Statutory sex crime relationships between juveniles and adults: A review of social scientific research

This paper reviews the social scientific literature about non-forcible, voluntary sexual relationships between adults and juveniles, what we have termed “statutory sex crime relationships” or “statutory relationships.” In the available literature, the topic is poorly defined and the research weak, but there are clearly a diverse variety of contexts and dynamics to such relationships. We detail a wide-ranging set of issues on which more research is needed to guide social policy and practice.     

Creating and undermining social support in communal relationships: the role of compassionate and self-image goals

In 2 studies, the authors examined whether relationship goals predict change in social support and trust over time. In Study 1, a group of 199 college freshmen completed pretest and posttest measures of social support and interpersonal trust and completed 10 weekly reports of friendship goals and relationship experiences. Average compassionate goals predicted closeness, clear and connected feelings, and increased social support and trust over the semester; self-image goals attenuated these effects. Average self-image goals predicted conflict, loneliness, and afraid and confused feelings; compassionate goals attenuated these effects. Changes in weekly goals predicted changes in goal-related affect, closeness, loneliness, conflict, and beliefs about mutual and individualistic caring. In Study 2, a group of 65 roommate pairs completed 21 daily reports of their goals for their roommate relationship. Actors' average compassionate and self-image goals interacted to predict changes over 3 weeks in partners' reports of social support received from and given to actors; support that partners gave to actors, in turn, predicted changes in actors' perceived available support, indicating that people with compassionate goals create a supportive environment for themselves and others, but only if they do not have self-image goals.     

The role of social relationships and culture in the cognitive representation of emotions

There are individual and cultural differences in how memories of our emotions are cognitively represented. This article examines the cognitive representation of emotions in different cultures, as a result of emotional (in)consistency in different cultures. Using a continuous semantic priming task, we showed in two studies that individuals who were less emotionally consistent across relationships have stronger associations of their emotions within those relationships. Further, we found (in Study 2) that in a culture characterised by higher levels of emotional inconsistency across relationships (Singapore), stronger associations between emotions within relationships were found than in a culture characterised by emotional consistency (USA). This cultural difference in cognitive representation was fully mediated by individual differences in cross-situational consistency levels.     

A Review of Finn,Fischer, and Handler (Eds.), Collaborative/Therapeutic Assessment: A Casebook and Guide

Abstract

Oscar N. Myer The Language of Handwriting. Reviewed by Rose Wolfson

Klara Roman Handwriting: a Key to Personality. Reviewed by Rose Wolfson

Frank Victor Handwriting: A Personality Projection. Springfield, Illinois: Charles C. Thomas, 1952. American Lecture Series Monograph No. 96. Reviewed by Gerald S. Blum, Ph.D.

Robert I. Watson The Clinical Method in Psychology. New York: Harper &; Bros. 1951. $4.50. Reviewed by Walter G. Klopfer, Ph.D.     

Understanding the relationship between PTSD and social support: The role of negative network orientation

Network orientation is conceptualized as an individual's attitudes and expectations regarding the usefulness of support networks in coping with stress. The present research examined the potential for network orientation to explicate the well documented association between post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and attenuated social support. Data collected from survivors of serious motor vehicle trauma (N = 458) were used to test the hypothesis that severity of PTSD would hold a significant indirect relationship with social support through negative network orientation. Childhood victimization and elapsed time from the accident were examined as potential moderators of this indirect relationship. Consistent with hypotheses, path analyses demonstrated a significant indirect relationship between PTSD and social support through negative network orientation. Specifically, this indirect effect was the result of a direct association between PTSD severity and negative network orientation and an inverse association between negative network orientation and social support. This pattern of relationships was invariant across mode of PTSD assessment (interview vs. self-report). No moderation effects were noted. These data suggest that network orientation may be an important factor in understanding interface of interpersonal processes and post-trauma pathology.     

Social relationships and ambulatory blood pressure: structural and qualitative predictors of cardiovascular function during everyday social interactions.

Healthy normotensive men and women (N = 102) underwent a 3-day ambulatory blood pressure (BP) assessment in which a BP reading was taken 5 min into each social interaction. After each interaction, participants completed a diary that included structural categorization of the relationship and ratings of the quality of the relationship with the interaction partner. Random regression analyses revealed that interactions with family members and spouses were associated with lower ambulatory BP. Interactions with ambivalent network members (characterized by both positive and negative feelings) were associated with the highest ambulatory systolic BP, an effect that was independent of the familial effects on BP. Although there were psychological correlates associated with both structural and functional aspects of relationships, no evidence was found that these mediated the primary findings involving ambulatory BP. These data highlight the influence of both structural and qualitative aspects of relationships on ambulatory BP and possibly health.