The effects of urban socioeconomic and political context on support for business in the federal district courts

Despite an expansive literature relating the social and political characteristics of cities and states to the economic outputs of legislators and administrators, there has been no comparable study of the impact of local environmental factors on economic policy outcomes of either state or federal trial courts. Neglect of this topic is especially unfortunate, given that exploratory analysis of federal district court judges' decision making in an urban context has suggested a link between federal district court policies and those of other local government institutions (Dolbeare, 1969).This article begins to fill the research lacuna by examining the impact of local environments on federal district courts' economic policy making. Substantial variance in economic case outcomes among courts in cities serving as district court points is explained by certain characteristics of the courts' social and political environments. Patterns of support for business in the district courts is examined to illustrate possible consequences of environmental influences on trial court outcomes. Conclusions regarding the impact of environmental factors on district court policy outcomes are offered along with a comparison of this research with the larger and more developed body of state and local policy research.     

The Use of Discordant MZ Twins to Generate Hypotheses regarding Non-shared Environmental Influence on Anxiety in Middle Childhood

Non‐shared environmental influence (NSE) has been found to account for around 50 percent of anxiety variance, but specific NSE factors have not been identified. Discordant monozygotic (MZ) twins can be used to generate relevant hypotheses because MZ discordance can be caused by NSE, but not by genes or shared environment. Of 1590 MZ pairs teacher rated for anxiety at the age of seven, we selected the most discordant 19 pairs and conducted interviews with them and their mothers. In explaining discordant anxiety, the mothers emphasised negative school experiences, comparisons within the twin relationship, and illness and accidents. During the maternal interviews neonatal life events, parent–child relationships and peer rejection also emerged as potential NSE sources.     

Adult Problem Solving: Contributor to Parenting and Child Outcomes in Divorced Families

This cross-sectional study extends child outcome models by focusing on factors in the adult social domain as contributors to parenting. The sample included 138 divorced mothers, their focal sons, and their support confidants assessed approximately 5 years after marital separation. The multimethod latent variable analysis tested a hypothesized progression stating observed confidant support would enhance problem solving outcomes achieved by mothers and confidants. Resolving parenting and personal issues for the mother was expected to benefit parenting practices (i.e., monitoring, discipline, and mother/child problem solving), which in turn would predict a macro level measure of child antisocial behavior. Analysis of the simplex model supported the progression. The final model explained 36% of the variance in antisocial behavior, 15% of the variance in parenting, and 53% of the variance in problem solving outcome. Dyads with cohabiting partners scored higher on problem solving outcomes than did dyads with friends or family members. The model is discussed in the context of social interactional and social learning theory.     

Nice and Nasty Theory of Mind in Preschool Children: Nature and Nurture

Experimental research suggests the differentiation of ‘nice’ and ‘nasty’ theory of mind (ToM). Over 5000 parents from the Twins Early Development Study reported on nice (e.g., being considerate) and nasty (e.g., blaming others) behaviours following their twins’ second, third, and fourth birthdays. Factor analyses yielded four factors and it was proposed that these related to prosocial behaviour necessitating ToM (Nice ToM), antisocial behaviour necessitating ToM (Nasty ToM), and prosocial and antisocial behaviour not necessitating ToM (Nice and Nasty). Interscale correlations, gender differences, and their relationship with language were consistent with this distinction. Both ToM scales showed moderate heritability and significant environmental influences (shared and nonshared). Bivariate analyses indicated somewhat distinct aetiological influences on Nice ToM versus Nasty ToM. However, further research is needed to confirm whether this distinction reflects interactions between ToM and temperament, or two underlying genetic and cognitively distinct ToM abilities.     

Genetic Contributions to Adolescents' Extrafamilial Social Interactions: Teachers, Best Friends, and Peers

The purpose of the present study was to investigate genetic and environmental contributions to individual differences in adolescents' social interactions outside the family. We investigated sibling resemblance for adolescents' reports of interactions with best friends and teachers, and parents' perceptions of adolescents' peer groups in 701 same-sex adolescent sibling pairs aged 10-18, using a twin, full sibling, and step sibling design. Our goals were to assess the magnitude of sibling resemblance, and to disentangle resemblance due to shared genetic heritage from that due to shared environmental experiences. Substantial genetic influence was found for parents' perceptions of adolescents' peer groups. Adolescents' reports of positive interactions with teachers and best friends also showed significant genetic influence. In contrast, individual differences in adolescents' reports of negative interactions with teachers and best friends showed no significant genetic influence. In addition, most environmental influences for social interactions with teachers, best friends, and peers were largely of the nonshared variety, suggesting that growing up in the same family does not make adolescents similar in their extrafamilial social interactions.     

