bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Socioemotional Factors Contributing to Ad justment Among Early-Entrance College Students
Authors: Caplan Sheryl M. , Henderson Craig E. , Henderson John , Fleming Donna L.
Published: January 2007

This study investigates the influence of self-concept and perceived family environment on psychosocial adjustment among early-entrance college students. Participants included 104 male and 76 female juniors at the Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science (TAMS). Scholastic aptitude, previous academicachievement, and family environment were employed as latent independent variables. Self-concept, personal adjustment to TAMS, and academic achievement at TAMS were the latent dependent variables of the study. A series of regression models was used to assess the predictive utility of independent measures. The final model indicated that a combination of self-concept and family environment variables was able to predict psychosocial adjustment. Specifically, family cohesion, conflict, and expressiveness and overall self-concept were predictive of adjustment to college as 4-neasured by the total score of the Student Adjustment to College Questionnaire. For TAMS students, family cohesion, organization, control, Colflict, and overall self-concept were found to predict academic achievement as measured by first semester grade-point average. It is recommended that applicant self-concept should be considered when educating students about considering early entrance to college, making program decisions, and instituting retention strategies for early-entrance college programs.
Family Factors Associated With High Academic Competence in Former Head Start Children at Third Grade
Authors: Robinson Nancy M. , Lanzi Robin Gaines , Weinberg Richard A. , Ramey Sharon Landesman , Ramey Craig T.
Published: January 2007

Most studies of gifted students have looked at already identified groups, often convenience samples. This study takes a more epidemiological approach. Of the 5,400 children in the National Head Start/Public School Early Childhood Transition Demonstration group Project tested at the end of third grade, the highest achieving 3% ( N = 162) were selected by conducting a principal components analysis on their scores on the vocabulary and achievement measures. Compared with the remaining children, the high-achieving children were thriving both socially and academically, and, although as a group they were not enamoured of school, fewer were strongly disaffected. On the whole, the families of these children had somewhat more resources on which to call and somewhat fewer stresses with which to deal than the families of the remaining children, although their mean income was only 1.26 times the Poverty Index. Compared to caretakers of the remaining children, caretakers of high achievers ascribed to more positive parenting attitudes and were seen by teachers as more strongly encouraging their children's progress. Of the 113 third-grade high achievers with test scores at grades 1, 2, and 3, 52 had met the 3% criterion in at least 2 grades, and 37 had done so in all 3. Years of high achievement correlated with family resources. These findings demonstrate that even families sorely stressed by life circumstances can support very positive intellectual and social competence in their children.
Assessing Adjustment Problems of Gifted Students in Hong Kong: The Development of the Student Adjustment Problems Inventory
Authors: Chan David W.
Published: January 2007

An 18-item inventory, the Student Adjustment Problems Inventory (SAPI-1.8). was developed to assess the adjustment problems encountered by 290 Chinese secondary students who were nominated by their respective schools to join the Chinese University of Hong Kong gifted programs. The preliminary 32-item version of this inventory was constructed and then revised to reflect gifted students' adjustment problems in school and at home, based on feedback from teachers, students, and parents. The results of item factor analysis of the 32-item version yielded 6 problem dimensions/domains: relationship/ability concerns, Unchallenging schoolwork, intense involvement, concerns for being different, parental expectations, and perfectionism. Students' self-report data indicated that strong feelings and involvement, unchallenging schoolwork, and high parental expectations could be common problems among gifted and talented students in Hong Kong. Implications of the findings for meeting the counseling needs of gifted students with adjustment difficulties, as well as suggestions for the refinement of the inventory and for cross-cultural investigations, are discussed.
Elementary and Middle School Student Participation in Gifted Programs: Are Gifted Students Underserved?
Authors: Swiatek Mary Ann , Lupkowski-Shoplik Ann
Published: January 2007

Most researchers agree that special educational programming is advisable for academically gifted students, although the best type of programming is a matter of controversy. Evidence suggests that effective programs combine ability grouping with curricular modification, but little research has addressed the extent to which high-ability students receive special services in their schools. Here, third through sixth graders scoring at or above the 95th percentile on standardized achievement tests reported on their educational experiences. The most common experience was the pull-out program, but many students stated that they were involved in no special programming. Separate analyses for mathematics instruction yielded similar results. Gender, grade level, type of school (public vs. private/parochial), and above-level EXPLORE scores explained little of the variance in special accommodations. The lack of services reported by many participants is particularly surprising given that members of the sample were both highly able and highly motivated.
Measuring the Effectiveness of Summer Intensive Physics Courses for Gifted Students: A Pilot Study and Agenda for Research
Authors: Hsu Leonardo
Published: January 2007

