Protecting the public's health in an era of bioterrorism: the Model State Emergency Health Powers Act

During the fall of 2001, public health law scholars at the Center for Law and the Public's Health at Georgetown and Johns Hopkins Universities were asked by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and a series of national partners to develop the Model State Emergency Health Powers Act (MSEHPA). The MSEHPA provides a series of modern powers for states to consider in responding to catastrophic public health emergencies, including bioterrorism events. Since December 2001, provisions based on the MSEHPA have been introduced in nearly 40 states and passed in 20. Underlying the development of the act is a long-standing debate between legal and ethical scholars and law- and policymakers as to the appropriate ways to balance individual and communal rights. The drafting challenge was to create a comprehensive model law that provides adequate powers to protect the public's health while also respecting individual and group rights. The MSEHPA empowers public health agents with broad authority and simultaneously limits the exercise of power in time, duration, and scope to accomplish communal goals of abating serious public health threats. Coercive public health powers, particularly isolation and quarantine, are exercised on a temporary basis, only so long as are reasonably necessary and only among persons who justifiably may pose a risk to others because of their contagious conditions. Individual rights to contest the coercive use of public health powers, even during an emergency, are secured.     

Protecting the Public's Health in An Era of Bioterrorism: The Model State Emergency Health Powers Act

During the fall of 2001, public health law scholars at the Center for Law and the Public's Health at Georgetown and Johns Hopkins Universities were asked by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and a series of national partners to develop the Model State Emergency Health Powers Act (MSEHPA). The MSEHPA provides a series of modern powers for states to consider in responding to catastrophic public health emergencies, including bioterrorism events. Since December 2001, provisions based on the MSEHPA have been introduced in nearly 40 states and passed in 20. Underlying the development of the act is a long-standing debate between legal and ethical scholars and law- and policymakers as to the appropriate ways to balance individual and communal rights. The drafting challenge was to create a comprehensive model law that provides adequate powers to protect the public's health while also respecting individual and group rights. The MSEHPA empowers public health agents with broad authority and simultaneously limits the exercise of power in time, duration, and scope to accomplish communal goals of abating serious public health threats. Coercive public health powers, particularly isolation and quarantine, are exercised on a temporary basis, only so long as are reasonably necessary and only among persons who justifiably may pose a risk to others because of their contagious conditions. Individual rights to contest the coercive use of public health powers, even during an emergency, are secured.     

大湄公河次区域合作：域外大国介入及中国的战略应对

大湄公河次区域合作自启动以来不断推动了本地区的经济和社会发展,中国在参与合作中的力度也不断加大,成为推动次区域合作的重要力量。但是随着大湄公河次区域地缘战略重要性的日益彰显,域外大国也开始关注该次区域的合作进程,并且不断加大对次区域相关国家的支持力度,逐渐介入到合作的进程中。对外部大国介入到本次区域的合作,我们应该持谨慎的态度,具体分析大国介入的动机差异,以稳妥、正确的战略应对,从而把本区域的合作建设成我国周边外交的良好范例,为制定更加灵活的周边合作战略奠定实践基础。     

Proactive Parenting and Children's Effortful Control: Mediating Role of Language and Indirect Intervention Effects

We examined associations of proactive parenting, child verbal ability, and child effortful control within the context of a randomized prevention trial focused on enhancing parenting practices in low‐income families. Participants (N = 731) were assessed annually from the age of two to five, with half randomly assigned to the Family Check‐Up (FCU). Results indicated that the child's verbal ability at the age of three partially mediated the influence of proactive parenting at the age of two on children's effortful control at the age of five. More importantly, the FCU indirectly facilitated children's effortful control by sequentially improving proactive parenting and children's verbal ability. The findings are discussed with respect to taking a more integrative approach to understanding early predictors and the promotion of self‐regulation in early childhood.     

