. Findings revealed that higher levels of dietary restraint, greater feelings of loneliness, elevated experiences with weight-related teasing, and higher levels of parents’ eating disorder symptoms predicted higher shape and weight concerns among overweight pre-adolescents. Interventions addressing overweight pre-adolescents’ disordered eating behaviors and social functioning, as well as their parents’ disordered eating behaviors and attitudes, may be indicated for those endorsing shape and weight concerns.     

Age and Gender Variations in the Victimization-Offending Relationship in a National Sample,Ages 11–88

The finding that victims and offenders are often the same individuals has led to attempts at explaining the positive correlation between victimization and offending. Much of the evidence for the positive relationship between victimization and offending, however, is based on samples of adolescents and young adults, or on data with other limitations. In the present study, we use national data on self-reported victimization and offending to examine the victimization-offending relationship across the life span, from adolescent to middle-aged to elderly respondents. The results indicate that, with respect to the typical victimization measures included in the National Crime Victimization Survey and in many self-report surveys, the relationship between victimization and offending declines from adolescence and young adulthood to middle age and older ages. The results also vary by gender, with a positive relationship between victimization being present primarily or solely for males for some offenses. These results suggest that explanations of the victimization-offending relationship need to account for the changing nature of the relationship between victimization and offending across the life span and the different relationships between victimization and offending for females and males.     

The elimination paradox: apportionment in the Democratic Party

To award delegates in their presidential primary elections, the US Democratic Party uses Hamilton’s method of apportionment after eliminating any candidates (and their votes) that receive less than 15% of the total votes cast. We illustrate how a remaining candidate may have his or her delegate total decline as a result of other candidates being eliminated; this leads to a new elimination paradox. We relate that paradox to the new states, no show, and population paradoxes and show that divisor methods are not susceptible to the elimination paradox. We conclude with instances in which the elimination paradox may occur in other contexts, including parliamentary systems.

     

Social Vulnerability and Equity: The Disproportionate Impact of COVID-19

As the architect of racial disparity, racism shapes the vulnerability of communities. Socially vulnerable communities are less resilient in their ability to respond to and recover from natural and human-made disasters compared with resourced communities. This essay argues that racism exposes practices and structures in public administration that, along with the effects of COVID-19, have led to disproportionate infection and death rates of Black people. Using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Social Vulnerability Index, the authors analyze the ways Black bodies occupy the most vulnerable communities, making them bear the brunt of COVID-19's impact. The findings suggest that existing disparities exacerbate COVID-19 outcomes for Black people. Targeted universalism is offered as an administrative framework to meet the needs of all people impacted by COVID-19.     

Precarity and Political Immobilisation: Migrants from Burma in Chiang Mai,Thailand

An estimated 1.5 million citizens of Burma reside as refugees or migrants in Thailand, where harsh treatment, harassment and social stigmas contribute to a climate of precarity. Although one possible course of action for any community under strain is political mobilisation, for migrants from Burma in the northern city of Chiang Mai, high degrees of exploitation and insecurity have generated an overwhelming disinterest in political issues. The article examines this relationship in five main sections. The first presents the two key concepts that structure the analysis: precarity and political mobilisation. The second examines the context of migration from Burma to Thailand, focusing both on the climate of unrest found in much of Burma and on Thailand's treatment of migrant workers, its non-participation in core international legislation and its sub-standard migrant registration system. The third explains how this study of Burmese migrants in Chiang Mai was undertaken and reviews the ethical considerations required in a study of vulnerable groups. The fourth documents the study's findings and presents migrants' testimony. The fifth seeks to explain the link between precarity and political passivity in this case, and considers the wider implications. The concluding section restates the core finding.     

A Fatality Following Ingestion of the Designer Drug Meta‐Chlorophenylpiperazine (mCPP) in an Asthmatic—HPLC‐MS/MS Detection in Biofluids and Hair