Students enrolled in 8 summer intensive physics courses for academically gifted students participated in a pilot study to assess the effectiveness of such courses compared to ordinary year-long high school physics courses. The students in each class completed the Force Concept Inventory (FCI), and the average normalized gains for each class were compared with previously published data from both year-long high school courses and semester-long college courses. The average gains achieved by students in the intensive courses were comparable to those achieved by students in the ordinary-length courses. Recent work in physics education research has made such direct comparisons of standard-length and intensive physics courses possible and also suggests ways to improve student learning in both types of courses. Some further questions for research concerning intensive physics courses for gifted students are discussed.
An Illustrative Case Study of Precocious Reading Ability
Authors: Stainthorp Rhona , Hughes Diana
Published: January 2007

This is a longitudinal case study of a child who taught herself to read before she went to school. This case study is drawn from a wider study of a group of precocious readers, all of whom had received no explicit instruction, but who had had positive literacy experiences in their homes. The subject of this study was able to read fluently at the age of 5 years and 4 months. Her reading was at least 5 years ahead of her chronological age and her spelling was 4 years ahead. Her reading speed was also very proficient. Moreover, tests indicated that her pseudoword reading was highly accurate and that she was highly proficient on a series of measures of phonemic awareness. Her performance was also assessed at the ages of 6, 7, and 11 years. She continued to show high levels of ability in all aspects of literacy. This study contrasts with recent case studies on very precocious readers who showed poor levels of phonological awareness and who were unable to spell at an early age.
Reliability and Validity of Learning Behaviors Scale (LBS) Scores With Academically Talented Students: A Comparative Perspective
Authors: Worrell Frank C. , Schaefer Barbara A.
Published: January 2007

In this study, teacher ratings of academically talented (AT) students on the Learning Behaviors Scale (LBS) were examined for evidence of reliability and validity in two cohorts attending a summer program. The LBS is a 29-item rating scale assessing learning behaviors related to academic success. Cohort 1 consisted of 387 students and Cohort 2 consisted of 287 students. The AT students’ scores were similar to scores of gifted and talented and high-IQ students in the normative sample, and reliability estimates of participants’ scores were in the moderate to high range. The scores resulted in factors that were similar to those found in the normative sample, and coefficients of congruence were greater than .85 for two LBS factors across samples. LBS scores predicted achievement after controlling for previous achievement and socioeconomic status. Future research should examine LBS scores in public school settings with identified and referred students.
The Case Law on Gifted Education: A New Look
Authors: Zirkel Perry A.
Published: January 2007

To fill a gap in the literature, this article provides a comprehensive, concise, and current overview of the case law—specifically, published hearing/review officer and court decisions—concerning gifted education for K-12 students. This case law represents two distinct groups: “gifted alone,” designating students whose legal status is based solely on their gifted status, and “gifted plus,” designating students who not only are gifted, but also have special legal status typically in terms of disability (i.e., “twice exceptional”) or race. The outcomes of the case law in both categories have generally favored the defendant school districts. The absence in many states of strong and specific legislation or regulations for gifted-alone students and the lack of judicial sensitivity to the complexity of the gifted-plus category likely contribute to the overall district-friendly trend of the case law to date.
Review of Naglieri and Ford (2003): Does the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test Identify Equal Proportions of High-Scoring White, Black, and Hispanic Students?
Authors: Lohman David F.
Published: January 2007

In a recent article in this journal, Naglieri and Ford (2003) claimed that Black and Hispanic students are as likely to earn high scores on the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test (NNAT; Naglieri, 1997a) as White students. However, the sample that Naglieri and Ford used was not representative of the U.S. school population as a whole and was quite unrepresentative of ethnic subgroups within that population. For example, only 5.6% of the children in their sample were from urban school districts, and both Black and Hispanic students were relatively more likely to be from high socioeconomic status (SES) families than were White families. Further, the mean and standard deviation in the sample differed significantly from the NNAT fall test norms, which were based on the same data. Finally, White-Black and White-Hispanic differences reported by Naglieri and Ford were smaller than those reported by Naglieri and Ronning (2000a) in a previous analysis of the same data set in which students were first matched on several demographic variables. For these reasons, I argue that the authors’ claims are not supported by the data they present.
Increasing Minority Children’s Participation in Gifted Classes Using the NNAT: A Response to Lohman
Authors: Naglieri Jack A. , Ford Donna Y.
Published: January 2007

