Edward A. Nelsen

CHANGES IN CRIME RATES AND FAMILY-RELATED VALUES IN SELECTED EAST EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

Observations and longitudinal comparisons of emerging trends within formerly socialist East European countries offer a unique opportunity to observe some of the social policies typical of the capitalist and socialist systems and their influence on society. Some of the emerging trends in the Czech Republic, former East Germany, and Russia pertaining to general areas of public health, family, and crime are described. Effects of these changes are discussed within the framework of a recently proposed multiple regression model of criminal behavior in which criminality is attributed to the confluence of gross inequalities in the distribution of wealth and to the disintegration of the traditional family. The changes should be considered in the conduct of research.

A FACTORIAL STUDY O F THE ATTITUDE SCALES ON THE COLLEGE STUDENT QUESTIONNAIRE WITH STUDENTS AT A PREDOMINANTLY BLACK UNIVERSITY.

The study examined the dimensionality of attitudes on the College Student Questionnaires (CSQ). The sample consisted of 772 entering freshmen at a predominantly black liberal arts university. The correlation matrices for the 66 attitude items were factor analyzed using a principal axes factor analysis with an oblique rotation. Among the eleven factors, which accounted for 37% of the variance, the following were interpreted: Family Independence vs. Cohesiveness; Autonomy vs. Influenceability from Peers ; Non-Affiliative vs. Affiliative Peer Orientation; Concern for Social Problems; Aesthetic Interest; and Interest in Politics and World Affairs. These factors were compared with the original CSQ Attitude Scales, and a number of similarities and differences were noted. The items from the CSQ Liberalism Scale did not form any general interpretable factor and the items from the CSQ Peer Independence Scale formed two distinct factors. The findings implied that special scales- corresponding with the factors found in the study-should be considered when studying attitudes of students attending predominantly black colleges and universities.

War-Related Deflections of Economic Trends in Eastern and Western Civilizations

Economic trends for the Eastern and Western Civilizations were compared over the past three centuries and extrapolated into the next one. The convergence of these trends following World War I was deflected following World War II. Without this war, the combined economies of the Far East countries appeared likely to surpass the industrial output of Western countries around the turn of the 20th and the 21st centuries. The 1941–1945 war with Japan delayed the projected intersection of these trends. Extrapolation of the post-World War II trends to 2040 suggests that, without deflection of these trends, the economies of the Far East countries would be likely to surpass the economies of the Western countries around the middle of the 21st century.

CLASS DIFFERENCES AND TRAFFIC DEATHS

The transition of the East European countries from socialist to capitalist economies is marked by an exponential rise in traffic-related deaths. This increase is routinely ascribed to the rising numbers of privately owned cars; however, this explanation does not take into account the fact that, while in the Western societies the number of cars on the road and number of traffic deaths are positively correlated, in the postcommunist countries this correlation is negative. This finding is discussed within the framework of an hypothesis that class differences and related feelings of superiority contribute to homicides related to moving vehicles.