Differential patterns of achievement among Asian-American adolescents

Very little is known about the factors and processes that lead to differential patterns of achievement among Asian-American adolescents. Using grades and standardized test scores as criteria variables, a paper- and- pencil survey was conducted to determine the relative effects of sociocultural variables, personality factors, and student perceptions of school and social events in explaining differential patterns of academic performance within a sample (N=89) of Asian-American tenth graders. Generally, the results demonstrate that Asian-American students whose educational and social experiences convey a strong link between schooling, academic success, and social integration are more likely to demonstrate patterns of achievement, as reflected in higher grades and better performance on standardized tests. The study's findings are discussed in connection with the relative functionalism concept proposed by S. Sue and S. Okazaki (1990) and the effective schools literature.Received doctoral degree in 1988 from the University of California, Los Angeles, specializing in developmental psychology. Research interests include the educational attainment of Hispanic and minority group children, adolescent alcohol use, and social policy analysis and planning.This work was supported partially by an Affirmative Action Faculty Development Grant from California State University, Fullerton.     

Psychological distress and alcohol use in Hispanic adolescents

Psychological distress has been increasingly implicated as an important risk factor that predisposes adolescents toward alcohol and drug use, particularly for Hispanics and other ethnic minority groups. The scant research on the relation between psychosocial stress and alcohol use has found higher levels of alcohol and drug use among Hispanic adolescents who report higher levels of psychological and emotional distress. In this study, Hispanic adolescents (N=171, with a median age of 14, completed a paper- and-pencil questionnaire, which was designed to assess levels of psychosocial stress, anxiety, and depression. Self-reported patterns of alcohol use were also assessed. In general, males reported higher levels of alcohol use and more friends who drink, compared to females. The study also found generational differences in drinking patterns. A strong association between psychosocial stress, depression, and alcohol use also was found, suggesting that Hispanic adolescents are using alcohol as a way of coping with conflicts in adapting to the norms and expectations of the dominant group and other difficult events and conditions that produce psychological distress.Received Ph.D. in 1988 from the University of California, Los Angeles, specializing in developmental psychology. Research interests include the educational attainment of Hispanic and minority children, alcohol use among adolescents, and social policy.     

Politics and Economic Growth

Traditional growth theory viewed economic growth as a resultant of economic factors, in particular capital investment. Development economics implied a broader approach, emphasizing social structure change and human capital. Finally, it was also hinted that political factors could influence the rate of change in the development of the economic system. Testing various theories of economic growth we find that institutional sclerosis is the basic political factor that is related to the process of economic growth. The next step is to analyse how political structures and public policy have an impact on the basic factor in economic growth, viz. investments.     

Democratic Party Systems in Europe: Dimensions, Change and Stability

if a party system is really a system, i.e. a set of objects with relationships between the objects and between their attributes, and not simply an unordered set of political parties, then it is a vital problem in party research to identify the systems properties of this kind of system. We argue that the semantically relevant properties of the party systems in European democracies may be derived from the observational outcome of the operation of a party system, i.e. the national elections since the introduction of democratic procedure. Thus we arrive at five systems dimensions: functional orientation, fractionalization, radical orientation, polarization and volatility. The problems of party system change and stability are analysed by estimating the occurrence of trends and fluctuations over time in these party system dimensions for the set of European democratic party systems. The finding is that the widely accepted thesis of stability in European party systems is not corroborated.     

Outside the brackets: Why school administrators fail to see gendered harassment within an antibullying law

Much of school bullying involves students policing the gender roles and sexuality of other students. The proliferation of antibullying laws presents an opportunity to formally punish and mark gendered harassment as unacceptable. However, when this form of peer policing involves girls, administrators often consider it to fall outside the purview of the law. We use bracketing theory to understand how middle school administrators in New Jersey assess whether student behavior violates a statewide harassment, intimidation, and bullying law. We find that, according to administrators, violations require relational asymmetry between an aggressor and victim: an imbalance of power and disproportionate participation. Administrators rarely see gendered harassment as bullying because of the relational stereotypes they attach to girl students, which often preclude interpretations of relational asymmetry. We discuss how gender beliefs among administrators and “bracketing failures” explain the ways antibullying laws allow hegemonic beliefs about gender and sexuality to remain untroubled.     

The Effect of Time and Temperature on the Persistence and Quality of Latent Fingerprints Recovered from 60-Watt Incandescent Light Bulbs

To understand how time and temperature could affect latent fingerprints, wooden pallets were used to construct five units that each housed ten 60-watt incandescent light bulbs. Fingerprints were deposited on the top, middle, and base of the globes. The bulbs were powered on (except the control bulb in each unit) for 18, 48, 72, 120, 168, 336, 504, and 672 h. Fingerprints recovered from the bulbs by tape lift after black powder processing were given a quality score. A thermal imaging camera determined temperatures on three areas of the bulbs. Fingerprints on the top of the globe (156.3°C) had the lowest quality score, and fingerprints on the middle of the globe (112.6°C) had the highest quality score. The mean quality scores of the three temperature classes were within one standard deviation of one another, meaning there is no way to estimate fingerprint age based on its quality after heat exposure.     

“Feminists make too much noise!”: generational differences and ambivalence in feminist development politics in Ghana

Despite the crucial role feminist movements play in securing progressive development policies, legislation and socio-legal protections for women, labeling women’s rights issues as feminist has contradictory, mostly negative, effects on the women’s movement in Africa. This paper discusses research findings that show that older women (activists) are more likely to self-identify as feminists than younger women in Ghana. I argue that, while resistance to feminism may have roots in anti-imperialism, socio-cultural and economic privileges play a crucial role in such resistance at an individual level. Based on findings discussed in the paper I suggest the following. First, the perceived threat of feminism to African socio-cultural norms dialectically enhances opportunities for advancing women’s rights in development planning through a more transformative civil liberties route as opposed to a “special victims’ unit” approach. Second, further empirical research is needed to assess the impact of various intersecting variables (class, age, ethnicity, sexuality, religion and geographical location) on feminist politics in Africa.