Examining verbal and physical retaliation against kinship insults

This study examined how different types of insults-social status insults and reproductive status insults--toward one's family and friends influenced the likelihood of verbal and physical retaliation. Participants were given a questionnaire containing scenarios in which a hypothetical person insulted each participant's sibling, cousin, or friend. Participants indicated they were significantly less likely to verbally retaliate when a cousin was insulted than when a sibling or friend was insulted. Men were more likely to physically retaliate toward male insulters. Women were more likely to physically retaliate toward female insulters. Women were more likely to verbally retaliate than men, but only when the insulter was female. Both men and women were more likely to retaliate when a woman was insulted.     

Combining Measures of Risk Perceptions and Risk Activities: The Development of the RAPRA and PRISC Indices

The influence of risk perceptions on risk activities of teenagers is well known, but the development of indices, which combine measures of perception as well as behavioral outcomes, has proved problematical. This article discusses the ways in which this methodological problem was tackled within a five-year, multiphase, multimethod study of factors affecting adolescent risk-taking in Tasmania, Australia, which included an intergenerational comparison of adolescents and parents. The development of the Risk Activity by Personal Risk Assessment (RAPRA) Index combines measures of perceived riskiness of 26 activities identified by young people as involving varying degrees of risk, with the degree of participation by each respondent, through a rectangular model of weights. The Personal Risk Score Category (PRISC) Index summarizes and categorizes an individual's risk-taking profile relative to the group's risk values and risk hierarchy established by the RAPRA Index. The article discusses ways in which technical problems involved in combining measures of risk perceptions and risk activities were addressed during index construction, compared with examples in the literature. Some key findings from analysis of two student and parent samples are presented as exemplars of the methods used and the results produced. Findings demonstrate the widespread nature of risk-taking among teenagers, and the similarity of levels of risk-taking between teenager and parental generations. The indices allow for detailed comparison of particular risk-taking activities and reveal differences among teenagers now compared with parents when they were teenagers, and illustrate the dynamic cultural context of risk-taking perceptions and values.     

Emotion Socialization as a Framework for Understanding the Development of Disorganized Attachment

Recent years have seen the emergence of accounts of the origins of the Disorganized attachment relationship in early mother–infant interaction, each building on the pioneering work of Main and Hesse—dysfunctional emotional processes figure prominently in all these accounts. This paper applies a framework based on two complementary theories of emotion socialization, Gianino and Tronick's (1992 ) Mutual Regulation Model and Gergely and Watson's (1996 ) Social Biofeedback Theory, to suggest an emotion‐based mechanism consistent with recently proposed models of the development of Disorganized attachment. The framework is used to generate hypothetical accounts of the role of dysfunctional emotional processes and maladaptive emotion socialization in early mother–infant interaction in the development of Disorganized attachment along two distinct pathways, one associated with actual abuse of the infant and the other associated with maternal unresolved trauma.     

Making Sense of "Absence": Towards a Typology of Absence in Social Representations Theory and Research

Identifying, locating and interpreting both what is present and what is not present in theory and data lies at the core of scientific practice. Most experienced researchers know that social reality and psychological phenomena cannot always be apprehended directly, and that the forces that shape them must often be inferred rather than positively demonstrated. Yet, the important analytical problems raised by "absence" have rarely occupied the centre stage in professional journals. The aim of this paper is to sensitise researchers to the problem of absence. It considers the various guises in which absences may appear, their repercussions in the research process, and the solutions that researchers have used to render absences visible. The paper focuses on the issue of absence as it appears in theory and research on social representations. A typology of absence, structured in terms of the research process, is proposed. The typology is intended purely as a heuristic tool. It identifies and discusses forms of theoretical, methodological, empirical and analytical/interpretive absences. This typology is used to explore forms of absence and their interrelationships throughout the research process in three studies on social representations. The discussion as a whole contributes to reaffirming the radical character of the theory of social representations by stressing how the latter locates the space of explanation at the interface between individual and collective representations, between social and cognitive processes, between intentional and non-conscious dynamics, and between material and symbolic realities.     

Understanding fraternity drinking: five recurring themes in the literature, 1980-1998.

In light of widespread concern about alcohol abuse on college campuses, the authors review the empirical literature concerning fraternity drinking published since 1980. The review is structured according to 5 themes that emerge from the literature: (a) the continuity between high school and college drinking, (b) the self-selection of heavy drinkers into environments that support heavy drinking, (c) the central role of alcohol in fraternity socialization, (d) the misperception of drinking norms, and (e) the enabling environment of the fraternity house. The literature is summarized for the benefit of those who wish to better understand the role of alcohol use in the fraternity system.     

Selection of Film Clips and Development of a Video for the Investigation of Sexual Decision Making among Men Who Have Sex with Men

Experimental research on sexual decision making is limited, despite the public health importance of such work. We describe formative work conducted in advance of an experimental study designed to evaluate the effects of alcohol intoxication and sexual arousal on risky sexual decision making among men who have sex with men. In Study 1, we describe the procedures for selecting and validating erotic film clips (to be used for the experimental manipulation of arousal). In Study 2, we describe the tailoring of two interactive role-play videos to be used to measure risk perception and communication skills in an analog risky sex situation. Together, these studies illustrate a method for creating experimental stimuli to investigate sexual decision making in a laboratory setting. Research using this approach will support experimental research that affords a stronger basis for drawing causal inferences regarding sexual decision making.     

A Step Closer to Slavery? Free African Americans,Industrialisation, Social Control and Residency in Richmond City, 1850–1860

This article explores the ways that Richmond City's municipal authorities applied Virginia's pass-code laws governing free African American residency between 1850 and 1860. In Virginia, a free African American had to have a pass – a legal document attesting to one's free status – but that pass had to be renewed every three years, and it had to be approved by the city or county in which the free African American currently resided. Legally, undocumented free blacks included persons who did not have a pass, ones who may have had a pass but failed to carry one on their person, or African Americans with expired passes. Without such attestation, free blacks in antebellum Virginia were subject to incarceration and had to reimburse the city for all attendant fees. If they could not pay the fees, the court hired them out to the highest bidder. While historians have spent considerable time debating the legal status of free African Americans, they have not focused on how municipal authorities, particularly in rapidly industrialising southern cities, used pass codes not only as a way to maintain social control over free African Americans, but also increasingly as a means to provide cheap and accessible unfree labour to local businesses and industries.     

Self-reported drinking-game participation of incoming college students

Drinking games are associated with excess alcohol use and alcohol-related problems, yet it is unclear whether they are unique to the college environment or whether students come to college familiar with such games. The authors queried 1,252 students attending voluntary summer orientation programs about their experiences with drinking games. A majority (63%) indicated they had played drinking games and viewed them as a means to get drunk quickly and to socialize, control others, or get someone else drunk. Logistic regression analyses revealed that familiarity with drinking situations was associated with a greater likelihood of playing drinking games. Students who reported drinking more frequently and consuming greater quantities of alcohol than others, having lifetime marijuana use, and initiating alcohol consumption between the ages of 14 and 16 years were significantly more likely to have participated in drinking games. These findings demonstrate the importance of considering students' participation in drinking games when campus officials address alcohol use.