Using hierarchical logistic regression with a nationally representative sample of state prisoners ( n = 12,504), we found inmates with dual severe psychiatric and substance abuse disorders to be at higher risk of being assaulted and to assault others in prison than nonmentally ill inmates. Dually disordered inmates may be “importing” characteristics that put them at more risk of involvement in assaults. Next, more than 50% of assault victims were themselves the perpetrators of assault, and significant percentages of inmates reported posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) diagnoses and physical and sexual victimizations. With other studies linking PTSD and being assaulted with revictimization and violence toward others, substance abuse, and poorer psychiatric outcomes, a study implication is providing inmates with effective trauma-relevant treatments.

The authors analyzed the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K) national data set to investigate gender differences in ability group placement in American kindergartens. They found that in kindergarten, within-class ability grouping was widely used for reading instruction, with boys being underrepresented in high-achieving reading groups and overrepresented in lowachieving ones. Gender differences in reading group placement were consistent across classrooms and were explained by student-level characteristics. Boys' underrepresentation in high reading groups was explained by their lower reading skills at kindergarten entry, as measured by the reading test scores available in the ECLS-K. By contrast, boys' overrepresentation in low reading groups was only partially explained by their lower test scores. Compared with girls of similar social background and reading test scores, boys continued to have higher chances of placement into a low reading group. This remaining gender difference was explained by the lower teacher evaluations of boys' reading skills and approaches to learning. Boys' disadvantages in reading group placement at school entry raise concern over their further academic success.

Abstract

Residential mobility is a normal feature of family life but thought to be a source of disruption to a child's development. Mobility may have its own direct consequences or reflect families' capabilities and vulnerabilities. This article examines the association between changes of residence and verbal and behavioral scores of children aged 5, contributing to the literature in three ways. First, it compares two countries, by drawing on the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study in the United States (N = up to 1,820) and an urban subsample of the U.K. Millennium Cohort study (N = up to 7,967). Second, beside taking into account an extensive range of demographic characteristics, it applies inverse probability weights to minimize observable selection bias associated with residential mobility and further controls for a wide range of family changes that often co-occur with moves. Third, the article adds to extant research on residential mobility by incorporating the type of locality from and into which families move. Individual-level longitudinal data are linked to objective measures of neighborhood socioeconomic status to gauge the quality of moves families make. Results show that residential moves are not inevitably deleterious to children. In both countries the poorer outcomes of some moves result not from moving per se but rather from the context in which they occur.