The Co-Occurrence of Child Abuse and Domestic Violence: An Issue of Service Delivery for Social Service Professionals

In order to add to the growing literature on intergenerational rates of family violence, data were collected from a community-based child abuse agency. The study's purpose was to compare the co-occurrence of child abuse/neglect (CAN) and domestic violence (DV), and the prevalence of CAN and parent's childhood history of abuse. Data were collected from 537 families through intake and subsequent interviews in an attempt to determine the relationship among CAN and DV, and CAN and parent's childhood history of abuse. A chi-square analysis indicated significant relationships among these variables. Of the participants in this sample, 48.9% had experienced both CAN and DV. These results also indicated that 66.3% of participants had a childhood history of CAN and were currently experiencing issues of CAN with their own children. Logistic regression was utilized to examine whether families involved with Child Protective Services (CPS) were at higher risk for DV and/or parental childhood history of CAN. The results indicate that CPS-involved families were approximately three times as likely to have a parent reporting a childhood history of CAN but were not at significantly higher odds for DV. Implications for service delivery are discussed.     

Shake,Rattle, and … One or Two Objects? Young Infants' Use of Auditory Information to Individuate Objects

Most research on object individuation in infants has focused on the visual domain. Yet the problem of object individuation is not unique to the visual system, but shared by other sensory modalities. This research examined 4.5‐month‐old infants' capacity to use auditory information to individuate objects. Infants were presented with events in which they heard 2 distinct sounds, separated by a temporal gap, emanate from behind a wide screen; the screen was then lowered to reveal 1 or 2 objects. Longer looking to the 1‐ than 2‐object display was taken as evidence that the infants (a) interpreted the auditory event as involving 2 objects and (b) found the presence of only 1 object when the screen was lowered unexpected. The results indicated that the infants used sounds produced by rattles, but not sounds produced by an electronic keyboard, as the basis for object individuation (Experiments 1 and 2). Data collected with adult participants revealed that adults are also more sensitive to rattle sounds than electronic tones. A final experiment assessed conditions under which young infants attend to rattle sounds (Experiment 3). Collectively, the outcomes of these experiments suggest that infants and adults are more likely to use some sounds than others as the basis for individuating objects. We propose that these results reflect a processing bias to attend to sounds that reveal something about the physical properties of an object—sounds that are obviously linked to object structure—when determining object identity.     

Risk preference and employment contract type

Summary.  We explore the possibility that a systematic relationship exists between employment within a particular type of contract and risk preference. We exploit a set of proxies for risk preference, whereby some of the proxies capture risk loving behaviour (expenditure on gambling, smoking and alcohol) whereas others capture risk averse behaviour (expenditure on life and contents insurance, and unearned income). The empirical analysis, based on pooled cross-section data from the UK Family Expenditure Survey, 1997–2000, provides evidence of a systematic relationship between employment contract type and risk preference, with, for example, self-employed workers being more or less likely to engage in the consumption of 'risky' or financial security products respectively. The results are based on the ordered generalized extreme value model, a relatively infrequently used discrete choice model, which allows for ordering and correlation in the alternatives observed.     

Wisdom, goodness and power: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the history of woman suffrage

In the first three volumes of the History of Woman Suffrage, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and her co-authors crafted a rhetorical history that not only celebrated Stanton's role in the suffrage movement, but also promoted her broader, more radical vision of complete gender equality. In the context of a movement divided over strategy, Stanton and her editors made the case not just for the vote, but for expanding the role of women in all realms of American social and political life. Documenting the contributions of women since the Revolution, the History advocated the full political and legal “sovereignty” of women by showing how their wisdom, goodness, and power had contributed to the nation's progress. [W]e hope to rouse new thoughts in minds prepared to receive them.—History of Woman Suffrage (1881) She has written several articles on the rhetoric of the nineteenth-century women's rights movement.     

Economic evaluation of drug court: methodology, results, and policy implications

The purpose of this study was to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of three Drug Court programs in Kentucky for two groups of Drug Court participants: program graduates and program terminators. The economic benefits of the Drug Court programs were estimated relative to a comparison group of individuals who were assessed for the Drug Court programs, but did not enter the programs. This study highlights important factors in estimating the costs and the economic benefits of a Drug Court program. Results indicated that, particularly for graduates, Drug Court involvement was associated with reductions in incarceration, mental health services, and legal costs, as well as increases in earnings and child support payments. Net benefits and benefit–cost ratios for each program are presented and policy implications are discussed.     

Anti-Semitism in America: The Dynamics of Prejudice

The authors explore the relation among social demographic characteristics, occupational prestige, and anti-Semitism in America. The National Opinion Research Center's General Social Survey (1986) data are used to assess Americans' attitudes toward Jews. The results suggest that respondents' age, gender, and educational level are important predictors of anti-Jewish sentiment. The influence of age, however, contravenes previous research in that young Americans report themselves to be anti-Semitic. Reanalysis of these same data, focusing on Americans' attitudes toward Israel, suggests that age is an important factor for explaining anti-Zionism. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Yellow Ribbons and Remembrance: Mythic Symbols of the Gulf War*

The display of yellow ribbons during the Gulf War is analyzed as a form of social signification. Community displays, newspaper articles, editorials and letters, and the appearance of ribbons as commodities and in advertising campaigns are discussed. The study concludes that the legacy of the Vietnam War impelled citizens to create a fundamentally emotional message to troops and their families. Yellow ribbons, perceived as personal not political, emerged as the symbol of choice.     

Low expectations, sexual attitudes and knowledge: explaining teenage pregnancy and fertility in English communities. Insights from qualitative research

In the UK, youthful pregnancy and parenthood is considered an important social and healthproblem and is the focus of current government intervention. Contemporary policy approaches depict early unplanned pregnancy as a consequence of relative deprivation and a lack of opportunity, leading to ‘low expectations’ among youth, and as the result of sexual ‘mixed messages’ or poor knowledge about contraception. This small scale, qualitative study explores how well these explanations accord with accounts of pregnancy and motherhood provided by young mothers and Teenage Pregnancy Local Co‐ordinators in diverse English localities. The results suggest that structural factors may be more important in explaining early pregnancy than those relating to sexual attitudes and knowledge. The tension between the idea of early motherhood as problematic, or even pathological, and early motherhood as rational is also considered.