In a previous article, we (Naglieri & Ford, 2003) provided evidence from a large-scale study that similar proportions of White, Black, and Hispanic children would be identified as gifted using the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test (NNAT; Naglieri, 1997). Lohman (2005) has taken issue with our conclusions and our methods. We provide several responses to his arguments and make five important points. First, we take the position that underrepresentation of minority children in classes for the gifted is a serious problem that must be remedied. Second, traditional measures of ability that include verbal and quantitative tests pose particular problems to less-advantaged children who may be intelligent, but lack verbal and math knowledge. Third, we argue that the CogAT verbal and quantitative tests of “ability” correlate higher with the ITBS “achievement” tests than the CogAT nonverbal tests of ability because of the similarity of skills needed to answer the items on both the ITBS and the CogAT. Fourth, we reject an emphasis on “academically gifted” children that excludes the identification of “intellectually gifted” children who happen to have poor academic skills. Fifth, we request that critics of the NNAT provide evidence of the magnitude of race and ethnic differences, as well as the likely effect on representation of minorities using whatever alternatives they propose.
The Important Role of Optimism in a Motivational Investigation of the Education of Gifted Adolescents
Authors: Hoekman Katherine , McCormick John , Barnett Kerry
Published: January 2007

Intellectually gifted 7th-grade students were surveyed approximately halfway through their 1st year of high school in order to investigate relationships between motivational and affective variables, commitment to schoolwork, and satisfaction with school. The results of the confirmatory factor analyses and structural equation modeling suggest that relationships of mediating variables such as optimism, strain on coping resources, extrinsic motivation, and intrinsic motivation with satisfaction with school and commitment to schoolwork should be considered in the context of the motivational needs of gifted students.
Educational Characteristics of Adolescents With Gifted Academic Intrinsic Motivation: A Longitudinal Investigation From School Entry Through Early Adulthood
Authors: Gottfried Allen W. , Cook Clayton R. , Gottfried Adele Eskeles , Morris Phillip E.
Published: January 2007

The construct of gifted motivation was examined in a contemporary, long-term, longitudinal investigation. Adolescents with extremely high academic intrinsic motivation (i.e., gifted motivation) were compared to their cohort peer comparison on a variety of educationally relevant measures from elementary school through the early adulthood years. Assessment of academic intrinsic motivation was based on the Children’s Academic Intrinsic Motivation Inventory. Cross-time, pervasive differences resulted favoring the gifted motivation compared to the cohort comparison group on motivation, achievement, classroom functioning, intellectual performance, self-concept, and postsecondary educational progress. Meaningful effect sizes were obtained and corroborated by teachers’ observations. Gifted motivation proved to be distinct from gifted intelligence. This research serves to expand the definition of giftedness to include the construct of gifted motivation in its own right. These findings have implications for identifying students with gifted motivation for entry into programs for the gifted.
Family Environment and Talent Development of Chinese Gifted Students in Hong Kong
Authors: Chan David W.
Published: January 2007

This study assessed the self-perceptions of 432 gifted students regarding their family environments and their talent areas. Family environmental variables included parental expectations to achieve, parents’ encouragement to be independent, and family cohesion. Talent areas included academic skills, creativity, and leadership. The conjectures that academic achievement could be enhanced by parental expectations, as well as family cohesion, and that creativity could be enhanced by encouragement to be independent were not fully supported by the regression analyses. However, family environmental variables did predict students’ perceived talent areas, especially in leadership, and family cohesion was the consistent significant predictor. Implications of the findings are discussed with reference to cross-cultural research, but caution needs to be exercised in the interpretation of these results, as data were collected only on student perceptions.
A Dynamic Scaffolding Model of Teacher Development: The Gifted Education Consultant as Catalyst for Change
Authors: Matthews Dona J. , Foster Joanne F.
Published: January 2007

The Dynamic Scaffolding Model (DSM) of teacher development is proposed as a good way to meet gifted learners' exceptional learning needs while remaining consistent with current educational realities and research. Using an implementation experience as an illustration, we examine how a gifted education consultant can support teachers in addressing the diverse educational needs of high-ability learners in their classrooms, as well as encouraging high-level outcomes in learners not identified as gifted, leading to classrooms that are more engaging for both students and teachers. In this model, teachers are given opportunities for scaffolded learning and interaction in the form of (a) a series of optional professional development workshops on giftedness, (b) ongoing and targeted individual consultation opportunities, and (c) diverse professional liaisons. We compare the DSM with other resource consultation models, and we discuss characteristics identified by participating teachers as important in their work with gifted learners and others.
A Report on the 40-Year Follow-Up of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking: Alive and Well in the New Millennium
Authors: Cramond Bonnie , Matthews-Morgan Juanita , Bandalos Deborah , Zuo Li
Published: January 2007