Social-emotional Classroom Climate in Child Care, Child-Teacher Relationships and Children's Second Grade Peer Relations

We used a five-year longitudinal study of children's teacher-child relationships and social-emotional competence to examine the relative contributions of preschool social-emotional climate and early individual child-teacher relationships and behavior problems in predicting second grade social competence with peers. Three hundred and seven children (152 girls) had complete second grade data on peer social competence. We used the Peer Play Scale to measure the climate of peer social competence in preschool classrooms. We used the Classroom Behavior Inventory to measure behavior problems and the Student-Teacher Relationship Scale to measure child-teacher relationship quality at both the classroom and individual level. Children's second grade social competence with peers could be predicted by preschool classroom social-emotional climate, four-year-old behavior problems and child-teacher relationship quality, and contemporary child-teacher relationship quality. The particular pattern of these predictors differed by aspect of social competence with peers.     

Income and Power Inequality as Determinants of Environmental and Health Outcomes: Some Findings*

Objective. The article corrects for two main shortcomings in conventional economic analyses of environmental change. First is the overemphasis placed on income growth, and general disregard for other socioeconomic factors. Second is economists' often oversimplified view of the environment, where distinctions between environmental necessities such as potable water and so‐called environmental luxuries are ignored. I test for the effectiveness of power inequality in explaining access to sanitation and safe water as well as their health consequences. Methods. I develop a two‐stage model seeking first to explain changes in the environmental variables and then population health. I employ ordinary least squares regressions on international cross‐sectional data. Results. Some dimensions of power inequality outperform per‐capita income as possible determinants of population health. Neither power inequality nor income is clearly superior at explaining environmental quality. Conclusion. The study casts further doubt on the importance of per‐capita income in explaining environmental and health outcomes.     

Cumulative Risk,Negative Emotionality,and Emotion Regulation as Predictors of Social Competence in Transition to School: A Mediated Moderation Model

The goals of this study were to examine the additive and interactive effects of cumulative risk and child negative emotionality on children's social competence in the transition from preschool to school and to test whether these associations were mediated by child emotion regulation within a sample of 310 low‐income, ethnically diverse boys. Multiple informants and methods were used to measure contextual risk factors and negative emotionality at the ages of 1.5 and two, emotion dysregulation at the age of 3.5, and social competence in the home at the age of five and in school at the age of six. Results indicated that the relation between cumulative risk and emotion dysregulation was amplified for children with higher levels of negative emotionality. In turn, emotion dysregulation predicted lower social competence across both the home and the school contexts. This study represents an early effort to develop an integrative model of social competence by considering joint contributions of contextual risk, negative emotionality, and emotion regulation.     

The Structure of Parent–Child Dyadic Synchrony in Toddlerhood and Children's Communication Competence and Self-control

The aim of the present investigation was to examine parent–child synchrony and its link to children's communicative competence and self-control. Data were collected from 80 families with toddler age children (41 girls, 39 boys) during a laboratory assessment. Five components of parent–child dyadic synchrony were assessed during a semi-structured parent–child play activity at 18 months. Assessments of children's communicative competence and self-control were obtained at 36 months. Results indicated that parent–child synchrony, shared positive affect, and mutual compliance were highly intercorrelated components of dyadic synchrony. Moreover, children from highly synchronous parent–child dyads displayed more communicative competence and more self-controlled behavior. Mother–child mutual compliance and father–child shared positive affect were particularly significant contributors to children's self control. The associations between synchrony and child developmental adjustment remained significant after controlling for individual child and parent behavior. Developmental implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Effects of mediator competence and mediation process on user satisfaction with child custody,finances, and property outcomes

This study draws on survey data from 205 family mediation service users concerning their satisfaction with the outcomes of mediation to address two research questions: (a) how satisfied are service users? and (b) what factors account for users' satisfaction with the outcome of child custody arrangements and the allocation of finances and property? Overall, users' level of satisfaction with outcomes was high. While the mediation process explained a significant variance in satisfaction with the outcomes for child custody and for finances and property, the mediator's perceived professional competence did not predict user satisfaction with the outcomes for either issue. This study contributes to our knowledge on the significance of mediators' process skill, specifically their calm and clear responses to the socioemotional needs of the mediated parties, on the service outcomes for both types of dispute. The implications for mediation training are discussed.     

