Consequences and dilemmas in therapeutic relationships with families resulting from mandatory reporting legislation

Mandatory reporting legislation has been adopted in every state to insure the protection of children from maltreatment. These statutes have become a significant factor in the lives of mental health professionals who work with children and families. Thirty psychotherapists who had made a recent report of child maltreatment on a client in treatment were interviewed about their experiences with reporting and the consequences of reporting for therapeutic relationships. Several potentially problematic consequences and dilemmas were identified by the therapists, including immediate and long-term effects on the therapeutic alliance and course of therapy, and conflicts of interest in working with children and families.     

American Constitutionalism and Democratic Virtue

Neither the historical tradition of American constitutionalism nor those who have theorized about it have promoted political or theoretical designs hospitable to the valorization or promotion of democratic virtue. This article illustrates this point by canvassing practical interpretations of the American constitution, from the document of 1787–1791 to Bush v. Gore , and theoretical interpretations from Madison to Rawls, Dworkin, Ackerman, Elster, Holmes, and other contemporary theorists of liberal constitutionalism and natural law. Exposing these roadblocks to the theory and practice of democratic virtue in America, it argues, provides a critical corrective to current debates about the relationship between constitutionalism and democracy.     

Corporal punishment: Normative data and sociological and psychological correlates in a community college population

Community college students (N=170) were surveyed regarding the intensity and frequency of methods of corporal punishment they have received and the persons administering the punishment. Results indicate that corporal punishment is a normatively used method of behavioral management. Males reported receiving a greater amount of corporal punishment, especially from their fathers. Overall, those who received a high amount of corporal punishment reported lower grades and a significantly greater number of problems, such as aggression, delinquency, depression, and anxiety. These findings are cause for concern and intervention.Received Ph.D. in psychology from Tufts University. Main research interests are sex-role development and personality development.Received C.A.S. in counseling from Harvard University. Main research interests are battered wives and incest.     

The ideal love object: Structural and family sources

We obtained preferences from 227 college students about the characteristics of their ideal love objects. We factor analyzed these separately for males and females and obtained both common and sex-specific factors. We then examined the relative contributions of a set of structural and family factors to the explanation of variance in each of the characteristics of the ideal love object. Results show that about one-third of the 58 characteristics have significant, though not high, amounts of variance explained by the predictors. The most important predictors were sex, religion, mother's marital happiness, and father's education.Received Ph.D. from New York University, 1963. Major research interest: emotions, love relationships, socialization, sociological theory.Received Ph.D. from City University of New York, 1976. Major research interests: sociological theory, sex roles, sociology of leisure, sociology of health.     

Faris,H. (2013). The Failure of the Two-State Solution: The Prospects of One State in the Israel–Palestine Conflict.

M.B. Hayne, The French Foreign Office and the Origins of the First World War 1898–1914 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993) £35. ISBN 019–820270–9.

Keith Hamilton, Bertie of Thame: Edwardian Ambassador (Woodbridge/Suffolk: Boydell Press 1990 (= Royal Historical Society Studies in History, No. 60)), ix + 436 pp. ISBN 0–86193–217X. £35.

Anita Inder Singh, The Limits of British Influence: South Asia and the Anglo‐American Relationship, 1947–56 (Pinter, 1993) pp. 309. £45.

Robert H. Ferrell (ed.), Truman in the White House: The Diary of Eben A. Ayers (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1991) $37.50. ISBN 0–8262–0790–1.

Robert Pearce (ed.), Patrick Gordon Walker: Political Diaries 1932–1971 (London: The Historians Press, 1991) £20. ISBN 1–872273–05 X.

Richard J. Aldrich (ed.), British Strategy and the Cold War, 1945–51 (London: Routledge, 1992) £40. ISBN 0–415–07851–2.

Timothy Garton Ash, In Europe's Name. Germany and the Divided Continent (London: Jonathan Cape, 1993) £25. ISBN 0–224–02054–4.     

Problem solving and youth violence: an evaluation of the Boston Gun Project

The Boston Gun Project is a problem-solving policing initiativeaimed at reducing homicide victimization among young peoplein the city of Boston. It represented an innovative partnershipbetween researchers and practitioners to assess the city's youthhomicide problem and implement an intervention intended to havepowerful impacts in the near term. In early 1996, a workinggroup representing a variety of law enforcement and social serviceagencies implemented an intervention that strategically respondedto gang violence, focused enforcement efforts on gun trafficking,and emphasized communication of the strategy to generate deterrence.The intervention is associated with a 60% decline in youth homicidevictimization (i.e., two fewer victims per month). There aresmaller declines in other measures of violence. The declinein youth homicide is sharp and occurs coincident with the introductionof the intervention. Competing hypotheses appear unable to accountfor the decline.     

The Importance of Male Batters’ Attributions in Understanding and Preventing Domestic Violence

The present article reviews the literature regarding the importance of taking into account male batters’ attributions in order to understand and to curtail their violence. Many treatment programs have been devised to stop domestic violence (DV); however, little comparative research exists. Therefore, we are unable to determine which techniques are effective and which are not. We contend that uncovering battering men’s attributions is important in understanding DV, and specifically, that these attributions are the key to curtailing DV. We present a typology of battering men’s attributions. What is common to these attribution styles is the evasion of responsibility for commission of, and for the need to take affirmative action to stop, the violence. These attribution styles have been found to increase battering men’s hostility and stress, their risk for engaging in violent behavior, as well as enabling battering men to continue their violence unchecked. Therefore, attributions are a crucial ingredient in DV and must be addressed directly and intensely in DV treatment programs in order to increase their (as yet limited) effectiveness.