DIVORCE AND ATTACHMENT RELATIONSHIPS: THE LONGITUDINAL JOURNEY

What are the longitudinal consequences of disrupted attachment relationships, and what bearing might that have on our thinking about divorce custody matters? In this paper, Alan Sroufe, William Harris Professor of Child Development, University of Minnesota, addresses these issues. Sroufe is a lead researcher on the Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Childhood, now a 30‐year research program that sets out to explore the development of children growing up in climates of chronic socioeconomic risk. This study is widely attributed with providing an “organizational perspective” on early attachment and an ecological map of the child's growing ability to cope with chronic environmental and familial strain across lifetime. In this interview, Sroufe offers candid views from his longitudinal research, emphasizing the influence of attachment security in the progression of relationship competence across the life span, and considers implications for complex custody matters.     

JOHN BOWLBY'S LEGACY AND MEANINGS FOR THE FAMILY LAW FIELD: IN CONVERSATION WITH SIR RICHARD BOWLBY

John Bowlby (1907–1990), a British psychologist, psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, is widely known as the father of attachment theory. He was also the father of Richard Bowlby. Since his father's death, Sir Richard Bowlby has made it his life's work to carry on his father's legacy, seeking ways to help the general public benefit from a better understanding of attachment relationships and his father's work in particular. Although an Honorary Research Fellow, Department of Psychology, University College, London, and patron of many organizations that address challenging attachment issues, Richard Bowlby emphasizes that his strengths are in being “a well‐informed layman, having some pretty good inside information, and some wonderful stories to tell.” Here, he covers a wide range of topics and controversies core to family law, offering contemporary and historical insights, perspectives from his father, and an interesting tale or two.     

Who moves? Elite and mass-level depolarization in Britain, 1987–2001

Over the past two decades the British Labour and Conservative parties have depolarized on economic and social welfare policy, at both the elite and mass levels. We ask the question: Does mass-level depolarization in Britain extend throughout the electorate, or is it confined primarily to the stratum of affluent, educated, and politically engaged citizens? We report longitudinal analyses of British Election Study respondents' policy beliefs and partisan loyalties over the period 1987–2001, and find that depolarization extends across all subgroups in the electorate, as do perceptions of elite depolarization. These effects are (moderately) more pronounced among the electoral subgroups of highly educated, affluent, and politically informed citizens. The findings have important implications for elite representation of voters' policy preferences, and for differences in representation patterns between Britain and the United States.     

Rule B下的EFTs扣押被宣判“死缓”——美国联邦第二巡回上诉法院最新判例the“Jaldhi”案评述

通过对美国联邦第二巡回上诉法院在the＂Jaldhi＂案中判决的评述,分析Rule B下电子汇款转账扣押的发展演变过程及该案判决不再被看做是Rule B下＂财产＂的原因,并就该判决给实践带来的影响提出应对措施。     

Assessing for bruises on the soul: identifying and evidencing childhood emotional abuse

The term ‘emotional abuse’ is acknowledged by law in the Children Act 1989 and refers to the wider social concept of harm that occurs in the psychosocial domain. Emotional abuse is a contested notion and a form of harm that statutory child protection social workers find difficult to recognise and gather evidence of. Early preventative intervention approaches, which occur outside the legal system, are the preferred course of action in work with emotional abuse. However, child protection social workers may use their statutory powers and duties to implement interventions when cases are deemed to require attention within legal frameworks.Professionals routinely fear legal work in cases of emotional abuse, feeling inadequately equipped to engage effectively with the law. This article draws on rich research data, gathered for an Economic and Social Research Council funded doctoral project. The data offers an original perspective on the interaction between social work and law, adding to existing literature on the frictions that exists. Using psychosocial methods, the research explores social worker experiences of identifying and evidencing emotional abuse, with particular attention to the application of ‘attachment theory’. The article shines a light on some practice complexities of identifying and evidencing emotional abuse.     

