Developmental and content effects in reasoning with causal conditionals

Two predictions derived from Markovits and Barrouillet's (2001) developmental model of conditional reasoning were tested in a study in which 72 twelve-year-olds, 80 fifteen-year-olds, and 104 adults received a paper-and-pencil test of conditional reasoning with causal premises ("if cause P then effect Q"). First, we predicted that conditional premises would induce more correct uncertainty responses to the Affirmation of the consequent and Denial of the antecedent forms when the antecedent term is weakly associated to the consequent than when the two are strongly associated and that this effect would decrease with age. Second, uncertainty responding to the Denial of the antecedent form ("P is not true") should be easier when the formulation of the minor premise invites retrieval of alternate antecedents ("if something other than P is true"). The results were consistent with the hypotheses and indicate the importance of retrieval processes in understanding developmental patterns in conditional reasoning with familiar premises.     

Corporal punishment by parents and associated child behaviors and experiences: a meta-analytic and theoretical review

Although the merits of parents using corporal punishment to discipline children have been argued for decades, a thorough understanding of whether and how corporal punishment affects children has not been reached. Toward this end, the author first presents the results of meta-analyses of the association between parental corporal punishment and 11 child behaviors and experiences. Parental corporal punishment was associated with all child constructs, including higher levels of immediate compliance and aggression and lower levels of moral internalization and mental health. The author then presents a process-context model to explain how parental corporal punishment might cause particular child outcomes and considers alternative explanations. The article concludes by identifying 7 major remaining issues for future research.     

Assault victimization and suicidal ideation or behavior within a national sample of U.S. adults

Data from a nationally representative sample of 5,238 U.S. adults were used to examine the extent to which physical assault victimization was associated with suicidal ideation or behavior (SIB). The results from multivariable logistic regression analyses indicate that physical assault victimization was positively associated with SIB after adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics and alcohol use (OR = 3.6; 95% CI = 2.4-5.5). Those who were injured during the most recent physical assault (OR = 2.7; 95% CI = 1.2-6.0) and those who were assaulted by a relative (OR = 3.4; 95% CI= 1.0-11.0) or intimate partner (OR = 7.7; 95% CI = 2.7-22.5) were significantly more like to report SIB than victims who were not injured or were assaulted by a stranger. Also, those who were victimized but not injured (OR = 5.6; 95% CI = 3.8-8.2) and those who were victimized by a stranger (OR = 2.9; 95% CI = 1.4-6.0) were more likely to report SIB than non-victims. These results highlight the need for legal, medical, mental health, and social service providers to address the co-occurrence of violent victimization and suicidal ideation, particularly, but not exclusively, victimization by family members and intimates.     

Ethics issues in security hospitals

The term 'security hospital' is used for a variety of facilities including forensic hospitals and prison hospitals, which, because of their mission, the nature of their work, and the populations they serve-or because of the authority under which they operate-place the staff at considerable risk of ethical violations related to either clinical care or to forensic activities. The problem of divided loyalties is of special concern in security hospitals. Ethics principles particularly at risk are confidentiality and informed consent. Where there are cultural disparities between the staff and the patients, differences in background, socioeconomic class, education, and other types of diversity, cultural awareness is required and must be reflected in appropriate treatment and evaluation. To counteract the risks of ethical violations, a security hospital should create an ethical climate and develop means to anticipate, prevent, and deal with ethical violations. These might include detailed and specific policies and procedures, programs of orientation, education, consultation, and liaison as well as its own ethics committee.     

The Social Costs of Treatment Programs

The medicalization of deviance refers to the identification as diseases or illnesses of patterns of behavior that were previously considered in moral terms. Herbert Spencer viewed society as analogous to a living organism. A problem or disease in one part of the organism affects the entire organism. Early sociologists built on this idea and arrived at the conclusion that deviant behavior could be thought of as social disease and social pathology. The early social pathologists were concerned with crime, mental illness, drug abuse, and suicide. There is a tendency to treat such ailments in a hospital or clinical setting. The medicalization of deviance removes responsibility from the individual as well as from the society which continues to produce the problem. Treatment programs give the false impression that something worthwhile is being done about society's behavioral problems and turn the individuals treated back into the same social milieu in which the problem was incubated in the first place. The medicalization of deviance creates a vested-interest industry dependent upon the treatment of individuals. It has constructed a system of individualized microlevel treatment programs that can be beneficial on a limited basis for a few individuals and their families, but it tends to treat only the symptoms but not change the society of which they are but emanations.     

Partner Violence, Social Support, and Distress Among Inner-City African American Women

This study examined the role of social support in the partner violence–psychological distress relation in a sample of African American women seeking medical care at a large, urban hospital (n = 138). Results from bivariate correlational analyses revealed that partner violence was related to lower perceived social support and greater psychological distress, and lower social support was related to more distress. Furthermore, findings based on path analysis indicated that low levels of social support helped account for battered women's increased distress. Findings point to the need for service providers to screen for partner violence in nontraditional sites, such as hospital emergency rooms, and to address the role of social support resources in preventive interventions with African American battered women.