Michael Leo Owens

Effects of paroxetine and venlafaxine XR on heart rate variability in depression.

Abstract: Depressed patients may exhibit reduced heart rate variability (HRV), and antidepressants which block norepinephrine uptake may also lower HRV. This study compared paroxetine (PAR) and venlafaxine XR (VEN-XR) on HRV. Outpatients were randomly assigned to double-blind treatment with PAR up to 40 mg or VEN-XR up to 225 mg daily. HRV measures of parasympathetic control consisted of change in R-R interval during forced 10-second breaths and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) during paced breathing. Ex vivo estimates of serotonin and norepinephrine transporter occupancy were obtained before and after treatment, as were measures of depression, anxiety, and resilience. Plasma drug concentrations were measured at end point. Forty-nine patients entered treatment; 44 of whom were evaluable (n = 22 per group). Significant within-group reductions were noted in R-R interval variation and in RSA after VEN-XR only. Between-group analyses showed significant group-by-time interaction, with greater reduction in R-R interval variation and in RSA for VEN-XR compared with PAR. Improvement in resiliency correlated significantly with norepinephrine transporter occupancy for VEN-XR. Further comparisons of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor and serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor drugs on HRV are warranted.

The Political Determinants of Women’s Descriptive Representation in Cities

Why is the descriptive (or numerical) representation of women in policy-making positions higher in some cities than in others? Despite a strong body of work on the descriptive representation of women in state government, research on the presence of women in municipal government is limited in empirical scope and theoretical development. This study is different. First, the authors employ an original data set of 239 cities with populations of 100,000 or more to update and extend the empirical reach of scholars’ knowledge. Second, the authors develop and test hypotheses to explain how the urban political context affects women’s descriptive representation. The analysis reveals that the election of women as council members and mayors are interdependent phenomena. The authors also find that political characteristics of local communities are consequential for predicting the presence of women as municipal policy makers—just as consequential as electoral structures and other institutional features.

“Deviants” and Democracy Punitive Policy Designs and the Social Rights of Felons as Citizens

Punitive policy designs diminish felons as citizens. Scholars know much about the designs’ influence on felons’ political and civil rights. They know little of how policy influences felons’ social rights. Examining the discretion of states to retain or reform federal bans on drug felons receiving cash and food assistance between 1997 and 2004, we explain the choices states make about extending social rights to “deviants.” We draw from theories of neoinstitutional organization, group threat, and political incorporation. Multivariate analysis suggest that the severity of states’ penal regimes and the degree to which felons and poor people threaten social order have the greatest influence on states’ responses to the federal sanctions on drug felons. Our study informs understandings of why some states take a “punitive turn” while other states may counter convention, exercising discretion to reduce rather than increase their punitiveness toward felons specifically and lawbreaking generally.

Long march ahead : African American churches and public policy in post-civil rights America

Contributors: Cathy J. Cohen Megan McLaughlin Columba Aham Nnorum Michael Leo Owens Desiree Pedescleaux Barbara D. Savage R. Drew Smith Emilie Townes Christopher Winship

HOW RACIAL ATTITUDES AND IDEOLOGY AFFECT POLITICAL RIGHTS FOR FELONS

This research examines the extent to which negative attitudes toward African Americans influence public reactions to restoring political rights to felons. We argue that race-neutral policies, such as felon disenfranchisement laws, are non-separable from racial considerations, as images of criminals and felons are typically associated with Blacks. Such attitudes produce collateral consequences for felons, hampering the restoration of their full political rights and, ultimately, their citizenship. Predispositions, such as racial attitudes and political ideology, provide both racial and nonracial justifications for supporting these laws, yet, there are no empirical accounts of their relational effects on opinion toward felons’ rights. Using nationally representative survey data, we find that racialized resentment and ideology exert the most influence on the reactions to policies seeking political rights for felons as well as beliefs about the value of doing so. Consistent with much of the literature on attitudes toward ameliorative racial policies, higher levels of racial resentment strongly predict lower support for felons’ political rights among both conservatives and liberals, yet, racial resentment is most influential among liberals. Conservatives exhibit the highest levels of racial resentment, but its impact is depressed more by agreement on both racial attitudes and opposition to political rights of felons.

