Depressive Symptoms and School Burnout During Adolescence: Evidence from Two Cross-lagged Longitudinal Studies

The main purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which middle and late adolescents’ depressive symptoms predict their later school burnout and, in turn, the extent to which school burnout predicts depressive symptoms. Drawing on data gathered at ages 15–19 in two-three-wave longitudinal studies, we investigated cross-lagged paths between school burnout and depressive symptoms. In Study 1 the participants were 15-year-old adolescents (Time 1: N = 611, Time 2: N = 614, Time 3: N = 725) who completed the School Burnout Inventory and depressive symptoms twice during their final term of comprehensive school and once after the transition to upper secondary high school or vocational school. In Study 2 the participants were 17-year-old adolescents whose school burnout and depressive symptoms were measured three times annually (Time 1: N = 474, Time 2: N = 412, Time 3: N = 414) during their 3 years of secondary education. Results of both studies revealed moderate stability for both school burnout and depressive symptoms. They also showed that school burnout more strongly predicted subsequent depressive symptoms later on than vice versa. Lastly, they revealed cumulative cycles between school burnout and depressive symptoms.     

‘My heart was already cooked’: girl soldiers and situated moral agencies

Abstract

The number of studies on children in war has steadily increased in the fields of international relations, international law and moral philosophy in recent years. Most of this research has evolved around the legal and moral status of children in war. The status of girl soldiers is particularly intriguing, as it conflates common assumptions about both women and children as innocent victims of war. In this paper we look at narratives of children’s victimhood in the context of war by concentrating on girls who participated, in various forms, in the two Liberian civil wars from 1989 to 1997 and 2000 to 2003. Drawing on interviews conducted with women war veterans, we make the case that the study of child soldiers in general—and girl soldiers in particular—would benefit from a more contextually sensitive and empirically informed study of girls’ experiences, specifically regarding the possibilities and limitations of their capacity to be agents of war. We demonstrate how the agential capacities of children are case sensitive and argue that scholarship must better take into account the complex contextuality of childhood and agency in the study of children in war.     

Perceptions of Gender Bias in the Promotional Process of a Detention Staff

With growing numbers of female staff in correctional settings, issues relating to promotional fairness are certain to occur. Historically, female detention staff held perceptions of being discriminated against in the promotional process due to gender biases. However, there is almost no recent examination of these perceptions. The current study addresses this shortcoming in the literature by using a sample of 362 sworn detention deputies ranked Sergeant and below at a large southern-central United States jail. Contrary to the data from a generation ago, more male detention staff perceive gender biases in the promotional process than females, and report that promotional decisions are based on arbitrary and informal factors. Women are more likely to perceive promotions to be fair and based on merit. Results are discussed in relation to two theoretical perspectives: the importation-differential experiences model, and the work-role prisonization model.     

Reflections on the implications of the Vietnam Caucus

Abstract

It is revealing that a Vietnam Caucus held in March 1968 should end its meeting by beginning an evaluation of the professional “conscience” of Asian scholars. That it took this war to raise the latent problems in the profession is itself a depressing commentary on the state of the field. But the desire on the part of some individuals to create a nationwide inter-university student-faculty Committee of Concerned Asian Scholars to pose and then seek to resolve these problems fulfills one of the organizers' hopes.     

Age estimation in small children: reference values based on counts of deciduous teeth in Finns

The eruption of teeth in the mouth is suitable for age estimations during the period when teeth are actively emerging, in the deciduous dentition phase approximately from the age of 6 months to 2.5 years. Estimations of age can be performed simply by counting the number of teeth in the mouth. Reliability of the estimates depends on the reference data available and each population group should preferably have its own standards. In the present study timing of eruption of successive deciduous teeth was studied longitudinally in 129 Finns. The dates of clinical eruption of deciduous teeth were recorded by mothers and checked by dentists. In 40 of the 129 children emergence ages of at the most the four last teeth were based only on semiannual registrations performed by dentists. The main purpose was to provide normal timetables of tooth eruption in small children in forms that are practical in estimations of dental age. No sexual dimorphism existed in the timing of clinical eruption of successive deciduous teeth. The mean age corresponding to the presence of one tooth in the mouth was 7.1 months (S.D.=1.78) and that corresponding to tooth count 19 was 27.8 months (S.D.=3.99). If the chronological age is known, the presented distributions and means with variations make it possible to estimate the degree of advancement or delay in a child's dental development. If the age of the child is not known, the mean and median ages can be used for estimations of chronological age. However, estimations of age should not be based only on tooth counts because of marked variation also within this homogeneous group.