Demographic pattern in history

The study deals with the relationship of population’ to historical processes. Six aspects are selected for consideration: (1) The pattern of demographic factors which help to cause the persistence of particular human physical types in given localities. (2) Social control to maintain population within subsistence limits. (3) The conditions in which such control breaks down. (4) Migration. (5) Major trends in population history. (6) The influence of population on historical development.     

Risk Factors for Clinically Significant Intimate Partner Violence Among Active‐Duty Members

Hypothesized risk factors for men's and women's clinically significant intimate partner violence (CS‐IPV) from four ecological levels (i.e., individual, family, workplace, community) were tested in a representative sample of active‐duty U.S. Air Force members (N = 42,744). When considered together, we expected only individual and family factors to account for unique variance in CS‐IPV perpetration. Hypothesized factors from all four ecological levels were related to men's CS‐IPV perpetration bivariately, but, as expected, only individual and family factors accounted for unique variance across ecological levels. For women, only risk factors from the individual and family levels were significantly related to CS‐IPV perpetration even bivariately. Results imply somewhat different risk profiles across gender and identify ecological risk factors of men's CS‐IPV not previously studied.     

Public Research, Private Concerns: ethical issues in the use of open-ended interviews with people who have learning difficulties

This paper is an exploration of the ethical dilemmas in open-ended interview research with people with learning difficulties. We address the possibility that research which gives voice to the experience of abuse, from the viewpoint of the victim, can itself be abusive. Such research is justified in terms of empowering, illuminating and disseminating the meaning that participants give to their lives. Yet every stage of the process raises complex ethical issues when research participants are drawn from vulnerable and powerless groups in society, and the focus for investigation can be deemed private. As a vehicle for our exploration, we reflect on our ethical dilemmas in researching the story of a young woman who has learning difficulties and has been the victim of various forms of abuse. We argue that ethical dilemmas cannot be overcome solely by Ethical Codes or even predetermined 'good practice'. They are integral to the whole research process and necessitate continuous explicit examination of decision making processes within research.     

Japanese and American Children's Reasoning about Accepting Credit for Prosocial Behavior

Children's reasoning about the appropriateness of accepting credit for one's own prosocial behavior was examined. Participants aged 7–11 years old in Japan and the USA (total N = 206) were presented with a series of stories in which a protagonist performs a good deed and is asked about it by another character. Across stories, the protagonist either truthfully acknowledges the deed or falsely denies it, in a statement that is made either in public or in private, and is addressed to either a teacher or to a peer. As predicted, Japanese children judged protagonists less favorably when they acknowledged the good deed in public rather than in private. Further, Japanese children tended to view modest lies more favorably overall than did children in the USA. These results point to the importance of modesty in Japan and to the ways in which Japanese children take into account the social context of communication when deciding whether it is appropriate for individuals to convey information about themselves.     

"They don't want to hear us": Hispanic elders and adult children speak about end-of-life planning

This study used focus groups to understand Hispanic elders' and adult children's concerns about end-of-life planning. Ten older persons participated in the elders group, and ten adult children in a separate group. Themes in both groups included communication, control, burden, spirituality, religious issues, and importance of family relationships. Communication regarding end-of-life planning was of particular importance to both elders and adult children. The most striking indication of the challenges in communication about end-of-life issues is the insistence by both the elders and the adult children that their children/ parents do not want to have these discussions.     

A Test of Excellent Leadership in Public Relations: Key Qualities,Valuable Sources,and Distinctive Leadership Perceptions

To better understand leadership in public relations and explore its value in successful communication management, this article captured the perceptions of mid- and senior-level public relations executives (N = 222) regarding the important qualities and dimensions of excellent leadership in the practice. According to study participants, strategic decision-making capability, problem-solving ability, and communication knowledge and expertise are the three most important qualities of excellent leadership. In addition, respondents said that on-the-job experiences, individual initiative and desire, and role models are the most valuable sources of leadership skills and development. About half of the respondents indicated that excellent leaders in public relations are different from leaders in other fields in three ways: They must hold a compelling vision for communication, possess comprehensive understanding of media and information systems, and effectively develop and implement strategic communication plans. Professional women and men in the study viewed excellent leadership in more or less similar ways. The study advances understanding of leadership in the field, which has been little explored in the public relations literature.     

Child abuse in the context of domestic violence: prevalence, explanations, and practice implications

This article addresses the following questions: (a) How common is child abuse among domestically violent families? (b) Are there specific patterns of child abuse among domestically violent families? (c) What may explain occurrences of child abuse in domestically violent families? (d) How might domestic violence affect treatment for child abuse? We review research on child abuse in the context of domestic violence. We discuss implications of this research for service-delivery programs for domestically violent families.     

The Hazards of Predicting Divorce Without Crossvalidation

Divorce prediction studies (e.g., Gottman, Coan, Carrere, & Swanson, 1998) suggest that couples' eventual divorce can be very accurately predicted from a number of different variables. Recent attention to these studies has failed to consider the need to crossvalidate prediction equations and to consider the prevalence of divorce in the population. We analyze archival data to demonstrate that accuracy and predictive value drops precipitously during crossvalidation. We conclude that results of studies without crossvalidation analyses should be interpreted with extreme caution, no matter how impressive the initial results appear to be.     

Life History or 'Case' History: the objectification of people with learning difficulties through the tyranny of professional discourses

Case histories of people with learning difficulties tend to privilege information that is useful to professionals, such as IQ and medical diagnosis. Such information allows professionals to slot people with learning difficulties into categories which inform 'treatment' and aid prognosis. Case records, as they are currently constructed, appear to further silence an already oppressed group of people, and to objectify, pathologise and label them. The subjects of such case records do not appear to be treated as stakeholders in the case recording process: their voices are not represented in such writings. Case records do not appear to contain information about the lived experience of people with learning difficulties. Ignorance of the unique histories of people with learning difficulties is dehumanising and allows professionals to psychologically distance themselves. Once humanity has disappeared, it is possible to treat people as 'objects' that can be controlled through 'respected' professional theories and their discursive practices.