Race and Environmental Voting in the U.S. Congress

Objective. This article examines long-term trends in the environmental voting behavior in Congress and attempts to identify the factors that account for racial differences in voting patterns. Methods. Hypotheses about the various possible influences on environmental voting behavior are tested using longitudinal analyses and path analysis techniques. Results. Findings indicate African American members of Congress have been consistently more supportive of proenvironment legislation than either Republican or Democrat colleagues from 1981 to 1998. The data further suggest that much of these overall differences are explained by an especially large racial gap in proenvironmental voting among members from the South. Although such a gap among members from outside the South is eliminated by controlling for ideology and other variables, it remains substantial among Southern members. Conclusions. Based on the strong and consistent support for environmental legislation by African American members of Congress in the past, we expect significant racial differences in environmental voting to endure. Although results suggest that ideology plays a partial role in explaining such differences, future research will be needed to identify the reasons for the especially large racial gap in proenvironmental voting among members from the South. Given the growth in their numbers, their relatively safe seats, and their potential to chair important committees as they gain seniority, we expect African American legislators to play an increasingly important role in shaping and deciding the fate of national environmental policy in the future.     

Values in Middle Childhood: Social and Genetic Contributions

Theories of value development often identify adolescence as the period for value formation, and cultural and familial factors as the sources for value priorities. However, recent research suggests that value priorities can be observed as early as in middle childhood, and several studies, including one on preadolescents, have suggested a genetic contribution to individual differences in values. In the current study, 174 pairs of monozygotic and dizygotic seven‐year‐old Israeli twins completed the Picture‐based Value Survey for Children (PBVS–C). We replicated basic patterns of relations between value priorities and variables of socialization—gender, religiosity, and socioeconomic status—that have been found in studies with adults. Most important, values of Self‐transcendence, Self‐enhancement, and Conservation, were found to be significantly affected by genetic factors (29 percent, 47 percent, and 31 percent, respectively), as well as non‐shared environment (71 percent, 53 percent, and 69 percent, respectively). Openness to change values, in contrast, were found to be unaffected by genetic factors at this age and were influenced by shared (19 percent) and non‐shared (81 percent) environment. These findings support the recent view that values are formed at earlier ages than had been assumed previously, and they further our understanding of the genetic and environmental factors involved in value formation at young ages.     

Opinion leaders,independence, and Condorcet's Jury Theorem

Condorcet's Jury Theorem shows that on a dichotomous choice, individuals who all have the same competence above 0.5, can make collective decisions under majority rule with a competence that approaches 1 as either the size of the group or the individual competence goes up. The theorem assumes that the probability of each voter's being correct is independent of the probability of any other voter being correct. Contrary to several authors, the presence of mutual or common influences such as opinion leaders does not easily rule independence either in or out. Indeed, and this ought to be surprising,under certain conditions deference to opinion leaders can improve individual competence without violating independence, and so can raise group competence as well.     

Paternal and Maternal Experiences in Caring for Chinese Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Hong Kong

This paper reports the results of an exploratory study that (i) identified parental stress and competence, parents’ perception of their children's attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms, and the parent‐child relationship in caring for children with ADHD; (ii) compared paternal and maternal experiences in these areas; and (iii) examined the effect of children's ADHD behavior on paternal and maternal experiences in Hong Kong Chinese parents. Seventy‐two (59.5%) mothers and 49 (40.5%) fathers participated in the study, in which data were collected using a structured questionnaire. The results showed that: (i) mothers’ level of parental stress was higher than fathers’, but paternal and maternal competence in child‐rearing did not significantly vary; (ii) mothers perceived the child's ADHD behavior more seriously than fathers; (iii) both mothers and fathers had positive perceptions of their parent‐child relationship; and (iv) gender, employment, ADHD symptoms, and parental satisfaction explained the significant variance in parental stress but did not explain the significant variance in parental competence. Implications for social work practice and service development are discussed.     

Common genetic effects on risk-taking preferences and choices

Although prior research has shown that risk-taking preferences and choices are correlated across many domains, there is a dearth of research investigating whether these correlations are primarily the result of genetic or environmental factors. We examine the extent to which common genetic factors account for the association between general risk-taking preferences and domain-specific risk-taking preferences, and between general risk-taking preferences and risk taking choices in financial investments, stock market participation and business formation. Using data from 1898 monozygotic (MZ) and 1344 same-sex dizygotic (DZ) twins, we find that general risk-taking shares a common genetic component with domain-specific risk-taking preferences and risk-taking choices.

