‘Do you want to do some arm wrestling?’: children's strategies when experiencing domestic violence and the meaning of age

The aim of this study is, by analysing children's and young people's discourses, to investigate their strategies in response to domestic violence episodes, in relation to their age. The empirical data come from individual interviews with children and young people (ages 8–20 years) who had experienced domestic violence and lived at refuges for abused women. The thematic analysis shows that the children describe a wide range of strategies before, during and after a violent episode, that all children act regardless of age and that strategies vary according not only to age but also to situation and context. The theoretical framework used is the sociology of childhood, and the analysis engages with theoretical concepts of age, agency and positioning.     

Racial/Ethnic Patterns of Kindergarten School Enrollment in the United States

Enrollment into unequal schools at the start of formal education is an important mechanism for the reproduction of racial/ethnic educational inequalities. We examine whether there are racial/ethnic differences in school enrollment options at kindergarten, the start of schooling. We use nationally representative data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study‐Birth Cohort (ECLS‐B) to model whether parents seek information about their child's school before enrolling, whether parents move to a location so that a child can attend a certain school, or whether parents enroll their child in a school other than the assigned public school. Results indicate that enrollment patterns differ greatly across race/ethnicity. Whereas Black families are the most likely to seek information on a school's performance, White families are the most likely to use the elite option of choosing their residential location to access a particular school. These differences persist when controlling for socioeconomic status and sociogeographic location. Kindergarten enrollment patterns preserve the advantages of White families, perpetuating racial/ethnic disparities through multiple institutions and contributing to intergenerational processes of social stratification. Research should continue to examine specific educational consequences of housing inequities and residential segregation.     

Gendered Movement: Negotiating Youth,Sex and Harm in the US Carceral State

Exempt from the current bipartisan reassessment of the US carceral state are people with convictions for sex offenses. While movements against public registries for sex offenders are scant, a grassroots movement is underway. This article offers a preliminary analysis of the complex consequence of women's political work to extract their sons from the US carceral state. This gendered advocacy is mapped against shifts in the racialised US criminal justice system, where the fluid category of child/juvenile is often unavailable to youth of colour and/or queer youth, and criminalisation is offered to regulate sexuality, consent, age and potential harm.     

Child‐Care Instability and Behavior Problems: Does Parenting Stress Mediate the Relationship?

Child‐care instability is associated with more behavior problems in young children, but the mechanisms of this relationship are not well understood. Theoretically, this relationship is likely to emerge, at least in part, because care instability leads to increased parenting stress. Moreover, low socioeconomic status and single‐mother families may be more vulnerable to the effects of instability. This study tested these hypotheses using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study (N = 1,675) and structural equation modeling. Three types of child‐care instability were examined: long‐term instability, multiplicity, and needing to use back‐up arrangements. Overall, findings showed little evidence that parenting stress mediated the associations between care instability and child behavior problems among the full sample. Among single‐mother and low‐income families, however, needing to use back‐up arrangements had small positive associations with parenting stress, which partially mediated the relationship between that type of care instability and child externalizing behavior problems.     

Teachers’ Knowledge and Beliefs About Child Sexual Abuse

Child sexual abuse is one of the main types of abuse still to be addressed within the field of education, yet the education system itself can serve as a primary tool for its prevention. A better understanding of teachers’ knowledge and beliefs about child sexual abuse will allow us to establish key starting points from which to utilize the system for prevention. Four hundred and fifty teachers participated in this study, completing a questionnaire regarding their knowledge and beliefs about child sexual abuse. The study revealed that over half the teachers, 65.3% (n = 294), had never received any type of training in child sexual abuse education and that the majority were not familiar with methods of identifying child sexual abuse, 90.7% (n = 279). Various mistaken beliefs were identified among the participating teachers, such as pathological profiles of abusers, that the vast majority of child sexual abuse implies violent behavior, and that there cannot be abusers the same age as the victim. These results indicate that knowledge deficiencies do exist about child sexual abuse among teachers and highlight the need for training in this field.     

中东大规模动荡与我国的外交应对

中东剧变一年多以来,阿拉伯国家蒙受巨大冲击,引起了所有中东国家乃至国际社会的高度关注,而这首先与中东的重要位置有关.这次变局几乎波及所有阿拉伯国家,民众诉求涉及政治、经济、社会诸多方面.问题是长年积累下来的,2011年的动荡应是这种情绪的大爆发,虽会推动社会前进,但代价却是巨大的.叙利亚问题前景仍不明朗,目前只维持了脆弱的和平.中国以“不干涉内政”原则和“劝和促谈”的方针应对这次大动荡是正确的、主动的,不管外界有多少反对声音和暂时的不理解,都应坚定不移地走下去.     

伊盟、伊合与中国中东人文外交

伊斯兰世界联盟与伊斯兰合作组织是泛伊斯兰主义制度化的产物,伊盟主要通过朝觐平台间接对伊斯兰国家政治施与影响,伊合则通过推进议题的方式直接对伊斯兰国家政治产生影响;我国历来重视发展与这些泛伊斯兰国际组织的友好关系,并取得了宝贵历史经验与良好的成效;在明确我国与泛伊斯兰国际组织开展人文交流与合作的资源优势、基本目标及其实现途径的基础上,探索我国对中东国家开展“全方位、多层次、宽领域”人文外交的应对之策,旨在进一步提升我国对中东伊斯兰国家的人文外交能力.     

美国应对中东剧变的“奥巴马主义”探析

美国应对中东剧变的政策措施彰显"奥巴马主义",即军事上谨慎用兵,避免直接地面占领或卷入一场针对伊斯兰国家的新战争,而是通过武装反对派推行"阿拉伯人打阿拉伯人",减少人道主义干预的成本;政治上运用所谓美国的"巧实力",让欧洲大国和阿拉伯盟友提出议程设置,充当"急先锋",美国在背后"掌舵",以最廉价的方式延续美国在中东的领导地位;外交上通过议题设置,让联合国人权委员会等国际组织和非政府组织服务于美国政府;经济上运用援助和制裁两手政策来实现政治目标;文化上利用媒体、非政府组织和网络,开展民间外交和网络外交。奥巴马政府试图综合运用军事、政治、外交、经济和文化手段,推动中东反美国家的政权更迭,维护亲美国家的政局稳定。研究表明,无论是主张依靠硬实力的"布什主义",还是主张依靠巧实力的"奥巴马主义",其在中东维持美国领导地位的战略目标,却是一致的。     

阿拉伯国家政治和社会动荡的前因及后果

阿拉伯世界的政治社会动荡有着复杂的内外原因,动荡可能开启阿拉伯世界寻求新发展道路的历史时代,但由乱到治尚须时日.动荡对中东格局和美国主导中东事务能力产生广泛影响,但美国主导地位并未根本动摇.     

土耳其中等强国外交的现实性和可能性

进入新世纪以来,随着土耳其经济的快速发展,其政治与外交政策也在发生变化。尤其在正义与发展党执政后,依托中东格局进入旧已破、新未立的转型之机,逐步形成中等强国型的外交战略。本文从土耳其所具有的现实条件和制约因素两个方面分析该外交战略构想的现实性和可能性。