This article updates information about the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT) by reporting on predictive validity data from the most recent data collection point in Torrance’s longitudinal studies. First, we outline the background of the tests and changes in scoring over the years. Then, we detail the results of the analyses of the 40-year follow-up on the TTCT resulting in a structural equation model, which demonstrates the validity of the TTCT for predicting creative achievement 40 years after its administration. Finally, we provide a rationale for the relevance of the test in schools today.
Gifted University Males in a Greek Fraternity: Creating a Culture of Achievement
Authors: Hébert Thomas P.
Published: January 2007

The gifted education community has called for more research examining gifted students during their collegiate experience. The study described in this article examined gifted university males involved in a Greek fraternity. Through a qualitative case study research design, the investigation examined the collegiate careers of 5 gifted, high-achieving university males to understand how their fraternity experience influenced their achievement. Major findings uncovered in chronicling the university careers of the 5 gifted males included the following: focusing on athletics rather than academics during high school, recruitment to the fraternity as high potential contributors, the fraternity as a bridge to student leadership on campus, and the benefits of a culture of well-rounded achievers striving for self-improvement. Implications of the findings are presented, as are suggestions for meeting the educational needs of gifted males in university settings.
Nondiscriminatory Assessment: Considerations for Gifted Education
Authors: Joseph Laurice M. , Ford Donna Y.
Published: January 2007

Nondiscriminatory assessment practices have been proposed as a model of assessment for individuals of diverse cultures who are suspected as having a disability. This paper presents the use of nondiscrimina-tory assessment practices in evaluating students of diverse cultures who may be identified as gifted. Principles and guidelines for nondiscriminatory ways of assessing students of diverse cultures who may be gifted are presented. Implications for putting nondiscriminatory assessment procedures into practice are provided.
Bullying and the Gifted: Victims, Perpetrators, Prevalence, and Effects
Authors: Peterson Jean Sunde , Ray Karen E.
Published: January 2007

Gifted eighth graders ( N = 432) in 11 U.S. states participated in a retrospective national study that explored the prevalence and effects of being bullied and being a bully during kindergarten through grade 8. No significant differences were found related to size of city, race/ethnicity, and geographical region in terms of either being bullied or being a bully. Sixty-seven percent of all participants had experienced at least 1 of 13 kinds of bullying listed on the survey, more in grade 6 than in other grades, and 11% had experienced repeated bullying. Name-calling and teasing about appearance were the most common kinds of bullying, and the latter was among several kinds of bullying significantly related to emotional impact. In grade 8, 16% were bullies, and 29% had violent thoughts. At all grade levels, a larger percentage of males than females were bullied, were bullied more than 10 times, and were bullies.
Attributional Choices for Academic Success and Failure by Intellectually Gifted Students
Authors: Assouline Susan G. , Colangelo Nicholas , Ihrig Damien , Forstadt Leslie
Published: January 2007

This study emerges from the lack of empirical research on gifted students' attributions about academic success and failure in multiple subject areas and school in general. We explored differences in top attributional choices between boys and girls for success and failure in general academics, language arts, science, and mathematics. Gifted students were more likely to attribute failure to not working hard enough (long-term effort), rather than to not being smart (ability). Sex differences were found in attributional choices for general academics, science, mathematics, and language arts. The findings counter some popular theoretical expectations of gifted students' attributional choices for success and failure in their academic performance.
Investigating the Influence of Attribution Styles on the Development of Mathematical Talent
Authors: Nokelainen Petri , Tirri Kirsi , Merenti-Välimäki Hanna-Leena
Published: January 2007

In this article, the authors examine the influence of attribution styles on the development of mathematical talent. The study employs a Self-Confidence Attitude Attribute Scale questionnaire, which measures ability and effort attributions. Participants are three groups of highly, moderately, or mildly mathematically gifted Finnish adolescents and adults ( N = 203). The results of Bayesian classification modeling show that items attributing success to effort and failure to lack of effort are the best predictors for the level of mild mathematical giftedness and gender (females). The results of multivariate analysis of variance show that highly and moderately mathematically gifted students reported that ability was more important for success than effort, but mildly mathematically gifted tended to see effort as leading to success. Moderately and mildly mathematically gifted students attribute failure to lack of effort, whereas highly mathematically gifted students attribute failure to lack of ability.
Elementary Student Talent Searches: Establishing Appropriate Guidelines for Qualifying Test Scores
Authors: Lupkowski-Shoplik Ann , Swiatek Mary Ann
Published: January 2007

