Parental Residential and Partnering Transitions and the Initiation of Adolescent Romantic Relationships

This study focused on the possible links between parental residential and partnering transitions (a parent's move out of the household, introduction of a new maternal and paternal partner) and the initiation of romantic relationships in adolescence. Using data from a prospective cohort study of Dutch adolescents (the TRacking Adolescents' Individual Lives Survey; N = 1,513), recurrent event discrete‐time models with random effects were estimated, controlling for the initial family structure and quality of family climate. The results demonstrated that when all 3 events were considered, only the initiation of a new romantic relationship by the mother was associated with an increase in the odds of initiating a romantic relationship for the adolescent.     

"Anything Can Happen With Police Around": Urban Youth Evaluate Strategies of Surveillance in Public Places

In order to document urban youth experiences of adults in positions of public authority, including police, educators, social workers and guards, a broad based street survey of 911 New York City-based urban youth was conducted in which youth, stratified by race, ethnicity, gender and borough, were asked about their experiences with, attitudes toward, and trust of adult surveillance in communities and in schools. In-depth telephone interviews were conducted with 36 youth who have experienced serious, adverse interactions with police, guards, or educators. Findings suggest that urban youth, overall, express a strong sense of betrayal by adults and report feeling mistrusted by adults, with young men of color most likely to report these perceptions.     

The Effect of Children on Men’s and Women’s Chances of Re-partnering in a European Context

This work examines what role children play in the re-partnering process in five European countries (Norway, France, Germany, Romania, and the Russian Federation) by addressing the following research questions: (1) To what extent do men and women differ in their re-partnering chances?; (2) Can gender differences in re-partnering be explained by the presence of children?; (3) How do the custodial arrangements and the child’s age affect the re-partnering chances of men and women? We use the partnership and parenthood histories of the participants in the first wave of the Generations and Gender Survey (United Nations, Generations and Gender Programme: Survey Instruments. United Nations, New York/Geneva, 2005) to examine the transition to moving in with a new partner following the dissolution of the first marital union, separately for men and women. The story that emerges is one of similarities in the effects rather than differences. In most countries, men are more likely to re-partner than women. This gender difference can be attributed to the presence of children as our analyses show that childless men and women do not differ in their probability to re-partner. Mothers with resident children are less likely to re-partner than non-mothers and a similar though often non-significant effect of resident children is observed for fathers. In most countries we find that as the child ages, the chances to enter a new union increase. In sum, our study indicates that children are an important factor in re-partnering and a contributor to the documented gender gap in re-partnering, and this holds throughout distinct institutional and cultural settings.     

The Initiation of Dating in Adolescence: The Effect of Parental Divorce. The TRAILS Study

This study examined the effect of parental divorce on the time it took adolescents to initiate their first romantic relationships. Individual differences in temperament and pubertal development and the age of the adolescent at the time of divorce were also taken into account. Hypotheses were tested using event history analysis with a sample of 1,487 Dutch adolescents. Results indicated that divorce sped up the transition to first relationship only when experienced in early adolescence. Findings are discussed in light of research on the heightened sensitivity to stress during transition periods such as the entry into adolescence.     

Life Satisfaction and Suicide among High School Adolescents

Relationships between perceived life satisfaction, poor mental health, suicide ideation and suicide behaviors were examined in a statewide sample of 13 to 18 year old public high school students (n = 4,758) using the self-report CDC Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS). Adjusted logistic regression analyses and multivariate models constructed separately (via SUDAAN), revealed that poor mental health (past 30 days), poor mental/physical health (past 30 days) serious suicide consideration (past 12 months), planning for suicide (past 12 months), attempted suicide (past 12 months) and suicide attempt requiring medical care (past 12 months) were significantly related to reduced life satisfaction. Also, differences across gender and race were demonstrated. Measures of life satisfaction as a component of comprehensive assessments of adolescent mental health, suicide ideation and suicide behavior in fieldwork, research, and program-evaluation efforts should be considered.     

Honour bound in Australia: From defensive nationalism to critical nationalism

The imprisonment and trial of Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks catalysed widespread public debate in Australia over issues of nationalism and citizenship. This article discusses the competing forms of nationalism that underpinned this debate, especially critical nationalism, which evidences both a critique of and caring for the nation. Following Ghassan Hage's notion of the dichotomy between national caring and worrying, the article looks at a theatre production based on the David Hicks story to illustrate the role the arts play in challenging and redefining our attachment to the nation.