The Attachment Partnership as Conceptual Base for Exploring the Impact of Child Maltreatment

According to attachment theory children learn the critical importance of trusting others and valuing oneself through communication with an attachment figure about separations and other threats to the child's sense of security (Bowlby, 1982). Lessons learned in the attachment partnership (Marvin, 1977; Ainsworth, 1992) about perceiving a relationship partner's point of view, and communicating emotional experience, are generalized to social relationships outside the home. Maltreatment is likely to harm children's emotional and social development through impairment of these key social skills. Relevant literature from attachment theory and research, including research on child maltreatment from an attachment perspective, is reviewed. Implications and directions for clinical intervention are discussed.     

The exchange of nonverbal intimacy: A critical review of dyadic models

This article examines six different theoretical approaches that attempt to explain the exchange of dyadic immediacy, intimacy, or involvement cues. Affiliative conflict or equilibrium theory, two expectancy norm models, an arousal-labeling model, an arousal valence model, a discrepancy-arousal model, and a sequential functional model are summarized. Advantages and limitations of each of these approaches are discussed, and empirical support for each of these approaches is summarized.     

From genes to societies

Research on model organisms has substantially advanced our understanding of aging. However, these studies collectively lack any examination of the element of sociality, an important feature of human biology. Social insects present a number of unique possibilities for investigating social influences on aging and potentially detecting new mechanisms for extremely prolonged, healthy life spans that have evolved naturally. Social evolution has led to life spans in reproductive females that are much longer (up to over 100-fold) than those of males or of nonreproductive worker castes. These differences are particularly dramatic because they are due to environmental influences, as all individuals develop from the same genomes. Social insect colonies consist of semi-autonomous individuals, and the relationship between the colony and the individual creates many interesting predictions in the light of the common theories of aging. Furthermore, the variety of lifestyles of social insects creates the potential for crucial comparative analyses across distinct social systems.     

Maternal childhood parental abuse history and current intimate partner violence: data from the Pacific Islands Families Study

Pacific peoples are a rapidly growing but socially disadvantaged segment of New Zealand society. Within this context, individuals may be particularly vulnerable to the experience of intimate partner violence (IPV). The aim of the study was to establish the association between the experience of maternal and/or paternal emotional or physical abuse and current severe physical partner violence perpetration or victimization among a cohort of Pacific women. Paternal physical abuse was the only statistically significant risk factor from childhood parenting history that was independently associated with severe physical perpetration and victimization within the mother's current intimate partner relationship (RR 2.6). These findings highlight the deleterious effect of paternal physical violence on subsequent IPV and contribute to the development of empirically based and considered ways to approach these complex phenomena.     

Robustness without rank order statistics

An alternative to conventional rank tests based on a Euclidean distance analysis space is described. Comparisons based on exact probability values among classical two-sample t-tests and the Wilcoxon–Mann–Whitney test illustrate the advantages of the Euclidean distance analysis space alternative.     

A Test of Alternative Measures of Disconfirmation*

Disconfirmation has been widely used in a number of research traditions, however there are many different operationalizations of this construct. Little research has investigated the relative effectiveness of these various methods. The research reported here examines five operationalizations of disconfirmation and their effect on satisfaction. These tests are carried out using two different comparison standards in two different settings. The results indicate some methods are better in certain situations and are inappropriate in others. Implications for both practical and theoretical research are discussed.     

Can Lessons Be Drawn From Trade Policy Research?

Book reviewed in this article: Liberalizing Foreign Trade. Edited by Michael Michaely, Demetris Papageorgiou and Armeane M. Choksi