Traditionally, talent searches administer college entrance examinations to seventh and eighth graders who score in the top 3-5% on in-grade achievement tests. Research dating back to the 1970s indicates that talent searches effectively provide a specific assessment of ability level in these gifted students. More recently, the talent search model has been applied to third-through sixth-grade gifted students. The Elementary Student Talent Search, for example, uses EXPLORE (a test designed for eighth graders) as an above-level test. Very little research has been conducted on the talent search model as applied to elementary students, however. Our data indicate that talent search participants earn EXPLOR-E scores that are approximately normally distributed and that they compare favorably to eighth-grade norms. EXPLORE scores at or below chance level are rare. Raising the requirements for Talent Search eligibility would increase the number of false negatives more than it would decrease the number of false positives.
Head, Face, and Eye Injuries in Scholastic and Collegiate Lacrosse
Authors: Lincoln Andrew E. , Hinton Richard Y. , Almquist Jon L. , Lager Sean L. , Dick Randall W.
Published: January 2007

Background

Risks and mechanisms of head, face, and eye injuries in high school and college lacrosse are not well documented.

Purpose

To identify (1) primary mechanisms of head, face, and eye injuries in lacrosse and (2) differences in injury risk between the men's and women's game and between high school and collegiate levels.

Study Design

Descriptive epidemiological study.

Methods

The authors gathered data on 507 000 girls’ and boys’ high school and 649 573 women's and men's college lacrosse athletic exposures using sport-specific injury surveillance systems over 4 seasons. They identified the most common scenarios for head, face, and eye injuries.

Results

The high school girls’ head, face, and eye injury rate (0.54 per 1000 athletic exposures) was significantly higher (incident rate ratio, 1.42; 95% confidence interval, 1.09-1.86) than that for boys (0.38 per 1000 athletic exposures); college women (0.77 per 1000 athletic exposures) sustained a higher rate of injuries (incident rate ratio, 1.76; 95% confidence interval, 1.42-2.19) than did men (0.44 per 1000 athletic exposures). Concussions constituted a higher percentage of injuries among boys (73%) and men (85%) than among girls (40%) and women (41%). Men sustained few facial injuries, whereas a substantial proportion of women's injuries involved the face and orbital area.

Conclusion

Although permitting only incidental contact, women's lacrosse had higher rates of head, face, and eye injuries at both the high school and collegiate levels. Concussion was the most common injury. For men, the primary injury mechanism was player-to-player contact; women's injuries primarily resulted from stick or ball contact. High school injury rates were lower than were college rates, but the nature of injuries, body parts affected, and mechanisms were similar.
Current Approaches to Integrating Elements of Cultural Competence in Nursing Education
Authors: Lipson Juliene G. , Desantis Lydia A.
Published: January 2007

Cultural competence in nursing education is receiving renewed emphasis. Curricular input to incorporate such knowledge, attitudes, and skills encompasses a wide variety of teaching and learning methods. Five are described here: specialty focus, required courses, models, immersion experiences, and distance learning or simulation. Despite progress in incorporating cultural content into nursing curricula, several issues characterize all levels of nursing programs, including lack of consensus on what should be taught, lack of standards, limited and inconsistent formal evaluation of effectiveness, a decline of curricular specialty courses on culture, a focus on the microlevel of the nurse-patient encounter, and the need for, support of, and preparation of faculty.
Party Attachments and State Election Laws
Authors: Burden Barry C. , Greene Steven
Published: January 2007

This article examines the influence that state party registration laws have on individual-level party attachments. It tests the hypothesis that individuals living in states with party registration laws are more likely than those living in states without such laws to identify themselves as partisans. This occurs primarily because of self-perception processes by which registrants infer their party attitudes from their own behaviors. Using the state-based Senate Election Study data to test this expectation, we find strong evidence for both statistically and substantively significant effects of party registration on individual partisanship. Registered indviduals living in states with party registration are, by about ten percenage points, more likely to identify as partisans than those in other states even when controlling for alternative hypotheses dealing with state cuture, attitudes toward the parties, retrospective evaluations, interest in politics, and demographic factors. Importantly, the effect is not observed for individuals who are not registered to vote but is for registered novoters. However, registration-induced party identification is shallow, as individuals living in registration states are also more likely to vote for candidates from the other party.
Trained for Democracy:The Differing Effects of Voluntary and Involuntary Organizations on Political Participation
Authors: Ayala Louis J.
Published: January 2007

