GIRL FRIENDS ARE BETTER: GENDER,FRIENDS, AND CRIME AMONG SCHOOL AND STREET YOUTH*

In recent years, popular media has drawn attention to “mean girls” and their negative treatment of others, particularly other females. But while the attention to girls' aggression and their mistreatment of their peers highlights understudied aspects of female behavior, it neglects the beneficial aspects of female friendship. We argue that compared to relationships with males, friendships with females provide more social control, fewer opportunities and less motivation for offending and may therefore discourage crime. Because an adolescent's gender likely influences the association between the gender of one's friends and crime, we anticipate that the association will be stronger for females than for males. The relationship is also likely affected by the context in which relationships originate; we expect that those that develop in less conventional contexts will have weaker effects on crime. We explore these hypotheses with a comparative analysis of effects of friendships on property crime in two samples of youth: those who live at home and attend school and those who are homeless and spend their days and nights on the street. Our findings support our hypotheses. The relationship between female‐dominated friendship networks and property crime is negative and significant; however, this association is strongest for school females, weaker for school males and females who live on the street, and nonsignificant for homeless males.     

Parental influences on deviant behavior in early adolescence: A logistic response analysis of age- and gender-differentiated effects

We used data from a 601-family longitudinal study to estimate the separate and combined effects of three risk factors—parental psychiatric disorders (principally depression and substance abuse), supportive parent-child communications, and household income—on the development of deviant behavior in boys and girls aged 11–14. Using logistic response models, we concluded that having fewer than two supportive parents generally increases the risk of deviant behavior, but more so for boys than for girls. This effect is amplified when one or more parent(s) has a chronic mental disorder, but thecombination of fewer than two supportive parentsand one psychiatrically impaired parent has a particularly marked effect on girls. Moreover, older children's behavior is affected more dramatically by parental mental disorders, especially among girls; 13 to 14-year-old girls with both parental risk factors are virtually as deviant as male agemates with both risks. Each one of these effects is present regardless of family income level; however, net of these risks, household income is negatively associated with deviant behavior—a 10% increase in income is associated with a 1.3% decrease in adolescent deviance.     

The public relations philosophy of John W. Hill: bricks in the foundation of issues management

This paper contends that John W. Hill, founding partner of Hill and Knowlton, based his philosophy of public relations on four signal elements of issues management: strategic business planning sensitive to the threats and opportunities of public policy; high standards of corporate responsibility; issues monitoring; and issues communication. His philosophy, now nearly one‐half century old, was enlightened in that it fares well against the standards of ethics, symmetry and sensitive relationship management championed in public relations literature today. This analysis is based on the philosophy Hill expressed in his two books, which establish him as one of the founders of modern issues management. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications.     

Rhetoric and resources: notes for a new approach to public relations and issues management

This theoretical paper criticises the dominant rhetorical approach to public relations and issues management for not integrating symbolic and material dimensions. It is suggested that public relations and issues management assist actors in pursuing their interests with the help of symbolic strategies and various types of resources or capital. By drawing on rhetorical and sociological theories, the paper presents elements for a heuristic analytical device that has the potential to help both the critic and the practitioner to get a better grasp of such processes. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications.     

Elite executives in issues management: the role of ethical paradigms in decision making

The perspectives of elite (or top‐level) issues managers on ethics are explored in this paper. From these elites we can learn how issues were managed at their global organisations and how questions of ethics were addressed in issues management. The organisations in this study were chosen because of their superlative rankings in measures of ethics and reputation. Research questions explored ethical decision making and the predominant paradigm of ethics in each organisation through six elite interviews and observation. Although both organisations attempted to address ethics, the elite issues managers at one organisation did so more thoroughly and effectively than did the managers at the other organisation. This efficacy was due to the depth of ethical study and training engaged in by the elites, the intense ethical analysis of issues, and the choice of a deontological approach to ethics. This paper argues that ethics should be concerted, codified, consistent, trained and rigorously analysed. A deontological paradigm of ethical decision making fits all of these criteria, and this research shows that a deontological ethical paradigm can contribute to effective issues management. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications.     