Children's Homicide as an Indicator of Effective Child Protection: A Comparative Study of Western European Statistics

Correspondence to Colin Pritchard, Professor of Social Work Studies, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton SO9 5NH. Summary It is known that the extreme consequence of child abuse is adead child. Attempts to determine the success of services toprevent child abuse and subsequent deaths confront the problemsinherent in trying to prove a negative. The use of an epidemiologicalapproach resolves some of the methodological problems by measuring‘failure’ to protect in an examination of children'shomicides rates over time. Between 1973 and 1988 it was found that there was a substantialreduction in baby homicides in England and Wales, equivalentto a fall of 61 per cent and a 57 per cent reduction in Scotland.In a comparison with the other fifteen Western European countries,England and Wales topped the league of improvements in children'shomicide, and Scotland was fourth. Such improvements suggestadvances by the child protection services. Explanations forthe positive British results are considered.     

Mothers' Cognitions about Children's Self‐control: Implications for Mothers' Responses to Children's Helplessness

This research examined the role of mothers' cognitions about children's self‐control in their responses to children's helplessness. Mothers and their four‐year‐old children (N = 109) were asked to work on a difficult task in the laboratory. Mothers' hostility and warmth as well as children's helpless (vs. mastery) behavior were coded every minute. Mothers also completed a set of questionnaires assessing their cognitions about children's self‐control. Hierarchical linear modeling indicated variability among mothers in their minute‐to‐minute hostility, but not warmth, in response to children's helplessness. Mothers' cognitions contributed to this variability: The more mothers placed importance on, worried about, and believed they could influence their children's self‐control, the more hostility they demonstrated following their children's helplessness.     

Legal and Other Determinants of Effective Court Intervention in Child Protection Proceedings

An outcome standard and measure are proposed for use in assessing the effectiveness of official interventions in child protection proceedings. It is argued that the standard, as operationalized in the variable Rapid Services/Reunion, is responsive to the needs of public policy analysts concerned with child abuse and neglect. Using an inductive multivariate model, the determinants of Rapid Services/Reunion are identified and estimated. These determinants are discussed in the context of the needs of child protection policy. The analysis is based on a random sample of 210 North Carolina child protection cases.     

Marital Conflict and Children's Adjustment: Parental Hostility and Children's Interpretations as Mediators

The associations between marital conflict, maternal and paternal hostility, children's interpretations of marital conflict, and children's adjustment were examined in a sample of 136 school‐aged children and their parents. Observational measures were collected from videotapes of marital interaction and family interaction. Self‐report data were collected from parents and children. Results showed that mothers’ and fathers’ hostility mediated the association between martial conflict and children's internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. Children's feelings of being to blame for marital conflict and being threatened by it mediated between marital conflict and children's internalizing problems but not their externalizing problems.     

Enhancing Forgiveness: A Group Intervention for the Elderly

This article describes a therapeutic model of forgiveness (Enright, 2001 Enright, R. D. 2001. Forgiveness is a choice: A step-by-step process for resolving anger and restoring hope, Washington, D.C: American Psychological Association.  [Google Scholar]) and discusses its applicability to social work intervention with older adults. A total of 20 men and women, aged 57–82, participated in 2 different forgiveness groups, each of which met weekly for 8 sessions with a 4-month follow-up session. Measures of forgiveness, as well as biopsychosocial functioning, were collected before and after the group intervention. Results indicated that participants experienced long-term improvement with respect to forgiveness and depression, short-term improvement of physical health, and no change in relation to anxiety or social support. Clinical issues that emerged during the forgiveness group are discussed, and suggestions for gerontological social workers are offered.     

Screening Neighborhoods for Intervention

No abstract available for this article.     

The Effects of Early Institutionalization and Foster Care Intervention on Children's Social Behaviors at the Age of Eight

The present study compared the social behaviors of eight‐year‐old previously institutionalized Romanian children from the Bucharest Early Intervention Project (BEIP) in two groups: (1) children randomized to foster care homes (FCG), and (2) children randomized to care as usual (remaining in institutions) (CAUG). Children were observed interacting with an age‐ and gender‐matched unfamiliar, non‐institutionalized peer from the community during six interactive tasks, and their behavior was coded for speech reticence, social engagement, task orientation, social withdrawal, and conversational competence. Group comparisons revealed that FCG children were rated as significantly less reticent during a speech task than CAUG children. For CAUG children, longer time spent in institutional care was related to greater speech reticence and lower social engagement. Using an actor–partner interdependence model, CAUG children's behaviors, but not FCG, were found to influence the behavior of unfamiliar peers. These findings are the first to characterize institutionalized children's observed social behaviors toward new peers during middle childhood and highlight the positive effects of foster care intervention in the social domain.     