This article examines the relationship between activity in non-politcal organizations and political participation. In their 1995 book, Voice and Equality, Verba, Schlozman, and Brady claim that, for a variety of resons, activity in these non-political organizations has a positive effect on an individual's level of political participation. However, using empirical evidence, this study calls some of these findings into question by demostrating that there are fundamental differences in the effects of workplace activity and similar activities undertaken in other non-political groups. Specifically, the results indicate that activity in more voluntary groups has the greatest effect on political participation, especially time-based and volunteer oriented activities. In several instances the effects of activity in these non-political organizations rival those of the classic SES variables.
Fatal Attraction: “Willful Liberalism” and the Denial of Public Transparency
Authors: Lund William
Published: January 2007

Liberals often seek to ground public rules and institutions in values and beliefs that can make sense to all citizens despite their ethical diffeences. For Richard Flathman, however, this search for political “tranparency” is rooted in excessive fear of diversity and excessive optimism regarding our capacity to rationally resolve the difficulties created by liguistic and ethical opacity. He treats the result as not only philosophically incoherent, but also politically dangerous in promoting needless and unjustifiable restraints on individual purposiveness. He seeks to counter such problems with a “willful” liberalism that celebrates ethical opacity and promotes the widest possible diversity of self-making. This essay argues that, despite its many charms, “willful” liberalism suffers certain internal flaws. Specifically, Flathman's meta-ethical voluntarism works to undermine not only his commitment to equal freedom, but also the very goal of adventuresome self-making at the heart of his normative ideal.
Measuring Legal Change
Authors: Spriggs James F. , Hansford Thomas G.
Published: January 2007

With few exceptions, scholars have generally relied on judges' final votes on the menrts as the primary indicator of judicial outcomes. Yet, to fully understand judicial decision-making we think it imperative that research also focus on the interpretation of precedent and legal change. To do so, it is necessary to develop measures of legal change and the treatment of precedent over time. Scholars have begun doing so by using Shepard's Citations, a legal citation index. One of the most important fetures of Shepard's is its list of all opinions that legally treat a previously decided case, as well as its characterization of the nature of that legal treatment. Yet, the reliability and validity of Shepard's is unknown, and we should therefore be appropriately skeptical of it. This article empirically tests the reliability of Shepard's and discusses the validity of its coding protocols. Our analysis demonstrates that Shepard's coding of legal treament is quite reliable, though there is some notable variance across Sheard's treatment categories. We also point out several features of Shepard's that could potentially affect the validity of a measure derived from it. We conclude that, as long as scholars keep these validity issues in mind, Shepard's can be a highly appropriate data source.
The Effects of Political Similarity on the Onset of Militarized Disputes, 1816-1985
Authors: Werner Suzanne
Published: January 2007

Historical evidence suggests that international conflicts often concern the management of domestic affairs. States frequently take issue with other states' human rights records and with the composition of their goernments. If domestic politics are frequently the issue in dispute between states, then we should not expect such disagreements to be equally likely to arise between all pairs of states. Since politically similar states manage their domestic affairs in similar fashion, they are less likely to disagree over domestic politics and thus less likely to be involved in conflict. To test the hypothesis that politically similar states are less likely to engage in conflict than are politically disparate states, I use a hazard model that evaluates the risk that peace ends with the onset of a militarized dispute for all dyads in the international system from 1816 to 1985. I find strong support for the hypothesis, even when I control for the pacifying effects of similar democratic states and exclude data from the ideologically charged 20th century. I also find consistent evidence that conflict becomes more likely as the power of each state in the dyad increases, as the geographic distance between states declines, and as the number of past disputes increases. I find weaker support for the pacifying effects of alliances and the dangers of power parity.
Agreeing to Disagree: Domestic Institutional Congruence and U.S. Dispute Behavior
Authors: Clark David H.
Published: January 2007

Domestic and international politics are linked so that domestic structure and domestic political preferences affect international conflict behavior. In particular, states' policy preferences can be characterized by the congruence of policy preferences between political institutions. As a state's policy preferences become more congruent, as policy preferences between political institutions are more similar, the state's conflict behavior changes. I hypothesize that as the domestic political institutions in a state share similar policy preferences or policy goals, disputes become more likely and tend to last longer. I employ event count and continuous-time hazard models to analyze U.S. conflict propensity and conflict duration during the period 1945-1992. Using the Militarized Interstate Dispute data set (version 2.1), I model U.S. militarized dispute behavior as a function of congruence between the policy preferences of the U.S. President and the Congress. The models reveal a strong relationship between preference congruence and both the amount of conflict and the duration of the disputes in which the U.S. engages. The congruence hypotheses are robust across a variety of measures. The results add substantial strength and substance to claims that domestic political characteristics affect international conflict. The theory and empirical analyses also refine the domestic-international linkage by allowing scholars to consider the effect of normal political change in a single state on that state's foreign policy decisions.
U.S. Responses to Defeat in International Courts: A Contingent Model of Rule Compliance
Authors: Stiles Kendall W.
Published: January 2007

