A secure base in adolescence: markers of attachment security in the mother-adolescent relationship

This study sought to identify ways in which adolescent attachment security, as assessed via the Adult Attachment Interview, is manifest in qualities of the secure base provided by the mother-adolescent relationship. Assessments included data coded from mother-adolescent interactions, test-based data, and adolescent self-reports obtained from an ethnically and socioeconomically diverse sample of moderately at-risk 9th and 10th graders. This study found several robust markers of adolescent attachment security in the mother-adolescent relationship. Each of these markers was found to contribute unique variance to explaining adolescent security, and in combination, they accounted for as much as 40% of the raw variance in adolescent security. These findings suggest that security is closely connected to the workings of the mother-adolescent relationship via a secure-base phenomenon, in which the teen can explore independence in thought and speech from the secure base of a maternal relationship characterized by maternal attunement to the adolescent and maternal supportiveness.     

Quality Judgements and Quality Improvement

This paper considers the quality movement in English higher education through an examination of four quality techniques, those of Total Quality Management, assurance of systems, assessment and audit. A heuristic device is used to further understanding through examination of judgements concerning association of the four techniques with a range of purposes, criteria and methods of evaluation. An emphasis throughout is the connections between improvement and evaluation; teaching and learning are the focus of the discussion. Some of the conclusions are linked to possible ways forward for the next phase of assessment, including the need to reduce emphasis on external evaluation and measurement and facilitate the development of a culture more aligned to improvement.     

New business models: AgBiotechNet™, a case study

The article examines the launch by CABI Publishing of a new internet product called AgBiotechNet™. The product was launched in January 1999 and features a range of content from news stories through to review articles and a bibliographic database taken from CAB ABSTRACTS™. The article describes the pre- and post-launch phases of AgBiotechNet™, and does, so the author hopes, provide some pointers on what it means to develop a new business model for the internet.     

Social and legal ramifications of a child crisis line

The article suggests the importance of a crisis line for children as a way of making it easier for them to report when they are abused or neglected. The Childhelp Line set up in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 1982, has shown that such a service is effective in reaching critical child and family situations not previously known to helping professionals. The Line is manned by carefully selected and trained volunteers. This has proved to have significant advantages, particularly in the absence of mandatory reporting of child abuse. The article also looks at the ambivalence towards the Childhelp Line expressed by parents, children, counselors, and the community, and at the legal issues raised by the service.