Parent Perspectives on Intensive Intervention for Child Maltreatment

Multi-level intervention, based on an ecological perspective, has been promoted at the preferred model of providing parenting support to high-risk families. However, parent views regarding such interventions have not been determined. Focus groups consisting of 24 parents who had recently completed an intensive parenting program yielded results supporting multi-level interventions but highlighting processes rather than content within such programs as well as the reciprocal effect of particular level interventions. Processes identified at intervention levels included Affirming Parent Self-Worth, Non-Directive Instruction, Promoting Social Connections, and Empowering Communication. Increased understanding of and attending to processes in intensive intervention with high-risk families is indicated.     

Effects of Right-Wing Authoritarianism and Threat from Terrorism on Restriction of Civil Liberties

In an Internet survey (N = 275), we investigated how right-wing authoritarianism (RWA), social dominance orientation (SDO), personal values, and political ideology predicted attitudes toward restriction of civil liberties and toward surveillance measured one year later. Feelings of threat from terrorism were also taken into account. RWA, SDO, political ideology, security values, and self-direction values were significant predictors. In addition, RWA interacted with threat from terrorism, in that threat reinforced the positive effect of RWA on support for surveillance measures. Thus, the study contributes to the understanding of psychological reasons for support for political measures related to civil liberties.     

Treatment with children and adolescents traumatized by the September 11th attack

In the aftermath of the September 11th attack on the World Trade Center, a myriad of complicated issues faced us all. Among these issues were how to provide support and ease anxiety during a time when taking in what had occurred was painful for us all, and everyone felt uncertain about the future. In this article, we describe how some New York City children and adolescents in close proximity to the devastation experienced the day and managed in the aftermath. We offer two case examples as characteristic reactions and describe the fine balance of getting to the material while respecting the defenses of our young clients. These school-based sessions offer insight into the unique parameters of school-based work, and the flexibilities and limitations available in this setting. We describe treatment grounded in psychodynamic theory and in the adolescent case, the implementation of some cognitive techniques. Both cases illustrate that the effects of prior trauma play significant element in the experience of present day trauma.     

Management of HIV/AIDS in the Australian federal system

The purpose of this article is to analyse the effect of the federal structure on public health policy in a crisis situation. Federalism has been one of the most important features of the Australian political system shaping AIDS policy because it has created problems with the coordination of policies and has limited the Commonwealth's capacity to introduce a coherent national monitoring, education, protection, testing and legal framework. My main point is that in the situation of crisis, there is a tendency to rely on the political will of the centre. The political will of the federal health department, subsumed by conflicts and difficulties, has not lasted long enough to construct a new, more uniform structure (a uniform surveillance, legal and health acts framework). It can be concluded that while political intervention and political will cannot be overestimated as means of overcoming organizational rigidities in an emergency situation, the need for a framework conducive to rapid and coordinated responses is obvious. The lesson from the AIDS epidemic points to the need for more uniform public health legislation, for more uniform system of recording data on HIV and for more uniform civil liberties legislation.     

Voting in an Officer Election: Testing a model in a multi-site local

We test a model based on social exchange theory to explain the patterns of membership voting in a local union officer election. Survey data from members and stewards aggregated by 55 voting units, when combined with the control variable, explained 46 percent of the variance in the incumbent president's re-election. A greater percentage of member votes for the incumbent president were related to higher union loyalty, higher confidence in the grievance procedure, better union-management relations, and more positive perceptions of the union contract, findings that support our model of membership voting.     

Time and environmental crisis: An exploration with special reference to pollution

The present environmental crisis is gaining prominence on the sociopolitical and scientific agenda. There is widespread consensus about what constitutes the crisis but little agreement about its causes and potential solutions: what is a solution for one person is often considered a source of the problem by another. Focusing on aspects that are normally ignored allows us to sidestep these hardening oppositions and gives us a new access to environmental issues and their analyses. While the spatial dimension has been brought to the fore in a number of disciplines, the temporal equivalent has stayed implicit. Explication of what remains invisible in conventional analyses can shed light on the familiar, agreed upon and disputed.     

The Origins of Charisma as Process: A Case Study of Hildegard of Bingen

A case study of the twelfth‐century visionary Hildegard of Bingen is presented to examine the process through which a charismatic relationship is constructed in interaction between an individual and significant others and more distant followers. Hildegard's identity as a charismatic prophet developed over a number of years through a process of interaction with various ecclesiastical authorities; alterations occurred in both the prophet's self‐identity and the way others viewed her, leading finally to her authorization as a prophet and visionary. The cultural context provided plausibility structures, relevant symbols, and limitations that influenced the form of Hildegard's charismatic status. This status led to unprecedented achievements for a woman of her time, but her efforts mainly supported and strengthened the institutional tradition in which she served.     

A Comparison of Visual Familiarization and Object‐Examining Measures of Categorization in 9‐Month‐Old Infants

Three studies were conducted to determine whether differential patterns of categorization observed in studies using visual familiarization and object‐examining measures hold up as procedural confounds are eliminated. In Experiment 1, we attempted as direct a comparison as possible between visual and object‐examining measures of categorization. Consistent with previous reports, 9‐month‐old infants distinguished a basic‐level contrast (dog–horse) in the visual task, but not in the examining task. Experiment 2 was designed to reduce levels of nonexploratory activity in an examining task; 9‐month‐olds again failed to distinguish categories of dogs and horses. In Experiment 3, we adopted a paired‐comparison test format in the object‐examining task. Infants did display a novel category preference under paired testing conditions. The results suggest that the different patterns of categorization often seen in looking and touching tasks are a reflection, not of different categorization processes, but of the differential sensitivity of the tasks.