The dual myths of ‘narco‐terrorism’: How myths drive policy

When held up to the reality and complexity of the relationships between drug traffickers and insurgents, the concept of ‘narco‐terrorism’ falls short of serving as a useful explanatory device. Properly analyzed, ‘narco‐terrorism’ emerges as a political myth based on a stereotypic view of the Andean drug trade, peasant insurgency and the relationships between them. The myth of ‘narco‐terrorism’ coincided with the Latin American policy interests of the Reagan and the Bush administrations. Ironically, the myth's transparency served the policy interests of the opponents of these administrations, who used it to further their own politicized agendas ‐ creating yet another myth. This research traces the evolution and politicization of this concept and shows how it has hindered both scholarship and policy making. The research confirms, in part, earlier work of Australian criminologist Grant Wardlaw and American expert on the Andean drug trade, Rensselaer Lee.     

Panacea or Snake Oil? Interest‐Based Bargaining in the U.S. Airline and Rail Industries

This study of interest‐based bargaining (IBB) examined past usage, current preferences, and future intentions to use this approach in U.S. airline and railroad labor negotiations. Based on a survey of eighty‐four union and management chief negotiators, we found that the personal attributes of the chief negotiator (orientation toward relationships, personal conflict handling style, and competency in IBB approaches) were strong predictors of the past use of IBB. However, personal affinities and styles became irrelevant as experience with IBB accumulated. The negotiator's preferences for IBB in general were strongly correlated to his or her awareness of other carriers' and unions' experiences with IBB, as well as to his or her own direct experience. The negotiator's intention to use IBB in the future was also related to the quality of the contract personally obtained through IBB practices. The study also revealed the unpopularity of IBB among labor negotiators relative to their management counterparts.     

GO AHEAD, GO AWAY: A Poem by Fatoumata Keita, Mali Translated by Judith G. Miller

Translator's Note: This poem originally appeared in French in May 1999, in the first issue of a new Malian poetry review: Kuma, the literary magazine of the Union of Young Malian Writers. My former New York University in Paris student, Laura Starecheski, helped launch the review while studying in Bamako. An activist, sensitive writer, and reader herself, Laura seeks out women's voices wherever they can be heard. She especially wants people to be aware of Fatoumata Keita, a 23-year-old poet. I think that Laura Starecheski and Fatoumata Keita are part of the linking chorus of women connecting us to each other across continents and oceans. To me, they are the “inheritors”: carrying on, with their distinctive vehement energy, the life-long intellectual and emotional commitment of feminists such as Claire Duchen. Those interested in supporting this Malian writers' project should write to: KUMA, BP E3026, Bamako, Mali, West Africa.     

Perspectives of Mothers,Fathers, and Parenting Coordinators Concerning the Process and Impact of Parenting Coordination

In a small pilot study, 31 interviewees, including 12 parenting coordinators, 11 mothers, and 8 fathers representing 14 different parenting coordination cases retrospectively described child and family functioning both pre‐ and post‐parenting coordination in phone interviews. They also detailed how often and how well different issues that arose during the parenting coordination work (acrimony, problem‐solving communication, triangulation of the child into the conflict) were actively addressed. Parties tended to view coparenting more positively when reflecting on post‐ compared with pre‐intervention, but reported less change in child adjustment. Discrepancy among same‐case informant reports was common. Parenting coordinators (PCs) consistently rated their interventions as more frequent and successful than did parents. Mothers and fathers largely disagreed on interventions they experienced. While this small N pilot can offer no definitive conclusions, it underscores need for research and wisdom in including both parents' perspectives.     

Cultivating Adolescents’ Academic Identity: Ascertaining the Mediating Effects of Motivational Beliefs Between Classroom Practices and Mathematics Identity

Teaching mathematics involves helping students develop mathematical skills and empowering students to see themselves as capable of participating in and being knowers and doers of mathematics. Extant research has postulated that mathematics identity is a critical contributor to adolescents’ mathematics achievement and subsequent academic success. Guided by motivation and instructional quality theories, this classroom-based study examined a mediating mechanism through which teacher practices associated with mathematics identity through motivational beliefs (i.e., expectancies, task values, and cost value). Participants included 525 sixth-grade students (48.6% male; 64% European American, 34% African American, 2% other race; 58.6% free-or-reduced lunch) in the United States. The findings suggest that competence beliefs and task values, except for cost value, mediated the association between teacher practices and mathematics identity. These mediation pathways also differed by race. The mediating role of mathematics expectancies was stronger for European American adolescents, while the mediating role of mathematics task values was stronger for African American adolescents, though effect sizes were relatively modest. Teachers seeking to develop students’ mathematics identity—especially in their minority or stereotyped students—might consider enhancing their sensitivity to students’ psychological needs, quality of feedback, and instructional learning supports in their daily interaction with students.

     

The Intersectionality of Discrimination Attributes and Bullying Among Youth: An Applied Latent Class Analysis

Discrimination is commonly experienced among adolescents. However, little is known about the intersection of multiple attributes of discrimination and bullying. We used a latent class analysis (LCA) to illustrate the intersections of discrimination attributes and bullying, and to assess the associations of LCA membership to depressive symptoms, deliberate self harm and suicidal ideation among a sample of ethnically diverse adolescents. The data come from the 2006 Boston Youth Survey where students were asked whether they had experienced discrimination based on four attributes: race/ethnicity, immigration status, perceived sexual orientation and weight. They were also asked whether they had been bullied or assaulted for these attributes. A total of 965 (78 %) students contributed to the LCA analytic sample (45 % Non-Hispanic Black, 29 % Hispanic, 58 % Female). The LCA revealed that a 4-class solution had adequate relative and absolute fit. The 4-classes were characterized as: low discrimination (51 %); racial discrimination (33 %); sexual orientation discrimination (7 %); racial and weight discrimination with high bullying (intersectional class) (7 %). In multivariate models, compared to the low discrimination class, individuals in the sexual orientation discrimination class and the intersectional class had higher odds of engaging in deliberate self-harm. Students in the intersectional class also had higher odds of suicidal ideation. All three discrimination latent classes had significantly higher depressive symptoms compared to the low discrimination class. Multiple attributes of discrimination and bullying co-occur among adolescents. Research should consider the co-occurrence of bullying and discrimination.     

The Effects of Childhood Physical Abuse or Childhood Sexual Abuse in Battered Women's Coping Mechanisms: Obsessive-Compulsive Tendencies and Severe Depression

What role does childhood abuse have on the coping choices made by a battered woman? Ancillary to a depression study (Bailey, 1996) in 79 battered women from a Houston area women's shelter were compared for past abuse experiences and how the women were coping with abuse in adulthood. This study compared coping styles between two groups of battered women: those who experienced childhood physically abuse (CPA) (n=35), and those who did not experience childhood physically abuse (NCPA) in childhood (n=44). All of the women filled out a battery of questionnaires including The Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), and a scale for learned helplessness. A t-test conducted on obsessive-compulsive tendencies (OCT) scale of the BSI found that women who were NPPA had significantly lower BSI-OCT scores t(77)=−2.05, p < .05 than women who were PPA. No statistically significant differences were found between groups for learned helplessness. Out of the 35 battered women who reported physical abuse in childhood were more likely to report sexual abuse as girls than battered women who were not physically abused, t(77)=−3.40, p < .001. Battered women who had been physically and sexually abused in childhood were more severely depressed. Battered women who were not abused in childhood had more obsessive compulsive tendencies. The ramifications of these findings for therapeutic treatment are discussed.