Book Reviews

Book Reviewed
The Politics of Cultural Differences. By David C. Leege, Kenneth D. Wald, Brian S. Krueger, and Paul D. Mueller. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. 2002. 304 pp. $21.95 paper, $60 cloth.
The Psychological Assessment of Political Leaders. Edited by Jerrold M. Post, M.D. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press. 2003. 412 pp.
FDR's Body Politics: The Rhetoric of Disability. By Davis W. Houck and Amos Kiewe. College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press. 2003. 141 + xii pp.
The Power of Legitimacy: Assessing the Role of Norms in Crisis Bargaining. By Christopher Gelpi. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. 2003. 232 pp. $39.50.     

Prospective Prediction of Alternative High School Graduation Status at Emerging Adulthood1

Most studies that examine the prediction of graduation status among teens have examined those who attend regular high schools. The present study reports the prediction of high school graduation status 5 years later among 646 youth who attended alternative (continuation) high schools at baseline. Those youth at baseline who: (a) reported less intention to use soft drugs (cigarettes, alcohol, or marijuana) during the next year; (b) suffered relatively few drug‐related consequences during the last year; (c) were relatively less likely to have carried a weapon (knife or gun) in the last year; (d) reported feeling relatively hopeful about the future; and (e) were older were more likely to self‐report having graduated continuation high school 5 years later. These results suggest that the consequences of drug use, not drug use per se, other illegal behavior, and a sense of well‐being are important predictors of graduation among groups of high‐risk teens. Problem behavior and resiliency theories are offered as potential explanations of these findings.     

Fragmentation or Differentiation: Questioning the Crisis in Psychology

There is a recurrent discourse about the fragmentation of psychology and its crises as a science, which often leads to a disenchanted view about its future. To this discourse we oppose a developmental one, in which crises can be occasions for development, and in which development might imply differentiation. We first review why psychology can be said to be in crisis. We then situate the crisis in the pragmatics of doing psychology. Crises occur when psychologists have problems either working with other psychologists or with communities. We argue that collaborative research is a way to overcome these crises. Specifically we suggest three specific scientific activities that can lead to the development of psychology: collaborative research methods, the identification of nodal concepts that enable the bringing together of different approaches and disciplines, and the creation and maintenance of institutional spaces that enable creative, collaborative work.

Cracks in a postdisaster service delivery network

Poor linkage cracks are defined and identified empirically in a postdisaster service delivery network. These cracks exist when essential services are provided only by isolated or peripheral clusters of organizations. Network analysis is used to identify the isolated and peripheral clusters of organizations. Measures of experience in responding to disasters and service capacity are used to identify the organizations whose services are essential in the network. Cracks prevent the network from responding effectively in the aftermath of a disaster. Suggestions are made for using network analysis to identify cracks and to improve planning and coordination in all kinds of service networks. Collection of the data for this work was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), Societal Response to Earthquake Hazards Mitigation Program, Grant No. CEE-8314421. The analysis and writing were accomplised with support from the National Science Foundation, Grant No. BCS-8920472. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. An early version of this paper was presented at the annual meetings of the Midwest Sociological Society, Des Moines, Iowa, April 1991. This paper was distinctly improved through our response to extensive and perceptive suggestions given by the editor and reviewers of theAmerican Journal of Community Psychology. We thank them for the help.     

Relationships between Rorschach variables as relevant to the interpretation of structural data

The protocols of 100 adult nonpatients who had been administered the Rorschach twice in a long term temporal consistency study were used in this study. Separate intercorrelational matrices were calculated for each testing with R partialed. Means of the pairs of partial correlations were calculated, the square root of which is considered the best available estimate of the correlation between each pair of variables. Fifteen of the 120 partial correlations are considered to be significant. The findings are discussed in terms of their potential relevance for configurational interpretation of structural data.     

Conjoint design and analysis of the bilinear model: An application to judgments of risk

Conjoint measurement tests which are applicable to a (2 × 2) × (2 × 2) experimental design for the study of the general bilinear model are developed. The tests permit detecting the cause of each failure of the data to satisfy the model, and of measuring the tradeoffs between variables when the model is satisfied. All tests and analyses are illustrated with an application of the model to the assessment of the riskiness of gambles. The method is compared with the use of duplex gambles and other compound and contingent compositions in terms of their appropriate roles in the study of the decision process.