Reciprocal relationships between symptoms of depression and parental support during the transition from adolescence to young adulthood

This study applies latent growth curve analysis to data from three waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (n = 10,828) and finds that symptoms of depression and social support interact with one another in a dynamic fashion across the transition from adolescence (mean age at Wave 1 = 15.28 years) to young adulthood (mean age at Wave 3 = 21.65 years). Parental support during adolescence is inversely associated with initial symptoms of depression for girls and boys, although adolescent girls with low levels of parental support begin the study period with significantly higher levels of depressive symptomatology than their male counterparts. In addition, adolescents who begin the study period with higher levels of depressive symptomatology report less parental support during young adulthood. Finally, regardless of their initial level of depressive symptoms, girls and boys who experience increased symptoms of depression over time also report lower levels of parental support at the end of the study period.

日本政府对企业人力资源开发支持政策变迁对我国的启示

以"终身雇佣制"为基础的"企业培训"为日本的经济发展提供了人才保证,可以说是日本经济实现高速增长的支柱之一。但随着日本国际、国内经济环境的变化,为实现从后发展经济向工业化经济转变而形成的日本型经济体制开始动摇。支持日本经济发展的强有力的"日本型企业培训"由于失去了制度保障而受到了很大的冲击。针对上述情况,为促进企业积极、持续地进行人力资源开发,以保持日本经济发展的可持续性。日本政府在支持企业人力资源开发方面政策采取了一些政策,值得我国政府学习和借鉴。     

Did Jamie Oliver Really Put School Dinners on the Agenda? An Examination of the Role of the Media in Policy Making

Healthy eating is high on the government's agenda in current times and to all intents and purposes the media appears to have played a crucial role in putting it there. While media focus is no doubt intense and playing a vital role in public education (take Jamie Oliver's 2005 Channel 4 documentary, ‘School dinners’, for example), the question that lies at the heart of this article, is whether the media has led the government agenda on healthy eating and school dinners as appears to be the case. A close examination of the evidence suggests otherwise: government policy was already well set before the media began to show a concerted interest and hence its influence on policy‐making is more limited than might be expected. Rather than setting agendas per se, the media's role has been to refine and energise existing policy areas and to facilitate implementation.     

Eyes wide shut? Reforming and defusing checks and balances in Argentina

How effective are autonomous audit agencies (AAAs) in curbing corruption and improving fiscal governance in emerging economies? AAAs are autonomous oversight agencies tasked with scrutinising government finances. However, they are not as effective as they could or should be, partly because of the political constraints they face and the political economy context in which they are embedded. This article assesses the performance and trajectory of the Argentine AAA. It suggests that AAAs can have only a limited impact when formal fiscal institutions are undermined by informal practices and undercut by adverse political incentives. It further highlights the limits of radical reform strategies based on the import of exogenous institutional models. This research has important research and policy implications for the reform and strengthening of AAAs in developing countries. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

关于我国证券市场中政府行为的分析

本文从我国经济改革与我国证券市场的特点出发 ,分析了我国证券市场中政府行为的合理性 ,政府行为产生的原因、以及政府行为对我国证券市场运行机制的扭曲 ,并对规范我国证券市场中的政府行为提出了相关的建议。     

关于政府在互连网上形象的思考

政府在互连网上的形象关系到政府在公众心目中的地位。树立良好的政府网上形象的重要意义、现存问题及相应的完善措施应予以充分重视     

Financial Health in Australian Local Government: The Application of a Funding Assessment Model to Brisbane and Sydney City Councils

Local government financial viability measurement in an accrual budgeting environment poses complex challenges. Financial measures frequently generate conflicting results. A rating scale to assess financial management, constructed originally for South African municipalities (Dollery & Graves, 2009), represents a useful tool to analyze financial health trends. Applying a “Likert-like” scale to financial performance measures to assess “funding compliance”, the model in this article assists municipalities to avoid financial difficulties. To demonstrate the applicability of this model, we apply the model to the Brisbane City Council and the Sydney City Councils. Results show that the model represents a valuable aid to financial management decision-making.     

The Contribution of Donor Support Programs to Decentralized Development: Learning from the District Level in Ghana

Donor aid has over the years turned out to be a very decisive development component for most developing nations, but aid is often criticized for ineffectiveness. This article seeks to share perspectives on the relevance of direct project or program support and the need to refrain from homogeneity in aid research by assessing the contribution of the Government of Ghana/European Union (GoG/EU) Micro-Projects Programme in the Nadowli District of Ghana from 1997–2009. The findings acknowledge positive impacts of the program in the district. There are sector consistencies between the donor interest and local development priorities in health, education and the water and sanitation sectors. However, selectivity of project within and among sectors brings potential conflicts of interest and tradeoffs between the program and local community needs. The results imply a reexamination of decentralized development through a lens of new partnership between donors’ interest and local needs. Stepping up community awareness to ensure full participation in project design, execution, operation, and maintenance could serve as a start-up platform for new partnerships. It is imperative to align donor interest with local realities, which prompts a rethinking of adoption of new project approaches such as co-development, design, and implementation.     

The Influence of Resistance to Change on Public-Sector Reform Implementation: The Case of Italian Municipalities’ Internal Control System

The present research tries to contribute to the academic debate on public management reform adoption, focusing on the reasons for the discrepancies between actual and formal changes and using resistance to change as theoretical basis. The study hypothesizes that high levels of individual and organizational resistance to change may be associated to the formal implementation of public management reforms. The research results allow to confirm the hypothesis when large-size municipalities are considered, while when considering medium-size entities a definite evidence of a relation between resistance to change and the formal implementation of the reforms does not emerge.     

Public Administration Reform and Its Implications for Foreign Petroleum Companies in Kazakhstan

Since 2000, Kazakhstan has followed the New Public Management reform trajectory in modernizing its public sector and public service delivery. This article employs an actor-centered perspective to examine the effects of the public administration reform and its implications for foreign petroleum companies in Kazakhstan. The study builds on primary sources in the form of 81 semi-structured interviews with public servants, representatives of foreign petroleum companies and experts. The main conclusion is that the reform effects are ambiguous. Despite some success in greater efficiency of public services, many weaknesses remain, with highly varying implications for foreign petroleum companies.