Smart phone is a expectation-laden trophy: adolescent girls–adults’ mobile phone tensions and changing sexuality negotiation

This article is based on a study conducted in Nigerian Christian and Muslim neighborhoods on the intrigues that characterized adults-adolescent girls’ relations about how and when adolescent girls could use smart phones. Questionnaires, ethnographic interviews, school debates, observations, and focus group discussion methods were used to study the influence of smart phones on adolescent girls’ identity construction, adults-adolescent girls’ tension as regards ownership and use of smartphones, and new dynamics in adolescent girls-male friends’ relationship caused by smart phone uptake. For this population, smart phones display contextual symbolism that transcends their technological meaning, shifting girls’ social dependence from adults to peers and technology. Smart phone use has given adolescent girls a new way of identity construction, empowered them subtly in sexuality negotiation and assigned new roles to them. Adults’ concern about adolescent girls’ use of smart phones is rooted in their fears about the possible negative influences of smart phone use, which they see as entertainment driven and inimical to adolescent girls’ development. Findings of this study revealed that tensions between adults and adolescent girls over smart phone uptake originated from role reversal and expectation-laden nature of smart phones acquired by male friends, which effective mutual sharing of knowledge and resources could address. Adolescent girls should justify their craving for smart phones morally, socially, and psychologically. Adults and social institutions also need to rediscover their new roles in a world where digital innovations are necessities.     

When Parents and Adolescents Disagree About Disagreeing: Observed Parent–Adolescent Communication Predicts Informant Discrepancies About Conflict

Adolescence is accompanied by increased stress in the parent–adolescent relationship, which frequently results in conflict. Researchers often rely on self‐reports to measure conflict, but these reports are frequently discrepant from one another. In two studies, we examined the extent to which communication observed during parent–adolescent discussions of conflict were associated with discrepancies in reports about conflict. We also examined links between informant depressive symptoms and discrepancies. Across studies, observed parent–adolescent conflict behaviors consistently predicted absolute discrepancies in reports of conflict. Informant depressive symptoms sometimes predicted directional discrepancies in reports. Results suggest that informant discrepancies about conflict may stem, in part, from a lack of open communication in the relationship.     

Intimate Partner Communication From the War Zone: A Prospective Study of Relationship Functioning,Communication Frequency,and Combat Effectiveness

This study examined (a) the association between relationship functioning prior to and during deployment, and the frequency of communication during deployment; and (b) the association between relationship functioning and depression during deployment and their influence on service members’ ratings of duty performance. Participants were 144 partnered Airmen assessed immediately before and during a one‐year high‐risk deployment to Iraq. Results showed an overall high frequency of partner communication during deployment. High relationship distress at predeployment predicted lower frequency of communication during deployment. Changes in relationship distress from before deployment to during deployment independently predicted frequency of communication, above and beyond predeployment distress levels. Level of relationship distress and depression during deployment independently predicted service members’ ratings of impact on duty performance.     

Reco(r)ding Reality: Representation and Paradigms in Nonfiction African Cinema

In a democratizing world, where increasing numbers of protracted conflicts are being addressed via negotiations, governments’ ability to construct ‘toleration policy’—a set of discursive relationships between collective identities, national interests and peacemaking—plays a crucial role in their capacity to elicit popular legitimacy and implement their peace policy. The paper traces the effects of changes in Israel's toleration policy on changes in its peace policy following Yitzhak Rabin's assassination. Focusing on the political struggles after the assassination and their effect on public opinion, the paper offers an alternative, socio-cultural, explanation to the breakdown in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.     

The Relationship Between Psychological Understanding and Positive Social Behaviors

This research investigates the relationship between psychological understanding and positive social behavior in preschool children. A sample of 67 children were given measures of mental state understanding and emotion understanding. Positive social behavior was measured by classroom observation, teacher report and peer ratings. Both mental state understanding and emotion understanding were positively related to teacher ratings of social skills, behavioral observers’ global ratings of social skills and peer popularity. When language ability was partialled out of these relationships, many of the significant correlations disappeared; however, for variables related to peers’ perceptions, psychological understanding continued to predict unique variance. The results are discussed in terms of the multiple determinacy of positive social behaviors and the potential role of language in these processes.     