The Role of Parental and Peer Attachment in the Psychological Health and Self-Esteem of Adolescents

This paper presents the results of 3 studies examining the relationships of parental attachment, peer attachment, and self-esteem to adolescent psychological health. A model is presented in which parental attachment directly influences both psychological health and self-esteem and the influence of peer attachment on psychological health is totally mediated by self-esteem. Using structural equation modeling, Study 1 evaluates the model on a sample of 1998 Norwegian high school students (aged 12–19 years). With some modifications it is found to be a satisfactory fit. Study 2 replicates Study 1 using a sample of 358 Australian high school students (aged 15–18 years). A multisample analysis revealed no significant differences between the model for Studies 1 and 2. Study 3 was a further successful replication employing alternative measures of the constructs considered with a sample of 345 Australian high school students (aged 15–19 years). The major finding from all 3 studies is that the role of peer and parental attachment on psychological health is primarily meditated by self-esteem. Implications for research elucidating the links between attachment and specific aspects of self-esteem are discussed.     

Coping With Relationship Stressors: The Impact of Different Working Models of Attachment and Links to Adaptation

The study explores the role of working models of attachment in the process of coping with relationship stressors with a focus on long-term adaptation. In a 7-year longitudinal study of 112 participants, stress and coping were assessed during adolescence and emerging adulthood. In addition, working models of attachment were assessed by employing the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI). Individuals classified as having secure working models experienced low stress in relationships with parents, peers, and romantic partners and dealt with relationship stressors more actively by using their social network during adolescence and at the age of 21 years. In contrast, individuals with preoccupied working models experienced high relationship stress, particularly in relationships with parents, and employed less adaptive coping styles over time. Regression analyses revealed that although a preoccupied working model of attachment and withdrawal coping explained variance in symptomatology, relationship stressors were more predictive of poor psychological adaptation. Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Mainz, Germany. Received a PhD in psychology from the University of Giessen, Germany. Research interests concern relationship development in adolescence and emerging adulthood, with a focus on stress and coping. To whom correspondence should be addressed at Department of Psychology, University of Mainz, Staudinger Weg, D-50999 Mainz, Germany.     

美国国际战略的国内根源

美国国际战略的拟定、调整和演变是多种国际和国内因素合力作用的结果。从国内因素来看,现实主义与理想主义之间的理念辩论、共和党与民主党之间的政党斗争、不同地区民意取向之间的较量是影响美国战略调整的重要变量。美国在建国初期和两次世界大战结束之后对国际战略作出的基本定位或重大调整,是考察国内因素与国际因素如何在美国对外战略决策中关联并互动的重要时期。国内变量与国际变量互动的规律和模式,则为把握未来美国对外战略调整的可能走向提供了一种指南。     

Friendship and Attachment Among Heterosexual and Sexual-Minority Youths: Does the Gender of Your Friend Matter?

One-hundered and sixty-eight sexual-minority and heterosexual youths aged 15–24 completed questionnaires to assess gender and sexual orientation differences in the percentage of same-gender peers in youths' friendship networks, the gender of their best friends, and their degree of attachment to these friends. Most youths had predominantly same-gender peer networks and same-gender best friends. Notable gender differences emerged among sexual minorities. Female sexual-minority youths reported heightened participation in close same-gender friendships, whereas sexual-minority male youths showed the opposite pattern. Unlike all other groups, male sexual-minority youths had more cross-gender than same-gender friends and were more attached to their best friends than were heterosexual males. They were also less attached to their romantic partners than were heterosexual males. It is suggested that male sexual-minority youths might become highly attached to friends to compensate for low expectations of intimacy with male romantic partners. Cultural factors contributing to these gender differences in sexual-minority youths' experiences are discussed.     

Children in Out-of-Home Care and Adult Labor-Market Attachment: A Swedish National Register Study

Using longitudinal national register data, we investigated labor-market attachment during the years 1993–1995 in Sweden for persons aged 25–35 years who had been in out-of-home care before the age of 18 in Sweden during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. We consider whether an immigrant background has an additional influence on labor-market attachment. Compared to majority population peers, young persons who had been in foster care had shorter educations. Fewer had a strong labor-market attachment and more were dependent on social assistance. Results from multinomial regression models indicated that having been in foster care during childhood reduced the probability of high attachment to the labor-market and increased the probability of social assistance dependency, even after making adjustments for education, marital status, parenthood, domicile, and birth country. Few signs of additive effects from being both an immigrant and a former foster child are found.