     

Political economy and the adoption of everyday environmental policies in the American states, 1997: an exploratory analysis

The political economy model has been widely and effectively used to explain and predict adoption rates of highly salient and/or controversial policies in the American states. However, use of this model to predict policy adoption in noncontroversial domains has been limited. This article tests the extent to which the model is successful in explaining the adoption of less-salient, everyday policies intended to improve environmental quality among the American states. The addition of conditional terms related to the model's political and bureaucratic components resulted in explaining 57% of the variance in commitment to everyday environmentalism among the American states. In sum, the number of everyday environmental policies adopted by state governments is a function of economic considerations, legislative accountability and professionalism, bureaucratic commitment, political culture and previous levels of policy adoption. Alternately—and unlike more controversial environmental policy domains—partisanship, ideology, party control of government and interest group forces do not have an impact on adoption of everyday environmental policies.     

Connections between preschoolers' temperament traits and social behaviors as observed in a preschool setting

A growing literature has focused on the role children's temperament traits play in social behavior, but associations have traditionally been explored through informant report. We utilized a longitudinal, observational approach to (a) examine how children's traits related to their social behaviors when aggregated across the school year; (b) explore how traits and social behavior relate to children's age and sex; and (c) test how prior traits predicted subsequent change in solitary, reticent, and social play, above and beyond mean‐level change in play behavior over the course of the year. Fifty‐three children were observed in their preschool classroom, where coders rated children's traits and social behaviors over the course of one school year (N = 26,673 observations). Results found positive age‐related associations for positive emotionality (PE) and social play. In addition, aggregated traits explained a significant amount of the variance for every social behavior. Prior levels of lower PE, higher negative emotionality (NE), and higher effortful control (EC) predicted more subsequent time spent in reticent play, while NE and EC approached significance as predictors of solitary play. These results emphasize the role of early disposition on mean levels and rates of change in social behavior in a classroom.     

Prosocial Tendencies among Chinese American Children in Immigrant Families: Links to Cultural and Socio‐demographic Factors and Psychological Adjustment

The present study examined relations between prosocial tendencies (dispositional sympathy and prosocial behavior) and psychological adjustment using a multi‐method and multi‐informant approach in a socioeconomically diverse sample of first‐ and second‐generation Chinese American children from immigrant families (N = 238, M age = 9.2 years). We tested the concurrent associations between: (a) children's dispositional sympathy (rated by parents, teachers, and children, and observed prosocial behavior), (b) psychological adjustment (parent‐ and teacher‐reported externalizing problems and social competence); and (c) cultural and socio‐demographic factors (children's Chinese and American orientations, family Socioeconomic Status (SES), only child status, and children's age, sex, and social desirability). Results from correlations and structural equation modeling suggested that different measures of prosocial tendencies related differently to children's psychological adjustment. Parent‐ and teacher‐rated sympathy were associated with higher child social competence and lower externalizing problems within, but not across, reporter. By contrast, child‐rated sympathy was associated with higher teacher‐rated social competence, and observed prize donation was associated with lower teacher‐rated externalizing problems. Different measures of prosocial tendencies also showed different relations to cultural and socio‐demographic factors. These findings suggest that prosocial tendencies are not a unitary construct in Chinese American immigrant children: the manifestations of prosocial tendencies and their adjustment implications might depend on the context and/or targets of these tendencies.     

Aggregation of correlated votes and Condorcet’s Jury Theorem

This paper proves two theorems for homogeneous juries that arise from different solutions to the problem of aggregation of dichotomous choice. In the first theorem, negative correlation increases the competence of the jury, while positive correlation has the opposite effect. An enlargement of the jury with positive correlation can be detrimental up to a certain size, beyond which it becomes beneficial. The second theorem finds a family of distributions for which correlation has no effect on a jury’s competence. The approach allows us to compute the bounds on a jury’s competence as the maximum and minimum probability of it being correct for a given individual competence and dependence structure.     

Perceived social support,perception of competence,and hope among Chinese children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in a Chinese context: Children's perspective

This paper reports on the results of a study (n = 113 children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) that examined the effects of the children's perception of the social support (PSS) they receive from their mothers, fathers, teachers, and friends on their sense of competence and hope. PSS explained 13% of the children's overall sense of competence and 4% of their sense of hope. In the perspective of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, the amount of maternal support, both in terms of importance and availability, was higher than that of their paternal support. However, the results of a multiple regression analysis have shown that paternal support accounted for 3% of the variance in the children's overall sense of competence and 5% in the variance of their physical competence. PSS from teachers had significantly explained 5%, 4%, and 4% of the variance in the children's overall, social, and physical competence, respectively. The PSS from friends significantly explained 7% of the variance in the children's cognitive competence and 4% of the variance in hope. Theoretical and clinical implications of the study are discussed.