State legislation on abortion after Roe v. Wade: selected constitutional issues

Over the past three years, a great volume of legislation on abortion has been produced by state legislatures in an attempt to fill the vacuum created by the United States Supreme Court's 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade. This Article examines several of the most common types of statutory provisions and assesses their constitutionality in light of Roe v. Wade and other applicable federal and state legal standards.     

Forcing the issue of physician-assisted suicide. Impact of the Kevorkian case on the euthanasia debate

In this review article we have attempted to provide an overview of the various forms of activity-dependent interactions between motoneurones and muscles and its consequences for the development of the motor unit. During early development the components of the motor unit undergo profound changes. Initially the two cell types develop independently of each other. The mechanisms that regulate their characteristic properties and prepare them for their encounter are poorly understood. However, when motor axons reach their target muscles the interaction between these cells profoundly affects their survival and further development. The earliest interactions between motoneurones and muscle fibres generate a form of activity which is in many ways different from that seen at later stages. This difference may be due to the immature types of ion channels and neurotransmitter receptors present in the membranes of both motoneurones and muscle fibres. For example, spontaneous release of acetylcholine may influence the myotube even before any synaptic specialization appears. This initial form of activity-dependent interaction does not necessarily depend on the generation of action potentials in either the motoneurone or the muscle fibre. Nevertheless, the ionic fluxes and electric fields produced by such interactions are likely to activate second messenger systems and influence the cells. An important step for the development of the motor unit in its final form is the initial distribution of synaptic contacts to primary and secondary myotubes and their later reorganization. Mechanisms that determine these events are proposed. It is argued that the initial layout of the motor unit territory depends on the matching of immature muscle fibres (possibly secondary myotubes) to terminals with relatively weak synaptic strength. Such matching can be the consequence of the properties of the muscle fibre at a particular stage of maturation which will accept only nerve terminals that match their developmental stage. Refinements of the motor unit territory follows later. It is achieved by activity-dependent elimination of nerve terminals from endplates that are innervated by more than one motoneurone. In this way the territory of the motor unit is established, but not necessarily the homogeneity of the physiological and biochemical properties of its muscle fibres. These properties develop gradually, largely as a consequence of the activity pattern that is imposed upon the muscle fibres supplied by a given motoneurone. This occurs when the motor system in the CNS completes its development so that specialized activity patterns are transmitted by particular motoneurones to the muscle fibres they supply.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)     

Transforming the child-care debate.

Criticizes L. B. Silverstein's (see record 1992-05293-001) article on child and maternal employment, which attacks what she perceives as the current agenda and misrepresents the nature and scope of current child-care research. N. Shpancer suggests that current child-care research is far from being confined by the myth of motherhood, and that it is largely aimed at exploring the factors contributing to quality care and those influencing both within-type and between-type differences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Rhetoric and the recovered memory debate.

Examines arguments about repression and dissociation in recent writings on the debate about the veracity of recovered memories of childhood abuse. Using the contributions of rhetorical psychology, discursive psychology, and conversational studies of argumentation, the authors studied the deployment of repression and dissociation by supporters of recovered memory, the refutations of skeptics, and the means by which arguments and counter-arguments were presented as factual. Supporters situate repression and dissociation within a long tradition of scholarly inquiry and draw on clients' personal accounts. Skeptics deny the existence of scientific evidence for the concept of repression. They suggest that dissociation, while a plausible phenomenon, cannot justifiably explain recovered memories. The implications for stasis and change within the recovered memory debate are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anne Roe: Richardson Creativity Award 1968.

Acknowledges the 1968 recipient of the Richardson Creativity Award. The American Psychological Association's (APA) announced that Anne Roe is this year's Richardson award winner. The award was established by the Richardson Foundation in 1965. The Citation notes Roe's early and imaginative application of biographical study, personality assessment, and clinical evaluation of eminent and creative scientists in different fields, including physics, biology, and behavioral science. Roe has held many elected and appointed positions in the APA and has received the American Personnel and Guidance Association's Honorable Mention for Outstanding Research as coauthor of The Origin of Interests, 1966; the National Vocational Guidance Association's Lifetime Career Award, 1967; and the Harvard Graduate School of Education Association Award, 1967. The recipient also received a check for five thousand dollars. A biography and the award citation are presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Representativeness of the Wade and Baker sample: A reply to Garfield.