I propose, in the present work, to begin the process of developing a testable, generalizable model of foreign policy decision-making that accounts for both domestic and international factors. The framework is designed to illustrate how to combine broad theoretical propositions with contextual, situation-based decisions. It provides an example of how to bridge game-theoretic formulations with case study material in order to develop mid-level causal models. Further, the framework is designed to allow for prediction of a certain range of policies. The model is rooted in a design that invites the researcher to answer a series of yes-or-no questions about the decision-making situation in question. By answering these simple questions, that require relatively little information, we can predict the likely outcome.
Challenges to the American Two-Party System: Evidence from the 1968, 1980, 1992, and 1996 Presidential Elections
Authors: Abramson Paul R. , Aldrich John H. , Paolino Philip , Rohde David W
Published: January 2007

Recent successes by independent presidential candidates raise questions about the stability of the American two-party system. Students of electoral behavior point to party decline, whereas analysts of party organization see growth and transformation. Analyses of the 1968, 1980, 1992, and 1996 National Election Study surveys are used to determine whether support for Wallace, Anderson, and Perot resulted from dissatisfaction with the current two-party system. We find that there has been little erosion of support for the major political parties between 1968 and 1996. Americans with low levels of support for the major political parties were more likely to support Wallace in 1968 and Perot in 1992 and 1996. But to a large extent, support for Wallace, Anderson, and Perot resulted from dissatisfaction with the major-party candidates. Support for the major parties themselves has not eroded enough to provide a systemic opportunity for an independent candidate or for a new political party to end the Republican and Democratic duopoly.
Buyer Beware? Presidential Success through Supreme Court Appointments
Authors: Segal Jeffrey A. , Timpone Richard J. , Howard Robert M.
Published: January 2007

One manner in which Presidents attempt to have an enduring policy influence is through the appointment of like-minded justices to the Supreme Court. This article empirically examines Dahl's (1957) hypothesis that justices actually support the policy preferences of the Presidents who appoint them. We study concordance with new data for measuring presidential preferences in the domains of social and economic policy and by incorporating the notion of judicial change over time. We measure presidential preferences for the modern Presidents, Franklin Roosevelt through Bill Clinton, with a survey taken from a random sample of political science scholars who study the Presidency We measure the voting behavior of the President's Supreme Court appointees through their votes in civil liberties and economics cases from 1937 to 1994. Presidents appear to be reasonably successful in their appointments in the short run, but justices on average appear to deviate over time away from the Presidents who appointed them.
Toward a Strategic Revolution in Judicial Politics: A Look Back, A Look Ahead
Authors: Epstein Lee , Knight Jack
Published: January 2007

As papers presented at recent disciplinary conferences and articles published in major political science journals reveal, the field of judicial politics is undergoing a sea change. Variants of the social-psychological paradigm, which have long dominated thinking about law and courts, are giving way to approaches grounded in assumptions in rationality. More to the point, ever-growing numbers of scholars are now invoking the strategic account to understand judicial politics. In what follows, we investigate this “strategic revolution.” We begin by providing an intellectual history of the field, with special emphasis on why judicial specialists resisted strategic analysis for so long and why they are now (re)turning to it in ever-increasing numbers. Next, we consider the ways that analysts have begun to put the strategic account to work. This is an important task, for debates are already emerging over the “best” way to invoke the account to study judicial politics. We take the position that there is no one “right” way but rather four different approaches-all of which have the potential to provide us with important insights into law and courts.
The Electoral Fortunes of Women Candidates for Congress
Authors: Smith Eric R. A. N. , Fox Richard L.
Published: January 2007

Many hypotheses have been proposed to explain why women remain underrepresented in Congress. One of those hypotheses is that some voters have blatant prejudices against women politicians, while others hold stereotypes about men and women politicians that favor men. In contrast, others claim that women candidates for Congress actually have an advantage in running for office because voters prefer women politicians. We test those hypotheses using pooled 1988, 1990, and 1992 National Election Studies data and the pooled 1988-1992 Senate Election Study and building on Krasno's (1994) model of voter choice in House and Senate elections. We find evidence that some voters prefer women candidates in House races, but not in Senate races. The advantage for women candidates in races with a challenger and incumbent is slight and can be attributed to the strong support of well-educated women voters. An advantage for women candidates is more pronounced in open-seat contests. In open-seat races, women voters, regardless of their education levels, more strongly support women candidates. Overall, candidate sex was not significant to male voters.
Official-English and the States: Influences on Declaring English the Official Language in the United States
Authors: Schildkraut Deborah J.
Published: January 2007

