Social Coping by Masking? Parental Support and Peer Victimization as Mediators of the Relationship Between Depressive Symptoms and Expressive Suppression in Adolescents

Expressive suppression is regarded as a generally ineffective emotion regulation strategy and appears to be associated with the development of depressive symptoms among adolescents. However, the mechanisms linking suppression to depressive symptoms are not well understood. The main aim of this study was to examine two potential mediators of the prospective relationship from depressive symptoms to expressive suppression among adolescents: parental support and peer victimization. Structural equation modelling was used to construct a three-wave cross-lagged model (n?=?2,051 adolescents, 48.5?% female, at baseline; 1,465 with data at all three time points) with all possible longitudinal linkages. Depressive symptoms preceded decreases in perceived parental support 1?year later. Decreases in parental support mediated the relationship between depressive symptoms and increases in expressive suppression over a 2-year period. Multi-group analyses show that the mediation model tested was significant for girls, but not for boys. No evidence for other mediating models was found. Although initial suppression preceded increases in depressive symptoms 1?year later, we did not find any evidence for the reversed link from suppression to depressive symptoms. Clear evidence for a reciprocal relationship between depressive symptoms and parental support was found. However, only limited and inconsistent support was found for a reciprocal relationship between depressive symptoms and peer victimization. Finally, although some evidence for a unidirectional relationship from parental support to increases in suppression was found, no significant prospective relationship was found between peer victimization and suppression. The implications of our clear results for parental support, and mostly lacking results for peer victimization, are discussed.     

Ability to Face Threats of Cyberterrorism: Factors Associated with Organizational Competence

ABSTRACT

Acts of cyberterrorism represent potential, significant negative effects to property, infrastructure systems, security, and an overall way of life. These disruptions garner significant attention from government and the public. Managers concerned by threats of cyberterrorism should understand the components that enhance organizational competence so that doubt and fear do not overtake organizational members when faced with such extreme events. Although organizational competence is important in everyday organizational behaviors, the presence of confidence in organizational abilities is especially critical when operating in the midst of the ambiguity and destructive disruptions associated with cyberterrorist threats. We empirically assess three factors associated with competence for organizations facing simulated cyberterror attacks. Our results support the relationship between two of these factors—organizational identification and deference to expertise—with organizational competence. These findings contribute to research concerning the antecedents critical to organizational competence and also add to the growing research on cyberterrorism.     

Does public reporting measure up? Federalism,accountability and child-care policy in Canada

Abstract: Governments in Canada have recently been exploring new accountability measures within intergovernmental relations. Public reporting has become the preferred mechanism in a range of policy areas, including early learning and child-care, and the authors assess its effectiveness as an accountability measure. The article is based on their experience with a community capacity-building project that considers the relationship between the public policy, funding and accountability mechanisms under the federal/provincial/territorial agreements related to child-care. The authors argue that in its current form, public reporting has not lived up to its promise of accountability to citizens. This evaluation is based on the standards that governments have set for themselves under the federal/provincial/territorial agreements, as well as guidelines set by the Public Sector Accounting Board, an independent body that develops accounting standards over time through consultation with governments.     

Callous and unemotional traits and social cognitive processes in a sample of community-based aggressive youth

Psychopathic traits are associated with violent, aggressive behaviors and recidivism in adulthood. To increase positive treatment outcomes, it is arguably beneficial to identify and treat psychopathy as early as possible. Furthermore, because research shows that the effectiveness of behavior modification is likely to be affected by the social information-processing patterns of aggressive children, it is important to understand the relationship between conduct-disordered traits and social cognitions. The results of this study showed that callous/unemotional traits in a community-based sample of behavior-disordered youth (57 male, 19 female; 10-19 years of age; 63% African American) significantly predicted values in obtaining a tangible reward and getting into trouble or being punished. However, callous/unemotional traits, impulsivity/conduct problems, and narcissism failed to predict positive expectations regarding receiving a tangible reward, reducing aversive treatment, and demonstration of dominance. Implications for these results are presented.     

“He did everything he possibly could for me”: medical malpractice claimants’ experiences of lawyer–client relations

Lawyers are obliged to act in the interests of their clients, however, it is not clear how lawyers should do this in practice. Should lawyers follow their clients' instructions without deviation, should they actively manage their clients' expectations, or as many studies suggest, do lawyers place their own interests first? This paper examines how lawyers interact with medical malpractice claimants. It reveals that lawyers take a client-aligned approach, where lawyers acknowledge their client's goals, but do not necessarily do what the client says. We argue that this approach is made necessary by legal and organisational constraints which limit the ability of lawyers to produce the types of outcomes that their clients want.     

Performing Social Reparation: “Comfort Women” And The Path To Political Forgiveness

During WWII, 200,000 girls and young women from across Asia were sexually enslaved by Japan—a tragic history unearthed less than 20 years ago and still inadequately addressed by the Japanese government. This paper examines, from an interdisciplinary perspective, the legacy of this “comfort women” history, problematizing its attendant rituals of apology, “political forgiveness,” and reparation. The author analyzes the meaning of apology and forgiveness, and develops a typology of “reparation,“ concluding that what surviving “comfort women” have articulated is a model of “social reparation,” or a holistic goal of mending the past and restoring an international human community.