Responds to S. L. Garfield's (1978) comments on a previous study by T. C. Wade and T. B. Baker (see record 1978-20152-001) on clinical psychologists' opinions and use of psychological tests. Discrepancies between the study and Garfield's work may have resulted from differences in the questionnaire format, as the findings are remarkably similar. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Methodological issues in assisted suicide and euthanasia research.

A growing body of research has addressed various aspects of the assisted suicide debate. However, this literature is plagued by methodological shortcomings and limitations. This review describes the primary methodological issues and difficulties found in the existing assisted suicide and euthanasia literature. The methodological issues discussed fall into several broad categories, including difficulties in operationalizing and measuring dependent variables, sampling constraints and biases, confounding influences on independent variables, and statistical considerations. These issues are discussed along with implications for the interpretation of the results reported. Where possible, potential solutions are offered, along with recommendations for future research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A welcomed and overdue debate.

Replies to comments by J. Prochaska (see record 2010-00152-002) to the author's original critique (see record 2008-13168-006) on the transtheoretical model and smoking cessation. Herzog is disappointed that Prochaska elected not to address the central point of the critique: that the stages of change (SOC) are not qualitatively distinct categories, and that the SOC algorithm systematically underestimates motivation to quit among smokers. All major hypotheses of the TTM depend on the subsidiary hypothesis that the SOC algorithm is a valid measure of motivation to quit smoking. If the SOC is not a valid measure, then the TTM can be expected to produce unsatisfactory results. As for the issues that Prochaska does raise, most of these already are refuted in the critique itself. Herzog did not, as Prochaska suggests, attempt to “prove the null hypothesis.” Rather, his straightforward position is that the TTM as a stage model is not well supported by empirical evidence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Theralaw and the law–business paradigm debate.

During the 1990s, both therapeutic jurisprudence and preventive law flourished as scholarly disciplines and have been increasingly viewed as complementary and connected, a fusion the author refers to as theralaw. The alternative dispute resolution (ADR) movement launched during the 1970s has also continued to grow. Simultaneously, debate in society has escalated regarding the proper organization and regulation of lawyers. Simply put, the debate is to a large degree over whether law practice is better modeled as a business or a profession. The author examines that emerging debate in the context of theralaw and ADR, assessing the potential implications of the respective models of lawyering for these growing fields of legal service. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the role of psychology in Greece: Comment on Bouhoutsos and Roe.

The present author agrees for the most part with J. C. Bouhoutsos and K. V. Roe's (see record 1984-26827-001) article concerning the current state of Greek psychology but clarifies the situation by commenting briefly on the political, economic, and educational environment in Greece. (1 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Realpolitik and the empirically validated treatment debate.

The impact on Canadian professional psychological treatment practices of the American Psychological Association (APA) Division 12 (Clinical Psychology) Task Force on the Promotion and Dissemination of Psychological Procedures' development of criteria and listings for empirically supported psychological treatments, along with other industrial efforts to standardize the identification of treatments with established efficacy is described in the article by J. Hunsley et al (see record 1999-01869-001). M. C. King comments on the aforementioned article by expanding on the likely impact of these initiatives on practice patterns of psychotherapy in Canada. The outline of directions for practice in Canada is clearer than Hunsley et al claim, so much so that Canadian developments are quite similar to some of the US directions. King claims that it is essential for Canadian psychology to adhere to the proposed policies, and to shape how they will be used to affect funding of and access to psychological treatments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reply to comments on the child-care debate.

Responds to comments by W. B. Johnson and D. Hayes (see record 1993-41125-001), J. E. Maddux (see record 1993-41129-001), K. McCarthey et al (see record 1993-41130-001), the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Early Child Care Network (see record 1993-41132-001), and N. Shpancer (see record 1993-41138-001) on L. B. Silverstein's (see record 1992-05293-001) original article on child care and maternal employment, noting that the comments go a long way toward expanding the child-care debate, if not transforming it. Silverstein focuses on the role of psychology in policymaking and the responsibility of government in the lives of individuals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anne Roe (1904–1991): Obituary.

Discusses in memoriam the contributions of A. Roe to research in creativity and the psychology of occupational choice. A primary interest was in the importance of an occupation to the life functioning and health of normal, non-intellectually impaired people, and she went on to develop theories about the relationships between job and personality characteristics (e.g., of scientists and artists). Roe alternated between doing research projects and doing clinical work that led to studying the intellectual functioning of schizophrenics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)