In this study, I seek to answer the question of why some states choose to declare English the official state language while others do not. Using an event history model, I show that both the proportion of a state's population that is foreign-born and whether the state allows for direct initiatives interact to influence the adoption of language laws. Specifically, states with many immigrants and no initiatives have almost no chance of declaring English the official language while a similar state with direct initiatives is more likely to do so. Implications for ethnic politics, direct democracy, and the future of language policy are discussed.
Misreporters in Candidate Choice Models
Authors: Cassel Carol A. , Sigelman Lee
Published: January 2007

When asked whether they voted in the last election, many survey respondents say they did even though they did not. Although misreporting has the potential to produce specious findings in candidate choice models, researchers have ignored its effects on our understanding of candidate choice. We test an established candidate choice model first with and then without self-reported voters whose turnout could not be validated, in order to gauge whether misreporters undermine empirical tests of candidate choice models. The results for three different presidential elections indicate that misreporters have little impact on the overall performance of the model or on the impacts of most predictors. Misreporting does produce some misleading findings, but its disruptive effects are confined to factors peripheral to the model; misreporters have little or no effect on party identification or candidate evaluations, the main factors shaping candidate choice.
Separated Powers and Institutional Growth in the Presidential and Congressional Branches: Distinguishing Between Short-Run versus Long-Run Dynamics
Authors: Krause George A.
Published: January 2007

A central feature of the modern presidential and congressional branches has been its institutional development. Growth in the presidential and legislative branches reflect distinct short-run and long-run dynamics. In the former case, Presidents exhibit greater responsiveness to congressional branch efforts than vice versa. However, in the long run a steadystate equilibrium exists, whereby the Presidency cannot permanently exploit Congress. This proposition is empirically tested by applying a Vector Error Correction Mechanism (VECM) statistical modeling approach to analyze constant dollar-branch expenditure data for the 1939-1997 period. The empirical evidence shows that an “opportunistic Presidency” prevails in the short run; in the long run; however, considerable evidence is obtained in favor of an institutional equilibrium consistent with the “iron law of emulation” thesis. On a more general theoretical level, these findings make the novel point that a critical distinction must be made between short-run and long-run dynamics when assessing institutional relationships involving the Presidency and Congress.
Money and Challenger Emmergence in Gubernatorial Primaries
Authors: Bardwell Kedron
Published: January 2007

Compared to congressional elections, gubernatorial races are underrepresented in the campaign finance literature. At the same time, the great diversity of state campaign finance laws enables a comparative analysis of their impact in gubernatorial races. I use data from 1980 to 2000 to test hypotheses about challenger emergence, campaign finance laws, and candidate spending in gubernatorial party primaries. I find that incumbents with high job approval ratings and those in party endorsement states are more likely to be unopposed in the primary. In contested primaries, experienced challengers and those who accept public funding are better able to match levels of spending by incumbents. The findings shed light on the dynamics of challenger emergence and the potential for public funding programs to make elections more competitive.
An Attributional Model of Economic Voting: Evidence from the 2000 Presidential Election
Authors: Rudolph Thomas J. , Grant J. Tobin
Published: January 2007

In this article we propose and test an attributional model of economic voting. Exploiting an innovative responsibility instrument to analyze the 2000 U.S. presidential election, we find that the incumbent party's can- didate did benefit from the belief that economic conditions had improved, but only among voters who attributed responsibility for that improvement to the president. Moreover, we find that by explicitly mod- eling the effects of responsibility attributions instead of presuming a homogeneous and automatic sanctioning process, the attributional model outperforms the classical reward-punishment model in explaining presidential vote choice. Our results provide new insights into the out- come of the 2000 presidential election and demonstrate the relative importance of issues and the economy.
The Impact of Negative Campaigning: Evidence from the 1998 Senatorial Primaries
Authors: Djupe Paul A. , Peterson David A. M.
Published: January 2007

We investigate the amount of negative campaigning in the 1998 senato- rial primaries and the ramifications of negative campaigning on primary turnout and general election outcomes. A large literature has developed to show whether primary divisiveness has significant consequences for electoral outcomes, though we do not have much knowledge about what primary divisiveness entails (Bernstein 1977: 540). We employ a holistic measure of campaign negativity measured by coding newspaper articles three months prior to the primary to uncover how much negativity exists in senatorial primaries, which campaigns turn negative, and the relation- ship between primary negativity and several campaign factors. We find that primary divisiveness is strongly related to campaign negativity, neg- ativity boosts primary turnout, while divisiveness depletes a nominee's general election fortunes.