Regional or parochial? Support for cross-community sharing within city-regions

ABSTRACT This article explores whether citizens of city-regions hold a particular attitude about collective action. We model individual support for the new regionalist idea that communities sharing the same city-region (i.e., metropolitan area) should share resources across them to solve regional problems. Using data from a random sample survey of adults living in 15 metropolitan areas in the state of Georgia in the United States, we use Bayesian analysis to determine the effects of a set of individual and contextual factors on the attitude. Conventional political cleavages of race, gender, and place of residence produce the strongest effects. We offer a set of theoretical, methodological, and practical implications for future research on political orientations of citizens in city-regions.

WEAKENING STRONG BLACK POLITICAL EMPOWERMENT: IMPLICATIONS FROM ATLANTA'S 2009 MAYORAL ELECTION

ABSTRACT: Atlanta is perhaps the city with the greatest degree of black political empowerment (BPE) in the United States. Yet in 2009 a relatively weak white mayoral candidate nearly won the general and runoff elections over a field of stronger black candidates. Why? Treating Atlanta as a prototypical case, the article examines factors that undermine the capacity of blacks to retain control of mayoralties in strong BPE cities, with an emphasis on disruptions to black electorates, discontent among black citizens, and reinvestment in electoral politics by whites at the local level.

Public Support for the “Regional Perspective”: A Consideration of Religion

Factors beside material self-interest may explain public attitudes toward cross-community sharing of resources in metropolitan areas. This article considers whether religion is a factor that influences public support for this regional perspective. Employing original survey data from metropolitan areas in Georgia, it examines the effects of religious tradition and religious salience on the breadth and strength of public support for the regional perspective, holding other factors constant (e.g., suburban residence and homeownership). The findings provide evidence that the choices people may make in metropolitan areas regarding whether to commune with others are open to multiple sources of influence, inclusive of religion.

The Distributive Politics of "Compassion in Action": Federal Funding, Faith-Based Organizations, and Electoral Advantage

Incorporating race into tactical spending for electoral gain, this article revisits the relative effects of vote production and vote retention on distributive politics. It investigates whether a “compassion strategy” to influence the electoral behavior of voters while being responsive to need-based social welfare demands affected federal discretionary grants to faith-based organizations (FBOs) during the administration of George W. Bush. The findings suggest that federal domestic social welfare funding of FBOs may have involved a combination of the tactical use of grants for both electoral purposes (i.e., vote production and vote retention) and the reduction of need among the states.

Racial Resentment and the Restoration of Voting Rights for Felons

The conference chairs call for papers examining “The Politics of Rights,” including how “rights are defined, contested, contracted or expanded, enshrined into law, and rolled back.” In keeping with this theme we propose to present a paper that investigates how racial resentments influence public attitudes towards the restoration of rights to felons. We analyzed the extent to which racial resentment, and beliefs about sociotropic consequences of actions to restore voting rights, shape opinions and beliefs about the restoration of the franchise to felons. We posit that racial stereotypes are instinctively tied to perceptions of who is more likely to be a felon in the United States, and thus individuals use their racial beliefs to make decisions about the deservingness of voting rights for all felons. We proposed to many in the public employ the egalitarian belief that no one should receive special considerations (e.g., voting rights) if they have been convicted. In this way the denial of voting rights to felons appears justified on a moral basis despite being founded on racial schema. Thus, racial resentments toward African Americans should predict support for the restoration of voting rights for felons, as well as beliefs about whether such restoration is good or bad for society. Our data come from the 2010 Cooperative Congressional Election Study (N=1,000), which includes a newly developed “explicit racial resentment” scale. The results show that racial resentment is a significant predictor of opposition to Congressional action to restore voting rights, even among those who agree that restoring the franchise would better society.