Prevalence and patterns of substance use among early adolescents

Prevalence and patterns of substance use are described for a sample of 105 San Francisco East Bay adolescents (age 14). Data are compared with national statistics on substance use among high school seniors. While alcohol use appeared comparable to the national statistics, tobacco use was less prevalent among this younger western sample. Despite the differences in ages, use of marijuana, cocaine, and hallucinogens was similar to national high school prevalence; use of other harder drugs was more extensive among the older, national sample. Contrary to typical findings, males and females were not found to differ in frequency or extent of substance use; females appeared somewhat more involved in substance use at this early age. Initiation of substance use occurred at early grade levels, suggesting that intervention efforts should begin prior to junior high, perhaps as early as fourth or fifth grade.This study was supported by National Institute of Mental Health Grant MH 16080 to Jack Block and Jeanne H. Block.Received her Ph.D. from Harvard University. Main interest is cognitive development and development in adolescence.Received his Ph.D. from Stanford University. Main interest is personality development.     

Hard times for citizenship: Women's movements in Chile and Mexico

This article comparatively analyses the cases of Mexico and Chile to understand how women's movements contest the meaning of citizenship in various national contexts. We also assess the consequences that different movement strategies, such as ‘autonomy’ versus ‘double militancy’, have for movements' citizenship goals. To explain the different outcomes in the two cases, we focus on the nature of the democratic transition, the internal coherence of women's movements, the nature of alliances with other civil society actors, the ideological orientation of the newly democratized state, the form of women's agency within the state, and the nature of the neoliberal economic reforms. We argue that a serious problem for women in both Chile and Mexico is the fact that governments themselves are deploying the concept of citizenship as a way to legitimate their social and economic policies. While women's movements seek to broaden the meaning of citizenship to include social rights, neoliberal governments employ the rhetoric of citizen activism to encourage society to provide its own solutions to economic hardship and poverty. While this trend is occurring in both Chile and Mexico, there are some features of the political opportunity structure in Chile that enable organized women to contest the state's more narrow vision of democratic citizenship. In Mexico, on the other hand, the neoliberal economic discourse of the current government is matched by a profoundly conservative ideological rhetoric, thereby reducing the political opportunities for women to forward a gender equality agenda.     

Privatizing Federal Credit Programs: Why Sallie Mae?

The federal government subsidizes lending to a number of borrowers—notably students, farmers, and homeowners. Government‐sponsored enterprises issue the securities that channel capital to many of these privileged borrowers. One of the largest of these enterprises, the Student Loan Marketing Association (Sallie Mae), is scheduled to be wholly privatized by September 30, 2008. What explains the privatization of this enterprise? To identify distinctive features of Sallie Mae that permitted or abetted privatization, we investigate the structure, related capital market innovations, and growth of three government‐sponsored enterprises. We conclude that a unique structural feature of Sallie Mae may explain the pace of privatization. The core asset of Sallie Mae, the student loan, is guaranteed and subsidized by the government. The case of Sallie Mae is an instructive yet poorly understood example of how the federal government can leverage private‐sector assets and incentives to achieve public policy missions.     

Moral Virtue and the Limits of the Political Community in Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics

The recovery of Aristotle's view of the political community as guardian of the common good and moral educator has fueled a continuing debate about civic education and virtue. In focusing on the relation of virtue to the common good and that of the individual, however, this debate has obscured Aristotle's insight into virtue's status as an independent end. I argue that by taking account of this dimension of virtue, Aristotle's discussion of the particular moral virtues in the Nicomachean Ethics clarifies the nature and limits of civic education and shows that the full question of the human good emerges only with an investigation of the political community's highest and noblest pedagogic aims.     

Narcissistic Features in Young Adolescents: Relations to Aggression and Internalizing Symptoms

Recent research and theory suggest narcissistic features contribute to aggression in adults. The present study examined the association of narcissistic features with aggression and internalizing symptoms in 233 students of 5th–8th grade at three inner-city schools. A factor analysis of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory in this sample revealed three factors: Adaptive Narcissism, Exploitativeness, and Exhibitionism. Regression analyses were used to predict the association of these three narcissistic features with self-, teacher-, and peer-reported aggression and self-reported internalizing symptoms. Results indicate narcissistic exploitativeness positively predicted self-reported proactive aggression, and narcissistic exhibitionism positively predicted internalizing symptoms. Narcissism and self-esteem interacted to predict teacher-reported aggression and self-reported internalizing symptoms. Results are discussed in the context of existing theories of narcissism, threatened egotism, and self-perception bias.     

Keeping Abortion Clinics Open: The Importance of Ragsdale v. Turnock in the Post-Casey Era

In 1973, Roe v. Wade constitutionalized a woman's right to an abortion. But, while Roe removed most legal obstacles to abortion, it did not address the limited availability of abortion services in the nation. The case examined here, Ragsdale v. Turnock, revolved around an Illinois statute that imposed far-reaching restrictions on abortion clinics, the site of most U.S. abortions since Roe. The crucial role of clinics in providing abortion services explains why the dispute represented by Ragsdale had the potential for an enormous impact on legalized abortion in the United States. Because of the number of women affected, the Ragsdale litigation could have led to the most significant judicial ruling since Roe. The suit resulted in a settlement in which plaintiffs secured the right to a legal clinic abortion during the first 18 weeks of pregnancy. Although the case was settled to the satisfaction of pro-choice advocates, a similar law today might well survive constitutional scrutiny.     

Travelling Fast to Get Nowhere: Transport Policy in the European Union

The Common Transport Policy of the EU is one of the three common policies mentioned in the Treaty of Rome. However, this policy area has seen few achievements. It was not until the 1980s that any real attempt to develop a CTP began. The drive to complete the internal market has given this task a new urgency. However, the legacy of its past approach makes it difficult for the EU now to develop a successful transport policy. Varying explanations exist for this failing. Furthermore, the EU has failed to take account of the wider significance of transport policy, especially for regional development and for the environment.