A Comparison of Victim and Offender Perspectives of Grooming and Sexual Abuse

This study involved interviews with three female victims of on-line grooming and contact sexual abuse and the three adult males who groomed and abused them. Results indicate that victim and offender dyads most commonly disagreed in their accounts of the sexual elements of the relationship, including initiation; stage when sexualization took place; production of photos and videos; and initiation of contact sexual abuse. The study found that the dynamic between offenders and victims of on-line grooming and child sexual abuse can be varied and complex. Findings are discussed in the context of implications for practitioners and prevention.     

Examining Adolescent Cocaine Use with Social Learning and Self-Control Theories

An estimated 1.6 million adolescents use cocaine on a regular basis. Social learning theory and self-control theory are regularly used to explain adolescent substance use, but few studies have examined Hirschi’s (2004) revised self-control theory. This study examines the efficacy of these three theories in explaining adolescent cocaine use using data from the 2011 Monitoring the Future survey. The study finds that Hirschi’s (2004) revised theory and peer hard drug use predicted the probability of adolescent cocaine use in the previous 30 days. When examining cocaine use in the prior year, all three theoretical perspectives were significant predictor of cocaine use. The implications of the findings are discussed.     

Repetitive Behavior in Neurodevelopmental Disorders: Clinical and Translational Findings

Repetitive behavior refers to a highly heterogeneous set of responses associated with a wide range of conditions, including normative development. Treatment studies for aberrant repetitive behavior are limited although one promising approach involves conceptualizing such behavior as a generalized inflexibility or lack of variability in responding. Relatively little is known about the neurobiological mechanisms that mediate the development and expression of repetitive behavior, information critical to the design of effective pharmacotherapies, early interventions, and prevention strategies. We will review clinical findings in repetitive behavior as well as findings from animal models highlighting environmental factors and the role of cortical-basal ganglia circuitry in mediating the development and expression of these behaviors. Findings from animal models have included identification of a specific neural pathway important in mediating repetitive behavior. Moreover, pharmacological studies that support the importance of this pathway have led to the identification of novel potential therapeutic targets. Expanding the evidence base for environmental enrichment-derived interventions and focusing on generalized variability in responding will aid in addressing the broader problem of rigidity or inflexibility.     

A Philosophical Audacity: Barth's Notion of Experience between Neo‐Kantianism and Nietzsche

This article addresses Barth's dialectical notion of experience in the 1920s. I argue that the theoretical problem raised by recent studies on Barth's notion of experience after his break with liberalism (i.e. the apparent inconsistency between Barth's move towards an increasingly neo‐Kantian understanding of experience and his emphasis on the existential and psychological dimensions of experience) can be solved by the hypothesis of a Nietzschean influence on Barth's epistemology in the 1920s. I defend not only the historical plausibility but also the conceptual fecundity of such a hypothesis, which casts a new light on Barth's relation to philosophy and the notion of experience, and lays the basis for a consistent Barthian theology of experience.     

The preference to work for a man or a woman: A matter of sex and gender?

A survey of 455 individuals sampled from two populations that varied in age, educational level, and work experience posed a question asked in Gallup polls over six decades: “If you were taking a new job and had your choice of a boss, would you prefer to work for a man or a woman?” Respondents could state that they would prefer a male boss, prefer a female boss, or had no preference. As expected from theory and Gallup results, respondents who had a preference preferred to work for a man more than a woman, although a majority expressed “no preference.” When they expressed a preference, women preferred to work for a female boss over a male boss more than men did, whereas men preferred to work for a male boss over a female boss more than women did. Sex-typed (i.e., masculine or feminine) respondents in gender identity exhibited a greater preference to work for a boss of a particular sex over having no preference than non-sex-typed respondents. Further, feminine respondents preferred to work for a female boss over a male boss more than masculine respondents did, whereas masculine respondents preferred to work for a male boss over a female boss more than feminine respondents did. Overall, these results suggest that the preference to work for a man or a woman is a matter of both sex and gender. Implications for job applicants' vocational decisions and how female leaders fare in the workplace are discussed.