A 20‐year‐old man, a cocaine addict and regular ecstasy user, with a medical history of allergic asthma died after ingesting half a tablet earlier the same day. The white tablet, stamped with a “smiling sun” logo looked very much like an ecstasy tablet and was sold as such. He experienced a severe asthma attack just after ingesting the half tablet and it evolved over the next few hours into fatal cardiorespiratory arrest. Biological samples, taken after embalming, were analyzed by high‐performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC‐MS/MS). Analysis revealed meta‐chlorophenylpiperazine (mCPP) in concentrations of 45.8 mg in a similar tablet obtained later from the drug dealer, 5.1 ng/mL in the bile, 0.3 ng/g in the liver, 15.0 ng/mL in the urine, and its absence in a hair sample (<0.02 ng/mg), which indicated he was not a regular user (whereas strong concentrations of MDMA and cocaine were found in the hair). Interrogated by the police after his arrest, the dealer said that he had sold the victim and for the very first time two tablets with the same “smiling sun” logo. The tablet used for analysis was from the same brand as the one ingested by the victim. The autopsy excluded other causes of death, while the histological analyses showed a large number of polynuclear eosinophils in the bronchial walls, confirming the asthmatic pathology. None of the other organs examined (larynx, liver, heart, adrenal glands, and kidneys) showed any distinctive signs, and in particular no inflammatory infiltrate. The death was the result of an asthma attack in an asthmatic person, violently decompensated following ingestion of approximately 20 mg of mCPP.     

‘My object is to be of service to you’: Carl Ackerman and the Wilson administration during World War I

The press was outraged in the 1970s when investigations exposed the CIA’s use of American journalists as undercover informants during the Cold War. This was treated as a shocking break in the traditional line between journalism and government. A study of journalist Carl W. Ackerman’s activities in the Great War, however, reveals such cooperation had precedents. While reporting oversees, Ackerman, later dean of Columbia Journalism School, worked behind the scenes with officials to shape and promote the Wilson administration’s foreign policy. This paper is a first step to understanding that pervasive, close relationships between journalists and government were well established at the beginning of the twentieth century.     

The genetic origins of psychopathic personality traits in adult males and females: Results from an adoption-based study

Purpose

Research has consistently revealed that measures of psychopathy and psychopathic personality traits represent some of the most consistent predictors of violent criminal involvement. As a result, there has been a considerable amount of interest in trying to identify the various etiological factors related to psychopathy. The current study builds on this existing body of literature by examining the genetic foundations to psychopathic personality traits.

Methods

An adoption-based research design is used to estimate genetic effects on psychopathic personality traits. Adoptees are drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health.

Results

Analyses revealed that having a biological criminal father was related to psychopathic personality traits for male adoptees, but not for female adoptees. For males, having a criminal biological father increased the odds of scoring in the extreme of the psychopathic personality trait scale by a factor ranging between 4.3 and 8.5. However, there was no association between having a biological criminal mother and psychopathic personality traits for adoptees.

Conclusions

Psychopathic personality traits are transmitted from father-to-offspring due to genetic reasons.     

Research design influence on study outcomes in crime and justice: a partial replication with public area surveillance

Does the quality of research design have an influence on study outcomes in crime and justice? This was the subject of an important study by Weisburd et al. (2001). They found a moderate and significant inverse relationship between research design and study outcomes: weaker designs, as indicated by internal validity, produced stronger effect sizes. Using a database of evaluations (n?=?136) from systematic reviews that investigated the effects of public area surveillance on crime, this paper carried out a partial replication of Weisburd et al.??s study. We view it as a partial replication because it included only area- or place-based studies (i.e., there were no individual-level studies) and these studies used designs at the lower end of the evaluation hierarchy (i.e., not one of the studies used a randomized experimental design). In the present study, we report findings that are highly concordant with the earlier study. The overall correlation between research design and study outcomes is moderate but negative and significant (Tau-b?= ?C.175, p?=?.029). This suggests that stronger research designs are less likely to report desirable effects or, conversely, weaker research designs may be biased upward. We explore possible explanations for this finding. Implications for policy and research are discussed.     

Integrated Theory and Crimes of Trust

The integrated theory first proposed by Elliott et al. (1979), combining strain, social control, and social learning (and sometimes social disorganization) theories, has been repeatedly tested and consistently supported for a wide range of behaviors including licit and illicit substance use, violence, and other forms of illegal behavior. It has not, however, been tested for a class of illegal behaviors best described as crimes of trust, which include different types of fraud, workplace theft, and income tax evasion. This category of offending includes offenses commonly regarded as white collar crime, and also offenses that have been more or less marginal to the study of white collar crime. The present paper tests the integrated theory specifically for crimes of trust in the National Youth Survey Family Study, a national, multigenerational sample of individuals whose focal respondents were 11–17 years old in 1976–1977, and who are now in middle adulthood. Relying on structural equation modeling (SEM), parallel tests are performed for two generations, the focal respondents in early middle age (ages 38–45) and their adult offspring (ages 18–24) for the period 2002–2004.