Bad Boys and School Suspensions: Public Policy Implications for Black Males

The focus of this research is the disciplinary policy of school suspension and its effect on black male students. We examined the application of public school suspensions by race and sex in an integrated school district in the southeastern portion of the United States. Data for the study were compiled from oficial records housed in the administrative complex for the entire school district. The suspensions cover one academic year from September of 1983 through June of 1984. During this period of time black males were disproportionately suspended in both the elementary and secondary schools. This finding is consistent with other research noting that black students, and in particular black male students, are disproportionately affected by the various policies of public schools. We then discuss the implications of these findings for black males. Policies which limit educational opportunities for black males increase the probability of their need for welfare services, incarceration in prisons, and commitment to mental hospitals. Our conclusion is that the policy of suspending problem students is not only an effort by elementary and secondary school administrators and faculty to remove bad boys but is also one of several policies which limit educational opportunities for black males.     

Personality, drug preference, drug use, and drug availability

This study examined the relationship between drug preference, drug use, drug availability, and personality among individuals (n = 100) in treatment for substance abuse in an effort to replicate the results of an earlier study (Feldman, Kumar, Angelini, Pekala, & Porter, 2007) designed to test prediction derived from Eysenck's (1957, 1967) theories. Drug preference was measured by the method of paired-comparison and personality was measured with the Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire-50 CC. Contrary to expectations, high compared with low scorers on Sociability and Impulsive-Sensation Seeking preferred depressants. Surprisingly, low compared with high scorers on neuroticism did not differ in preference for alcohol. As in the previous study, drug preference, use, and availability were highly correlated, although ease of availability was slightly more predictive of drug use than drug preference. Clinical and theoretical implications are discussed.     

Cardinal utility

This paper presents an overview on the concept of cardinal utility in its relations with the literature since the beginning of the XVIIIth century (Part I); an estimate of the cardinal utility function for its negative values, thus completing the estimate of this function for its positive values given in my 1984 Venice paper (Part II); and finally different applications to the theory of choices in the presence of risk and to the wealth transfer and tax questions (Part III).     

Prenatal Cardiac Function and Postnatal Cognitive Development: An Exploratory Study

Fetal cardiac function was measured at 24, 30, and 36 weeks gestation and quantified in terms of heart rate, variability, and episodic accelerations. Children's representational capacity was evaluated at 27 months in terms of language and play. Thirty‐ and 36‐wcek‐old fetuses that displayed greater heart‐rate variability and more episodic accelerations, and fetuses that exhibited a more precipitous increase in heart‐rate variability and acceleration over gestation achieved higher levels of language competence. Thirty‐six‐week‐old fetuses with higher heart‐rate variability and accelerations, and steeper growth trajectories over gestation, achieved higher levels of symbolic play. Cardiac patterning during gestation may reflect an underlying neural substrate that persists through early childhood: Individual variation in rate of development could be stable, or efficient cardiac function could positively influence the underlying neural substrate to enhance cognitive performance.     

Amateur craft‐artists: Marginal leisure roles in a marginal art world (1)

Amateurism is an important but marginal leisure role, in which the boundaries between work and leisure are blurred. This phenomenon has been studied by Stebbins as a subjective social reality. His conceptualization of amateurism was used as a model in the examination of survey data on craft‐artists and it was found to apply rather well to the analysis of quantitative data. As a self‐identified category of craft‐artists, amateurs were statistically marginal between professionals and dabblers.     

Inclusion of children with disabilities in mainstream child development research

This study investigated whether children with disabilities are excluded from mainstream child development research. Fifteen per cent of 533 articles from Child Development and Developmental Psychology (1996–2010) were randomly selected. The exclusion rate was 89.9% when no mention of participants with disabilities was interpreted as exclusion and 66.7% when only studies mentioning disabilities were surveyed; 74% of studies did not provide justification for exclusion. Most studies could have included children with disabilities. Inclusion could be increased by adopting universal design principles and accommodations so that more children with disabilities can gain equal access to research opportunities and the benefits that accrue.