Employing policy and purchasing levers to increase the use of evidence-based practices in community-based substance abuse treatment settings: reports from single state authorities

State public health authorities are critical to the successful implementation of science based addiction treatment practices by community-based providers. The literature to date, however, lacks examples of state level policy strategies that promote evidence-based practices (EBPs). This mixed-methods study documents changes in two critical state-to-provider strategies aimed at accelerating use of evidence-based practices: purchasing levers (financial incentives and mechanisms) and policy or regulatory levers. A sample of 51 state representatives was interviewed. Single State Authorities for substance abuse treatment (SSAs) that fund providers directly or through managed care were significantly more likely to have contracts that required or encouraged evidence-based interventions, as compared to SSAs that fund providers indirectly through sub-state entities. Policy levers included EBP-related legislation, language in rules and regulations, and evidence-based criteria in state plans and standards. These differences in state policy are likely to result in significant state level variations regarding both the extent to which EBPs are implemented by community-based treatment providers and the quality of implementation.     

Mothers' Self-Reported Control of Their Preschool Children's Emotional Expressiveness: A Longitudinal Study of Associations with Infant–Mother Attachment and Children's Emotion Regulation

In the present longitudinal study we examined the associations between mothers’ self‐reported control of their preschoolers’ emotional expressiveness and two other key facets of early socioemotional development: the quality of the infant–mother attachment and children's emotion regulation. Seventy‐six white preschool‐aged children (46 boys and 30 girls) and their mothers participated. Principal assessments included the Parent Attitude Toward Child Expressiveness Scale (PACES; Saarni, 1985 ), the infant Strange Situation, and ‘Beat the Bell,’ a measure designed for this study to elicit children's emotional expression, sharing, and suppression in the presence of their mothers. Mothers’ control of their children's expressiveness was associated with both attachment and children's emotion regulation in theoretically predicted ways. First, mothers of children who had been classified insecure‐avoidant in the Strange Situation reported greater control of their children's negative expressiveness than other mothers, and mothers of children who had been classified insecure‐ambivalent reported less control of their children's negative expressiveness than other mothers. Second, mothers who reported greater control of their children's expressiveness had children who were less likely to express and share their feelings and more likely to suppress their anger in the ‘Beat the Bell’ emotion regulation assessment. Findings are discussed in terms of the role of maternal emotion socialization in children's early socioemotional development.     

Domestic violence: a priority in child protection in New South Wales,Australia?

Over the last several years there has been increasing awareness of the connection between domestic violence and child abuse, yet only minimal attention has been paid to the implications of this for child protection practice. This article begins to address this gap. Drawing on research undertaken in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, it examines child protection practice in relation to children and young people who have been exposed to domestic violence. The research involved analysis of the responses of the statutory child protection authority in NSW (the Department of Community Services or DoCS) to abuse allegations involving domestic violence. The data are drawn from observation and analysis of the initial responses to referrals to DoCS and the ‘tracking’ of a sample of these referrals over an 18 month period. From the data obtained, it is evident that domestic violence referrals are treated less seriously than other referrals, with more being confirmed as abuse but fewer resulting in follow up or intervention. The implications of this for child protection practice are teased out. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Can a Participatory Approach Contribute to Food Chain Risk Analysis?

We consider food chain risks and specifically address stakeholder participation in the risk analysis process. We combine social and natural science perspectives to explore the participation process in relation to food risks and, in particular, to consider how some specific participation processes might be scientifically evaluated and how stakeholder participation in general might be incorporated into food risk decision making. We have built considerations based on three large integrative case studies that examine aspects of participatory processes. Here we use the case studies collectively to illustrate observations and beliefs concerning the nature of the interaction of stakeholders with established quantitative risk methodologies. This account is not supported by any large volume of analysis. The views in the report are expressed in relation to an accepted risk analysis framework and also with respect to probabilistic modeling of risks and are illustrated where possible with anecdotal reports of actual case study events.     

How slowing senescence translates into longer life expectancy

Mortality decline has historically been largely a result of reductions in the level of mortality at all ages. A number of leading researchers on ageing, however, suggest that the next revolution of longevity increase will be the result of slowing down the rate of ageing. In this paper, we show mathematically how varying the pace of senescence influences life expectancy. We provide a formula that holds for any baseline hazard function. Our result is analogous to Keyfitz's 'entropy' relationship for changing the level of mortality. Interestingly, the influence of the shape of the baseline schedule on the effect of senescence changes is the complement of that found for level changes. We also provide a generalized formulation that mixes level and slope effects. We illustrate the applicability of these models using recent mortality decline in Japan and the problem of period to cohort translation.