Expectations regarding development during adolescence: Parental and adolescent perceptions

The aims of this study were (1) to compare the age-related expectations of parents and adolescents concerning the timing of achievement in a number of developmental tasks, (2) to examine whether personal characteristics of the adolescent affect developmental expectations, and (3) to examine whether discrepancies between the adolescents and the parents expectations are related to the amount of parent-adolescent conflict. The sample consisted of 508 families with adolescents (12–18 years old). During a home visit, a battery of questionnaires was administered individually to mothers, fathers, and adolescents. A new 24-item instrument to assess expectations for adolescents mastery of developmental tasks was developed for this study. Analyses showed that when the expectations of adolescents and those of their parents are compared at aggregate level, parents consistently indicate later ages for the achievement of developmental tasks than adolescents. Although parents have later timetables, parents and adolescents have strikingly similar views of the sequence in which achievement of developmental tasks should occur. The adolescents age appears to be the most potent predictor of developmental timetables, followed by gender, pubertal timing, and temperament, respectively. The amount of conflict within the parent-adolescent relationship was associated with differences in developmental expectations. The utility of the new instrument for research and clinical work is discussed.This research was supported by a grant from the Ministry of Health and Culture (PCOJ).     

Parent–Adolescent Conflict across Adolescence: Trajectories of Informant Discrepancies and Associations with Personality Types

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - Parent–adolescent conflict can be intense, yet parents and adolescents do not always agree on the intensity of conflict. Conflict intensity tends to change...     

Human rights and Nubian mobilisation in Egypt: towards recognition of indigeneity

How are global human rights localised in authoritarian societies? How and what human rights discourses are mobilised by indigenous peoples to further their demands? Building upon original fieldwork among Nubian activists in Egypt, this article explores the complexities regarding human rights framing through a discussion of recognition of Nubian indigeneity. The article finds that the history and political experience of Egypt’s Nubians bring about diverging opinions and also limitations as to how, and what, human rights frameworks rights claimants and their supporters are to employ. It argues that Egyptian nationalism not only affects how Nubian activists mobilise in general, but also helps explain the very limited appeals to a global discourse of human rights.     

Shameful Separations and Embarrassing Proximities: Affective Constructions of Political (Il)Legitimacy in the Danish Debate on Prostitution

Political documents on gender equality in the Nordic countries contain interesting systematic variations in justification strategies and discursive commitments at different political-rhetorical levels. This is particularly apparent when political texts move from general gender equality to arguing about specific issues. This article looks at the variety of "versions" of gender equality that appear when the discourses of gender and the conceptualisations of power that inform Swedish political party documents are scrutinised. Consequences of different versions of gender equality for rhetoric about policy measures and rhetorical uses of "uniformity" versus "heterogeneity" are also discussed.     

Institutionalization of Children with Disabilities in Croatia: Social Workers' Perspectives

Abstract

This study aims to advance understanding of social workers’ perceptions of the circumstances necessitating and preventing the placement of children with disabilities (CwDs) in institutions. This retrospective study involved thematic analyses of one focus group (n?=?7) and semi-structured individual interviews (n?=?12). Participants included social work professionals with experience providing welfare services for CwDs and their families. In effort to prevent separation of CwDs from their families, results suggest a need for continued monitoring of deinstitutionalization of CwDs alongside increased availability, accessibility, and quality of childcare, alternative child welfare and family support services.     

What Past Is Present?

The article deals with new modes of representation of Croatian contemporary history. It argues that the Croatian grand narrative of the twentieth century is presented as the continuous fight of Croats for their nation-state. All historical events in the narrative are appraised as beneficial or harmful only in how they contributed to the creation of the state. The pattern of representation in heavily ethnocentric. The constructed self-image of the Croatian nation portrays Croats as humiliated and repressed by various others in the twentieth century. Croats are represented as the victims of other national groups and of history. The notion of historical responsibility is nonexistent for the analysed period.     

Fatal Intoxication with Toluene Due to Inhalation of Glue

Two cases of fatal intoxications with toluene due to glue sniffing are described. In case 1, the autopsy did not indicate cause of death, while in case 2, the cause of death was determined to possibly be due to mechanical asphyxia by drowning. As the decedents had a history of glue sniffing, toxicological analyses were performed. Using gas chromatography with flame ionization detector and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) with headspace method, toluene was detected in biological samples. Toluene ranged from 3.81 to 20.97 μg/g, with the highest concentrations observed in liver and brain (13.82–20.97 μg/g) in both cases. Based upon this data, the cause of death in both cases was determined to be toluene poisoning. Toxicological investigations are extremely important and should be considered mandatory in all deaths thought to be due to volatile substance abuse, as well as all deaths that are thought to be due to poisoning in young people.     

Complex suicide: an unusual case with six methods applied

Complex suicides (CSs) are committed by using more than one method. They account for 1.5-5% of all suicides. We present a case of CSs of a 44-year-old man, found dead in the vicinity of his car, in a deserted frozen field. Police investigation excluded homicide, and no medical data confirmed mental illnesses. Autopsy revealed wrist cuts, neck cuts, acid burns in the GI tract, multiple stab wounds to the head by a screwdriver, and several uncertain signs of hypothermia. Toxicology analysis (gas chromatography-mass spectrometry) confirmed ingestion of insecticide. We concluded that stab wounds to the head were the cause of death, while external hemorrhage and hypothermia were contributing factors. This is the first case of CSs reviewed in the literature where six suicide methods were applied. This particular case is interesting because the victim used a screwdriver as a tool for inflicting stab wounds to the head, which is a rare suicidal method.     

Fatal intoxication because of trihexyphenidyl

Trihexyphenidyl (THP) is an anticholinergic agent with forensic toxicological interest. We present a case of a 59-year-old woman with a history of paranoid disorder, who was found dead in the house where she lived alone. The autopsy findings revealed no marked pathological changes. Toxicological analysis based on gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis revealed THP and its major metabolite (hydroxy-THP) in blood and urine, with THP concentrations of 0.053 and 0.560 mg/L, respectively. The blood and urine ethanol concentrations were low 0.096 and 0.100 g/L, respectively. Based on these results, we determined the cause of death to be THP poisoning. It is suggested that rare case of death associated with THP overdosage should be taken in conjunction with central nervous system depressants (benzodiazepines, ethanol) and/or with other pathological disorders. Thus, our case could not be supportive for this allegation.