Adolescent Girls' Alcohol Use as a Risk Factor for Relationship Violence

This research examined the relation between female adolescents' general alcohol use and their experience of relationship violence. This relation was examined both cross‐sectionally and longitudinally, controlling for the proximal (i.e., situational) effects of alcohol use. One hundred and six female high school students reported on their experiences of physical violence and sexual coercion by boyfriends, general patterns of alcohol use, victimization experiences while drinking, and hypothesized covariates including demographic and relationship variables and illicit drug use. Variables were assessed at 2 time points 4 months apart. Results indicated that general alcohol use was related to victimization both cross‐sectionally and longitudinally, but different findings emerged for different forms of victimization (physical‐only victimization vs. both physical and sexual victimization).     

Patriarchal Women: A Case Study of Newly Orthodox Jewish Women

Although it seems obvious why men might turn to a community steeped in patriarchal tradition, it is much more difficult to explain women's attraction. To explain their attraction the author conducted in-depth interviews with 75 newly orthodox Jewish women. Although many of these women began their journeys toward Jewish Orthodoxy partly as a backlash against feminism or any liberation movement they perceived as placing individual freedom above social responsibility, the data also suggest that almost all of them selectively incorporate and adapt some protofeminist values about the family and about men. This article explores the ways in which these women seem to make “feminist” sense out of patriarchal religion and social strucuture.     

IN SEARCH OF WHAT IS RIGHT: THE MORAL DIMENSIONS OF THE DRUG DEBATE

The protagonists in the drug debate are talking past one another. While some argue that the drug debate is a health and social issue and should primarily be analytical and based on empirical evidence, others, explicitly or implicitly, treat it as a moral issue: overwhelmingly, in Australia, based on Christian beliefs. The aim of this paper is to set out a framework for the debate which explicitly recognises its moral as well as its empirical and analytical dimensions. It is hoped that greater transparency will facilitate the debate and may help the formulation of common positions. Heroin maintenance is used as an example to illustrate the arguments.     

Relationships Between Parenting Environment and Children's Mental Health Among African American and European American Mothers and Children

This study examined the relationship between aspects of the parenting environment and children's conduct problems and anxious symptoms among socioeconomically comparable samples of African American and European American mothers and their kindergarten children. Ethnic differences in parenting may lead to differences in the relationship between parenting and child outcomes. Thus, the moderating role of ethnicity for the relationships between parenting and children's mental health was tested. African American and European American parents were similar in their parenting practices. European American children reported a higher number of anxious symptoms, however. Parenting and family interaction patterns were associated with children's anxious symptoms and conduct problems. Although many relationships were similar across ethnic groups, there were ethnic differences in the relationships between maternal parenting efficacy and anxiety and between hostile control and conduct problems. These similarities and differences are discussed in light of theory and familial, cultural, and environmental niches.     

The Priscilla Project: Facilitating Equality and the Self-empowerment of At-risk Women in Healthcare Encounters

Women and minorities have consistently experienced marginalization and inequality in the United States, with low-income, immigrant and refugee women experiencing the most severe forms. This paper explores how we can restructure one area in which disparities exist, the primary healthcare system, to provide respectful, compassionate, accessible and adequate care to refugee and low-income women who are medically at-risk during pregnancy. This will be done by reviewing the Priscilla Project, an inner-city program that serves at-risk pregnant women in Buffalo, NY, including the history and persistence of disparities in healthcare, activities and impact of the program, and the uniquely contextualized program paradigm.

Formative evaluation of a motivational intervention for increasing physical activity in underserved youth

The present study was designed to develop an innovative motivational intervention (based on Self-Determination Theory and Social Cognitive Theory) to increase physical activity (PA) in underserved adolescents. Sixty-four adolescents (35 females, 29 males; 50% minority; 65% on reduced lunch program; ages 11-13 yr) participated in either an 8-week motivational intervention after-school (n = 32) or a typical after-school program (n = 32). The conceptual framework for the intervention targeted the social environment (perceived autonomy, perceived social support, participation, fun), cognitive mediators (perceived choice, self-efficacy, and relatedness/belongingness), and motivational orientation (intrinsic motivation, commitment, positive self-concept). Formative evaluation data was collected by staff through daily forms throughout the 8-week program and through observational data completed by independent objective observers during 2 weeks of the program. The major themes that were identified addressed theoretical concepts regarding the intervention and logistical issues in delivering the intervention. The data revealed information regarding the importance of the cognitive appropriateness of the PA and motivational activities, the environmental climate for promoting nurturing relationships, developing specific strategies for increasing intrinsic rather than extrinsic reinforcement, and developing methods for preventing social "cliques" and gender conflicts to maintain an appropriate level of support in the social climate. Themes for training staff included focusing on team building, leadership, and nurturing. This formative evaluation is being used to formalize a randomized trial to test the effects of a student-centered motivational intervention on increasing PA in underserved 6th graders.     

The effect of attitudes on emotional reactions to expressive displays of political leaders

One hundred subjects participated in an experiment to assess emotional reactions to the expressive displays of political leaders. Attitudes were assessed through questionnaire items, and facial EMG, heart rate, and skin conductance were recorded while subjects watched silent expressive displays of intense happiness/reassurance, mild happiness/reassurance, and anger/threat by President Reagan and Senator Hart. Half of the subjects reported their global affective reaction during each display, and all subjects reported discrete emotional reactions following each display. For Reagan, main effects were found for display type and for prior attitude in the self-report scales and in facial EMG, although significant Prior Attitude X Display interactions indicated that the intense happiness/reassurance displays most strongly differentiated supporters from opponents. Main effects were found for Hart's displays on the self-report scales and on facial EMG, and post hoc analyses revealed attitude effects. These results support previous research concerning affective reactions to dynamic expressive displays of emotion, but they also show the possible influence of prior attitude toward the expressor on both somatic and subjective measures of emotional response.This research was supported by National Science Foundation Grant SES 83-10176 and the Lincoln Filene Endowment to Dartmouth College and was part of a collaborative project involving Professors Roger D. Masters and Denis G. Sullivan of the Government Department at Dartmouth College. The authors thank Alice Feola for her assistance in preparing the stimulus videotapes. Lauren Bush is now at the Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA. John Lanzetta, our friend and colleague, who contributed so much to this project, died in October 1989 after a year-long illness.