Problem Behavior and Heart Rate Reactivity in Adopted Adolescents: Longitudinal and Concurrent Relations

The present longitudinal study examined resting heart rate and heart rate variability and reactivity to a stressful gambling task in adopted adolescents with aggressive, delinquent, or internalizing behavior problems and adopted adolescents without behavior problems (total N=151). Early‐onset delinquent adolescents showed heart rate hyporeactivity to the stress‐eliciting gambling task compared to late‐onset delinquent adolescents and adolescents without behavior problems. Heart rate, heart rate variability, and reactivity to stress were not related to environmental factors such as early‐childhood parental sensitivity, parental socioeconomic status, or adoptee's health status at arrival. We conclude that the distinction between delinquency and aggression and between childhood‐onset and adolescence‐onset delinquency is important for the study of stress reactivity in adolescents.     

Adult Career Transitions

This article reviews and analyzes the different perspectives on career transitions discussed in the September 1995 issue of The Career Development Quarterly. The articles in this issue share common threads in their perspectives on career stages, the relation of cognitive factors and career challenges, and the impact of gender differences on career transitions. This article also discusses career transitions during relocation and factors, such as being part of a dual career couple, that may buffer the financial burden of career transitions.     

Women Acting for Women

In the new country of Timor-Leste, women constituted in 2011 32 per cent of the parliament, a relatively high figure in the world and in the region. But to what extent has the presence of women in parliament contributed to progress towards gender equality? In this article we argue that the passage of a parliamentary resolution on gender-responsive budgeting in Timor-Leste was an act of substantive representation, and we draw on a range of data to examine what made it possible. We find that while ‘newness’, international norms, women's movement unity, women's machinery in government and parliament and networks linking them were important, it was the development of a cross-party parliamentary women's caucus that was crucial to success. The role of gender-focused parliamentary institutions in supporting critical actors has rarely been examined in the literature on substantive representation. This is in contrast to the rich literature on institutions such as women's policy agencies. Our study suggests that more focus on parliamentary institutions is needed to discover what enables women parliamentarians to become critical actors.     

The place of “think family” approaches in child and family social work: Messages from a process evaluation of an English pathfinder service

Findings are reported from a process study of an English multi-disciplinary team working with families with long standing and complex problems. The approaches and methods of the team are described and placed in the context of UK policy developments and of UK and USA research on professional practice with families facing multiple difficulties. Basic data are provided on all families referred in the first year and analysed with respect to the first 100 completed cases. A broadly ethnographic research approach is used for the observational study of the team interactions and decision-making on individual cases. For a one-third sub-sample of 33 cases, process and interim outcome data are analysed from information systematically extracted from case records. These are complemented by qualitative data from interviews with managers and caseworkers and by observation of ‘team around the family’ and professionals' meetings. The researchers conclude that the service succeeds in engaging a majority of the referred families who have been hard to reach or hard to change in the past and whose children are either ‘on the edge of care’ or likely to be significantly harmed without the provision of an intensive service. The researchers concluded that improvements were made in the life chances of children in 75% of the families. Aspects of the service identified as associated with more positive outcomes are: the allocation of two key workers (one for the child/ren and one for the parent/s); the centrality of relationship-based practice and flexibility of the approach rather than strict adherence to any particular practice model; the fact that the service is firmly embedded within the statutory children's services department, allowing for continuity of relationships with team around the family members when the intensive service ends; and flexibility about case duration and intensity.     

Reflective learning in social work education: Scaffolding the process

This article examines the contribution of reflective learning in social work education to professional self-construction of social workers in Ireland. It suggests a framework for scaffolding this process on a post-graduate programme and gives an account of the issues and dilemmas faced by the authors in implementing this framework. The article focuses on the construction of a 'learning community', which facilitates and scaffolds reflective teaching/learning, in two particular course modules, the Use of Self in Social Work and the Practice Skills Laboratory. The authors document the underlying theoretical constructs utilised and the practical implications for the learning environment.     

Ethnohistorical Construction of Identity: The Lviv Paradigm

The Italian populist movement Lega Nord once famously claimed that the north of Italy was a nation (‘Padania’) that should be granted independence. Padania was posited by the party through a combination of outrageous anti-Italian statements, gatherings in places of historic and symbolic significance and through the selective appropriation of the past. This article takes this new ‘nation’ as a case study through which to further our understanding of the discursive strategies of nationalist movements, as they reinvent and rewrite history and redefine identities. It argues that some within the Lega, far from simply adopting a covert strategy of reinvention of the past (like many of their fellow nationalists do), openly advocated such strategy as a means of ‘liberation’. Moreover, the analysis highlights crucial contradictions between: the reality of strong, heterogeneous local identities in northern Italy and the effort of creating a new unitary community in the area; the needs of a hyper-modern economy and the longing for a mythic past; and, finally, a dubious rediscovered paganism and rooted Catholic traditions. The article argues that the lack of territorial and symbolic coherence in northern Italy was a crucial factor in making the Lega's attempts at re-invention less than compelling.     

Comparability of the 6-min walk test using different test configurations

The 6-min walk test (6MWT) is a common component of fitness assessments of older adults; however, differing course configurations might affect 6MWT performance. It is unclear how comparable 2 different configurations are. To determine the comparability of 2 courses, 35 adults >65 years of age completed two 6MWT, once walking around a 20- by 5-yd outdoor rectangle and once on an indoor oval track (circumference 144.3 yd). Scores for the 2 tests were internally consistent (intraclass correlation coefficient = .95). The participants walked farther on the oval track than around the rectangle (639 +/- 19 vs. 582 +/- 16 yd; p < .0001), but responses to the rectangular configuration could be readily estimated using the equation 66.7 yd + 0.807 x (oval walking distance), R2 = .85. Thus, within-participant responses are similar across both 6MWT, but the course configuration affects the distance walked.     

Internationale Mobilit?t und soziale Selektivit?t: Ausma?, Mechanismen und Entwicklung herkunftsspezifischer Unterschiede zwischen 1990 und 2005

In the course of educational expansion social inequalities in access to upper secondary education declined, while the differences in transition to tertiary education increased. In the light of these changes the assumption arises, that the patterns of social selectivity in access to higher education have changed. While in the past status maintenance was mainly due to differences in access to higher education, today it is to a greater extent a question of kind and place of study. Because of the growing importance of international experience for labour market success, students of privileged classes might increasingly opt to study abroad in order to preserve their privileged position. Drawing on a series of panel-datasets of upper secondary graduates in Germany, we estimate the extent and development of social differences in international mobility behaviour between 1990 and 2005, and apply a decomposition method in order to single out the underlying processes and mechanisms. We find remarkable social differences in the intention as well as in the decision to study at a foreign university. Students from privileged classes more often decide to study abroad, while students from underprivileged classes stay close to their hometown. These differences can partly be explained by school performance, language skills, social costs and institutional differences. Furthermore we find that these differences have rather increased than decreased.