Children's Disclosure and Secrecy: Links to Maternal Parenting Characteristics and Children's Coping Skills

The relations between maternal parenting characteristics, child disclosure and secrecy, and child outcomes (positive and negative strategies for coping with distress), were examined in a study of 140 children (10–12‐year‐olds) and their mothers. Child disclosure and secrecy were shown to be distinct but related constructs with authoritativeness predictive of disclosure and dispositional anger predictive of secrecy. These relations held even when child compliance was included as a control variable. Mothers' authoritative parenting predicted disclosure which in turn predicted children's use of positive coping strategies. Mothers' dispositional anger predicted secrecy which mediated the relation between maternal anger and children's use of negative coping strategies. Results are discussed in terms of parent–child communication and opportunities for mothers to use knowledge gained from child disclosure to teach children successful ways of dealing with distress.     

进攻性现实主义视角下的大国权力-安全竞争

进攻性现实主义认为 ,国际体系的无政府性、大国内在的攻击能力、他国意图的不确定性和大国对生存的理性追求决定了大国必然为自己的世界权力份额最大化而相互竞争 ,因为权力是确保安全的终极手段。由于巨大水体的阻遏力量 ,各大国主要致力于谋求地区霸权地位 ,并努力阻止其他大国成为地区霸主。该理论既有极大的现实性 ,也有突出的非现实性。它可为中国的安全建设提供颇有助益的启示 :正视大国间正常的权力—安全竞争 ,努力加强国家安全能力建设 ;重视复杂的地缘政治构造 ,并结合东亚的权力—安全分配现实来完善既有的安全大战略 ;构造必要的地缘安全机制安排 ,预防安全忧患恶化。     

进攻性现实主义视角下的大国权力-安全竞争

进攻性现实主义认为,国际体系的无政府性、大国内在的攻击能力、他国意图的不确定性和大国对生存的理性追求决定了大国必然为自己的世界权力份额最大化而相互竞争,因为权力是确保安全的终极手段.由于巨大水体的阻遏力量,各大国主要致力于谋求地区霸权地位,并努力阻止其他大国成为地区霸主.该理论既有极大的现实性,也有突出的非现实性.它可为中国的安全建设提供颇有助益的启示:正视大国间正常的权力-安全竞争,努力加强国家安全能力建设;重视复杂的地缘政治构造,并结合东亚的权力一安全分配现实来完善既有的安全大战略;构造必要的地缘安全机制安排,预防安全忧患恶化.     

Self-enhancement of Peer Acceptance: Implications for Children's Self-worth and Interpersonal Functioning

Changes in feelings of self‐worth and peer acceptance associated with self‐enhancing perceptions of their peer acceptance were examined for a normative sample and for a group of peer‐rejected children. Whether the correlates of self‐enhancement differed as a function of the way in which perceptions were assessed (i.e., general versus specific measures of self‐enhancement) or by the degree of enhancement were also studied. Using a longitudinal design, 670 students in grades 3 through 5 were assessed across an academic year. For the normative sample, general self‐enhancement of peer acceptance was associated with positive outcomes; specific self‐enhancement of peer acceptance was unrelated to changes in outcomes. Both general and specific self‐enhancement scores were associated with gains in one or more outcome measures in the rejected group. No support was found for the hypothesis that mild to moderate self‐enhancement is predictive of adjustment whereas extreme self‐enhancement is related to maladjustment.     

Marital Conflict and Children's Adjustment: The Mediating and Moderating Role of Children's Coping Strategies

This prospective, longitudinal study examined the role of children's coping strategies in the link between interparental conflict and children's psychological adjustment. Using a sample of 100 parents and children aged 11–14 years, this study investigated children's venting of negative emotion, social support seeking, and problem solving strategies as mediators and moderators of the relationship between marital conflict and child adjustment. Venting negative emotion mediated the long‐term effects of marital conflict on children's psychological adjustment. This coping response also moderated the relationship between marital conflict and children's anxiety‐depression. The role of non‐constructive coping strategies as a mechanism through which marital conflict affects children's psychological well‐being is discussed, together with the need for research to identify intervention strategies aimed at improving children's coping efficacy in the context of interparental conflict.