University of New Hampshire

About: University of New Hampshire is a education organization based out in Durham, New Hampshire, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Solar wind. The organization has 9379 authors who have published 24025 publications receiving 1020112 citations. The organization is also known as: UNH.

Why Have Child Maltreatment and Child Victimization Declined

Abstract: Various forms of child maltreatment and child victimization declined as much as 40‐70% from 1993 until 2004, including sexual abuse, physical abuse, sexual assault, homicide, aggravated assault, robbery, and larceny. Other child welfare indicators also improved during the same period, including teen pregnancy, teen suicide, and children living in poverty. This article reviews a wide variety of possible explanations for these changes: demography, fertility and abortion legalization, economic prosperity, increased incarceration of offenders, increased agents of social intervention, changing social norms and practices, the dissipation of the social changes from the 1960s, and psychiatric pharmacology. Multiple factors probably contributed. In particular, economic prosperity, increasing agents of social intervention, and psychiatric pharmacology have advantages over some of the other explanations in accounting for the breadth and timing of the improvements. The worrisome stories about crimes against children that regularly fill the media have unfortunately obscured some more positive news from the statistical reports on these same offenses. Child victimization of various types has been declining since the early 1990s, in some cases declining dramatically. Facts about the Decline

A cross validation study of the Maslach Burnout Inventory.

Abstract: The Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) was designed to assess the frequency and intensity of perceived burnout among persons in the helping professions in general. This study examined the reliability ...

Biogeochemical response of forest ecosystems to simulated chronic nitrogen deposition

Abstract: Reported in this paper are foliar chemistry, tree growth (above- and below- ground), soil chemistry, nitrogen cycling (net mineralization and nitrification) and soil N20 flux responses to the first 6 yr of chronic nitrogen amendments at the Harvard Forest (Massachusetts, USA). A 70-yr-old red pine (Pinus resinosa Ait.) stand and a 50-yr-old mixed hardwood stand received control, low nitrogen (50 kg.ha-'-yr-'), high nitrogen (150 kg.ha-'-yr-'), and low nitrogen plus sulfur treatments, with additions occurring in six equal doses over the growing season as NH4NO3 and Na2SO4. Foliar N concentrations increased up to 25% in the hardwood stand and 67% in the pines, and there was no apparent decrease of N retranslocation due to fertilization. Wood production increased in the hardwood stand in response to fertilization but decreased in the pine stand. Fine-root nitrogen concentrations increased with N additions, and fine roots were a significant sink for added nitrogen. Nitrate leaching losses increased continuously over the 6-yr period in the treated pine stands but remained insignificant in the hardwoods. Annual net N mineralization increased substan- tially in response to treatments in both stands but declined in the pine high-N plot by the end of year six. Net nitrification increased from 17% of net mineralization in 1988 to 51% in 1993 for the pine high-N plot. Only a slight increase in net nitrification was measured in the hardwood stand, and only in 1993. Extractable NH4 was consistently higher in treated plots than in controls in both stands, where extractable NO3 was higher than controls only in the treated pine plots. Soil extracts yielded <1.5 kg/ha of NO3-N for all plots in the hardwood stand throughout the experiment. Effluxes of N2O were consistently greater in the pine high-N plot than in the pine control plot, but there were no observed large-scale increases in N20 emissions immediately following fertilizer application. Calculated nitrogen budgets for the first 6 yr showed extremely high N retention (85-99%). Of the retained N, 50-83% appears to be in the long-term, recalcitrant soil pool. The relative importance of biotic and abiotic mechanisms of N incorporation into soils remains uncertain. Size, kinetics, and uptake capacity of this soil pool are critical and largely unknown factors determining ecosystem response to increased N loading and may be related to land-use history.

Research on the treatment of sexually abused children: a review and recommendations

Abstract: Objective To review findings and conclusions from 29 studies that evaluated with quantitative outcome measures the effectiveness of treatments for sexually abused children. Results The studies overall document improvements in sexually abused children consistent with the belief that therapy facilitates recovery, but only five of them marshal evidence that the recovery is not simply due to the passage of time or some factor outside therapy. There has yet to be a true large-scale, randomized trial of treatment versus control. The studies suggest that certain problems, such as aggressiveness and sexualized behavior, are particularly resistant to change and that some children do not improve. A number of considerations that merit special attention in future sexual abuse therapy outcome research are identified, including (1) the diversity of sexually abused children, (2) the problem of children with no symptoms, (3) the possible existence of serious “sleeper” effects, (4) the importance of family context on recovery, (5) the utility of abuse-focused therapy and targeted interventions, (6) the optimal length of treatment, (7) the problem of treatment dropouts, and (8) the development and use of abuse-specific outcome measures. Conclusion The need for more treatment outcome research is highlighted by the rising demand for accountability in the health care system that will increasingly require professionals in the field of sexual abuse treatment to justify their efforts and their methods.