Fatal positional asphyxia associated with rollover crashes

Motor vehicle rollover crashes result in complex occupant kinematics with the potential for severe injury. Five cases of fatal asphyxia in occupants suspended from their safety belt upside down after a rollover crash are presented. These fatalities accounted for 13.5% of all motor vehicle related asphyxia deaths in San Diego County over a 10-year period. This study supports previous research noting that incapacitation due to other injuries, alcohol, or obesity may be associated with fatal positional asphyxia due to inversion during rollovers. Safety belts are proven to prevent serious injury in motor vehicle crashes and should always be worn. However, redesign of the buckle could be considered to permit easier release by an occupant. We also suggest that pre-existing heart disease may contribute to the possibility of a fatal asphyxia outcome. Although this is a rare cause of motor vehicle related death, our results suggest that these are potentially preventable deaths.     

Men’s Avoidance Coping and Female Partner’s Drinking Behavior: A High-Risk Context for Partner Violence?

The current study explored whether men's avoidance coping in response to the drinking behavior of their female partner with an alcohol use disorder (AUD) would be associated with higher levels of men's perpetration of intimate partner violence (IPV). Women with an AUD (n = 109) and their male partners in a U.S. urban area were assessed on men's perpetration of minor and severe violence using the Conflict Tactics Scale, men's avoidance coping using the Spouse Behavior Questionnaire, and men's and women's drinking behavior using the Time Line Follow Back Interview. Using multiple regression analysis, results showed that men's use of avoidance coping significantly predicted male IPV perpetration over and above the women's perpetration of violence toward him, while women's alcohol use did not significantly predict male-to-female IPV perpetration. Implications for teaching emotion-regulation strategies to male partners of women with an AUD to cope with partner drinking are discussed.     

Development-induced displacement in Asia: conflicts,risks, and resilience

This introduction to the themed special feature on development-induced displacement in Asia discusses the scope and major drivers of development-induced displacement and resettlement (DIDR) in Asia, and recent policy developments at the national and international level. It describes some of the existing conceptual frameworks in the field of DIDR and presents a new set of questions and concerns that are addressed by the five articles that make up this special feature.     

You cannot hide your telephone lies: Providing a model statement as an aid to detect deception in insurance telephone calls

Deception research regarding insurance claims is rare but relevant given the financial loss in terms of fraud. In Study 1, a field study in a large multinational insurance fraud detection company, truth telling mock claimants (N = 19) and lying mock claimants (N = 21) were interviewed by insurance company telephone operators. These operators classified correctly only 50% of these truthful and lying claimants, but their task was particularly challenging: Claimants said little, and truthful and deceptive statements did not differ in quality (measured with Criteria‐Based Content Analysis [CBCA]) or plausibility. In Study 2, a laboratory experiment, participants in the experimental condition (N = 43) were exposed to an audiotaped truthful and detailed account of an event that was unrelated to insurance claims (a day at the motor races). The number of words, quality of the statement (measured with CBCA), and plausibility of the participants' accounts were compared with participants who were not given a model statement (N = 40). The participants who had listened to the model statement provided longer statements than control participants, truth tellers obtained higher CBCA scores than liars, and only in the model statement condition did truth tellers sound more plausible than liars. Providing participants with a model statement is thus an innovative and successful tool to elicit cues to deception. Providing such a model has the potential to enhance performance in insurance call interviews, and, as we argue, in many other interview settings.     

Beyond Cognition: Affective Leadership and Emotional Labor

How do the concepts of emotional labor and artful affect translate into our understanding of leadership? Where would one find affective leadership in practice? To address these questions, the workdays of civil servants are examined. Based on interviews and focus groups, the authors set forth in their own words how social workers, 911 operators, corrections officials, detectives, and child guardians experience their work. These interviews reveal the centrality of emotion work in the service exchange and underscore affective leadership in practice. The authors conclude that the most important challenge facing public administrators is not to make work more efficient but to make it more humane and caring. Affective leadership, and recognition of the centrality of emotional labor therein, are the means by which this approach is championed.