We utilize a new policy adoption database with over 500 policies to test whether the initiative process influences the timing of policy adoption. Prior studies have produced both supportive and null findings of the effect of the initiative, but typically examine policies one policy or a single composite score at a time. Theoretical accounts suggest that the initiative process should have heterogeneous effects on policy outcomes depending on the configuration of public and government preferences. By pooling hundreds of policies we are able to estimate the average effect of the initiative process on state policy adoption more systematically while also evaluating variation in its effect. We find via a pooled event history analysis that the initiative tends to increase innovativeness, but that this effect can be cancelled out by signature and distribution requirements. We find that this effect varies substantially across policies and is more consistently positive on average in states more liberal populations. We also find evidence that the initiative process moderates the effect of ideology on policy adoption, while making the adoption of non-ideological policies more likely on average.

Voters often make decisions on ballot measures with limited information. Research shows, however, that elite endorsements can help voters overcome their information deficiencies. Using survey experiments, we evaluate the effect of a gubernatorial endorsement on three recent ballot measures. We find that identifying the governor as a proponent of a particular measure has a significant effect on respondents' support for only one of the three ballot measures we examine: a highly publicized health initiative in 2000. For two lower profile referendums on bonds supporting higher education (in 2006) and roads (in 2011), a gubernatorial endorsement proved ineffective. These results hold even when we restrict our sample to respondents who are the most likely to be influenced by the treatment. As a result, we tentatively conclude that gubernatorial endorsements, while valuable to some voters, are highly conditional.

Video games are influencing users' perceptions about what soldiers are permitted to do during war. They may also be influencing the way combatants actually behave during today's armed conflicts. While highly entertaining escapism for millions of players, some video games create the impression that prohibited acts, such as torture and extrajudicial killing are standard behaviour. The authors argue that further integration of international humanitarian law (IHL) can improve knowledge of the rules of war among millions of players, including aspiring recruits and deployed soldiers. This, in turn, offers the promise of greater respect for IHL on tomorrow's battlefields.

Postnatal and antenatal depression present significant public health concerns. Current opinion on the use of these terms is noted. Previous research findings demonstrate that detrimental effects of untreated maternal depression/anxiety are potentially severe and impact on the whole family; longer-term effects on child development are described. Australia has responded to such overwhelming empirical evidence by the implementation of the National Perinatal Depression Initiative. Key objectives and a brief overview of the work in progress of this Initiative are offered.

What led elites in some U.S. states to surrender policy-making power to voters between 1898 and 1918, while leaders elsewhere retained only representative democracy? The authors argue that progressives behaved as strategic politicians by supporting direct democracy when they were stymied at achieving their goals in the legislature and were confident that the voters who would be empowered by initiatives that agreed with progressive policies. They made their delegation of power conditional on who would receive it. The presence of these underlying conditions made adoption of the citizen initiative likely, the authors posit, while the timing of reforms came when insurgent reformers had a strong presence in state government, when the results of a galvanizing election sent a clear signal, or when the adoption of the initiative in one state diffused to its neighbors. Exploring these hypotheses by analyzing a new data set, the authors find strong support for their expectations about the conditions that created fertile ground for direct democracy.

What characterizes senior citizens clubs is the fact that they are independently run: this raises the question of leadership within these groupings. Consequently, the purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between two styles of leadership in club presidents and the mother tongue, the number of hours/week spent on the club's business, the size of the board and club membership. Over 160 presidents completed the “Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire”. A canonical analysis revealed that styles of leadership are related to maternal language, size of board and club membership, and hours/week spent on club's business.

Investigation into positive youth development has led researchers to focus on the context of leisure as one that provides youth with opportunities to develop the skills and competencies desired for successful adulthood. This study surveyed 53 (14 males, 39 females, mean age 14.6) Western Australian high school students using an adapted version of the Youth Experience Survey (YES) 2.0. Participants were asked to report their perceived developmental experiences in both structured and unstructured activities across 2 domains: identity work and initiative development. Structured activities were found to offer adolescents more opportunities for the development of initiative than unstructured activities. In addition more adult involvement was found to be associated with higher levels of both identity work and initiative development experiences. No differences were found in developmental experiences between different structured activities. However comparisons among different unstructured activities suggest that some forms of unstructured leisure may be particularly beneficial to youth development Unstructured activities such as hobbies and unstructured sports offered adolescents more initiative and identity experiences than alternate unstructured activities such as media use and communication activities. Results are discussed in reference to theories of initiative development and the implications to the wider community.