‘I was completely oblivious to gender’: an exploration of how women in STEMM navigate leadership in a neoliberal,post-feminist context

Women are under-represented in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEMM) fields worldwide, particularly in leadership positions. We explore this phenomenon by examining the leadership experiences of 25 women who were actively seeking to enhance their leadership capacities in STEMM fields from five countries in the Global North. We argue that women in this study seemed to be caught in an ‘ideological dilemma’ between recognizing sexism and gender bias in their organizational contexts and seeing their organizations as gender neutral. We argue that a post-feminist climate and a neoliberal ethic of meritocracy in science render inequality difficult to articulate and address. Considering this dilemma through the lens of ‘cruel optimism’, we suggest that women are problematically bound to a fantasy of success in STEMM in which leadership is attainable through arduous effort.

Abbreviation: STEMM; Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine     

论男性在实现男女平等中的重要作用

一般认为,实现男女平等主要依靠女性的力量,男性只是旁观者。实际上,男性也是传统性别文化的受害者,有着改变“男强女弱”传统观念的强烈愿望,因此,完全有可能成为实现男女平等的同盟军。历史上男女双方曾有过成功的合作经历,而第二次合作的条件也逐渐具备。     

广告文化的性别建构问题分析

广告文化带有鲜明的性别属性,而两性也被广告文化所规定,接受广告信息并依此而进行的消费活动实际上成了“性别训练”,在整体上并不客观的性别展示只会歪曲人们的性别意识。广告文化对女性的贬损表现在对女性主体性和独立性的否定,女性形象在广告文化中被物化了。广告文化所建构的女性典范形象在现代广告传媒的推动下很容易成为某一特定地区团体的经验,最后形成一种类型化的社会性格。这要求女性保持独立的、自主的意识,正视造成性别差异的文化结构,透析男权意识形态对广告文化的支配法则,并拆穿广告文化所散布的性别迷思,只有这样,才有可能颠覆广告文化所建构的不平衡的两性权力结构,帮助女性摆脱男权社会的宰制,实现性别构成和性别特质的多种可能性。     

The Effects of Interviewer Gender and Child Gender on the Informativeness of Alleged Child Sexual Abuse Victims in Forensic Interviews

Most students of forensic interviews have focused on the interrogatory techniques used to elicit information from alleged child abuse victims. We asked how the gender of the interviewer and the gender of the child affected this process. Forensic investigators in three countries used either the NICHD structured interview protocol or local standard interview practices to interview 672 alleged victims who ranged in age from 4 to 14 years. Analyses of the interviews showed significant effects of gender on both the interviewers' behavior and the amount of information provided by children. Female interviewers asked boys more invitations, as well as absolutely and proportionally more suggestive questions, than they did girls, whereas male interviewers interviewed boys and girls similarly. Children's responses varied depending on their gender and age, the gender of the interviewer, and the type of question asked. Girls of all ages provided more information in response to directive questions posed by female rather than male interviewers whereas boys did not respond differently to male and female interviewers. The oldest girls provided more information in response to option-posing questions posed by male interviewers. More information was provided by the younger children in response to suggestive prompts from interviewers of the opposite gender. The gender-of-interviewer effects were attenuated in protocol-guided interviews.     

Policy Voting in Senate Elections: The Case of Abortion

Questions about whether voters rely on their policy preferences when casting ballots have been present since scholars first began examining the determinants of voting behavior. This paper seeks to contribute to research in this area by analyzing abortion policy voting in Senate elections. Specifically, I investigate how the effects of national party position divergence, candidate position divergence, and voter information and salience moderate the relationship between abortion policy preferences and vote choice. The results suggest that the national parties' divergence on abortion does not directly strengthen the connection between abortion policy preferences and ballot decisions. Instead, candidate contrast appears to be the key. And, well informed and motivated voters are especially responsive. Taken together, the findings illuminate the nature of abortion policy voting and also inform the burgeoning scholarship on campaign effects, the role of information, and issue publics in American politics.