An online survey of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) adults (N ϭ 1,552) examined minority stress (I. H. Meyer, 2003) and psychological distress following the 2006 general election in which constitutional amendments to limit marriage to 1 man and 1 woman were on the ballot in 9 states. Following the November election, participants living in states that passed a marriage amendment reported significantly more minority stress (i.e., exposure to negative media messages and negative conversations, negative amendment-related affect, and LGB activism) and higher levels of psychological distress (negative affect, stress, and depressive symptoms) than participants living in the other states. Multiple hierarchical regression analyses revealed significant positive main effects of minority stress factors and state ballot status on psychological distress. In addition, the association between amendment-related affect and psychological distress was significantly higher in states that had passed a marriage amendment compared with other states. Discussion of these findings emphasizes that marriage amendments create an environment associated with negative psychological outcomes for LGB individuals.

The identification of aged latent fingerprints is often difficult, especially for those of children. To understand this phenomenon, the chemical composition of children's versus adults' latent fingerprints was examined over time using Fourier transform infrared microscopy. Hierarchical cluster analysis revealed that children's and adults' prints were distinguishable for up to 4 weeks after deposition, based on differences in sebum composition. Specifically, adults had a higher lipid content than children, but both decreased over time, attributable to the volatility of free fatty acids. The aliphatic CH(3), aliphatic CH(2), and carbonyl ester compositions changed differently in adults versus children over time, consistent with higher cholesterol and cholesteryl esters in children's prints and wax esters and glycerides in adults' prints. Thus, fingerprint composition changes with time differently in children versus adults, making it a sensitive metric to estimate the age of an individual, especially when the age of the print is known.

Hypothetical vignettes were used to examine the effects of teacher pedagogical skill (good vs. poor), interpersonal caring (caring vs. not), and classroom goal structure (performance vs. mastery) on high school students' judgments about the target of blame for cheating (teacher vs. student), the acceptability of cheating, and the likelihood of cheating. Students' personal goals and academic self-efficacy were also assessed. As hypothesized, poor pedagogy, performance goal structures, and low teacher caring resulted in more teacher blame and less student blame for cheating, and cheating was rated as more justifiable and more likely in these scenarios. The relations between context variables and justifiability were partially mediated by attributions of blame. Although contextual variables had a greater effect than individual motivation variables on participants' judgments of cheating justifiability, judgments about cheating morality were better explained by personal motivation.