Victim service and justice system representative responses about partner stalking: what do professionals recommend?

Research suggests that partner stalking is associated with reassault and lethality as well as increased psychological distress for victims. However, there is a significant gap in information about stalking interventions and the responses of health, mental health, law enforcement, social services, and criminal justice professionals to women experiencing partner stalking. The purpose of this study is to examine the ideas about appropriate and effective responses to stalking victims from professionals in victim services and the justice system. The study also examined differences among rural and urban representatives because prior studies have shown significant differences between rural and urban areas on experiences and responses to partner violence. A total of 152 key informants (38 urban and 114 rural) were interviewed. Study results suggest a need for more training for victim services and justice system professionals on stalking and service needs of women who experience stalking in the context of partner violence.     

The association between mood states and physical activity in postmenopausal, obese, sedentary women

Mood states influence evaluative judgments that can affect the decision to exercise or to continue to exercise. This study examined how mood associated with graded exercise testing (GXT) in sedentary, obese, postmenopausal women (N = 25) was associated with physical activity and predicted VO2max during and after a behavioral weight-loss program (BWLP). Measures of physical activity included planned exercise, calories from physical activity, leisure-time physical activity, and predicted VO2max. Mood before and after pre-BWLP GXT was assessed using the Profile of Mood States. Mood before and after the GXT was more strongly associated with planned exercise than other forms of physical activity, and this effect became stronger over time. Mood enhancement in response to exercise was not related to physical activity. Mood before and after exercise might yield important clinical information that can be used to promote physical activity in sedentary adults.     

Endurance exercise and leg strength in older women

Quadriceps strength and mass peak in the third decade of life, plateau, and then decline from the fifth decade on. To examine the influence of chronic endurance training and age on lean mass and leg strength, women runners (n = 62, age 43-69 years) and sedentary participants (n = 33, age 43-66 years) were divided into 40-, 50-, and 60-year age groups. Absolute isokinetic concentric torque did not differ between runners and sedentary women (97.9 +/- 19.5 and 104.6 +/- 22.7 N . m, respectively, p = .18) but was different between age groups independent of exercise status (107.6 +/- 18.4, 97.1 +/- 19.9, and 90.1 +/- 21.4 N . m, for 40s, 50s, and 60s, respectively, p < .05). Lean body mass also differed by age group (p < .05) but did not change differently among runners and sedentary women. These findings suggest that chronic endurance training might not influence the loss of muscle mass and muscle strength that occur with aging.     

Homecoming: the relevance of radical feminism for gay men

Sexual politics in the gay male world would be enhanced by a serious engagement with radical feminist politics, particularly critiques of pornography and the sex industry. As the domination/subordination dynamic at the heart of patriarchy damages homosexual men, such engagement is crucial to the future of a gay movement.     

Addressing self-selection bias in quasi-experimental evaluations of whole-school reform. A comparison of methods

This article discusses potential sources of self-selection bias in quasi-experimental evaluations of whole-school reform models and considers how individual student-level data might be used to provide valid impact estimates. Although repeated pretreatment and posttreatment measures of student performance can provide unbiased estimates under relatively weak assumptions, such data are difficult to obtain. The article develops an instrumental variable strategy that can be used to improve on common value-added estimators when only posttreatment measures of performance are available. Using data from New York City, the author shows that the instrumental variable strategy can provide estimates of model impacts similar to those provided by a difference-in-differences estimator provided that appropriate instruments are used.