The implications of a functionalist perspective for understanding sexual risk taking are explored. Key motivational dimensions thought to underlie human behavior (viz., approach vs. avoidance, autonomy vs. relatedness) were used to identify 4 broad domains of sexual motivations and to develop a measure of specific motives within each of these domains. Data from both college student and community samples are used to demonstrate the psychometric adequacy of these scales and to show that having sex for different reasons predicts distinctive patterns of sexual risk taking both cross-sectionally and longitudinally: that selection into specific types of sexual relationships partially mediates these effects; and that these needs may be differentially expressed, or even suppressed, depending on relationship context. Results provide strong support for the functionalist perspective on behavior and indicate that an adequate understanding of sexual risk-taking behavior must take into account the various needs and goals that such behavior can serve.

The present study was designed to examine effects of closed-circuit technology on children's testimony and jurors' perceptions of child witnesses. For the study, a series of elaborately staged mock trials )Vas held. First, 5to (ryear-ald and 8to 9-year-old children individually pal1icipated in a play session with an unfamiliar male confederate. Approximately 2 weeks late); children individually testified about the event at a downtown city courtroom. Mock juries composed of community recruits viewed the lrials, with the child's testimony presented either live in open courl or over closed-circuit television. Mock jurors made ratings concerning the child witness and the defendant, ant! deliberated to reach a verdict. Results indicated that overall, older children were more accurate witnesses than younger children. Howevel; older, not younger children produced more inaccurate infO/mation in free recall. Compared to live testimony in open court, use of closed-circuit technolag)' led to decreased suggestibility for younger children. TestiJYing in open COlirt was also a~sociated with children experiencing greater pretrial anxiety. Closed-circuit technology did not diminish factfinders' abilities to discriminate accurate from inaccurate child testimony, nor did it directly bias jurors against the defendant. However; closed-circuit testimony biased jurors against child witnesses. Moreover; jurors tended to base their impressions of witness credibility on perceived confidence and consistency. Implications for the use of closed-circuit technology when children testiJY are discussed.

Numerous innovative procedural reforms have been proposed concerning child victims involved in legal cases. In this study, 153 district attorney offices nationwide were surveyed about their use of innovations, their perceptions of the innovations' effectiveness, reasons why they opt not to utilize innovations, and defense strategies used with child witnesses. Prosecutors were also asked about the type of cases they encountered in which children testified. Prosecutors reported mainly using inexpensive, easy-to-implement innovations, which were also typically rated as helpful in reducing children's trauma and enhancing guilty outcomes. Prosecutors reported rarely using expert witnesses and innovations that altered how children were interviewed or how they testified. The most common types of cases in which children testified involved sexual abuse. Frequent defense strategies to challenge child credibility concerned suggestibility, inaccurate memory, coaching, and delays in reporting abuse. Results are discussed in relation to the need for increased social science research on procedural reforms for child witnesses.

Research with adults demonstrates the existence of distinct norms governing the intentional giving and receiving of benefits within the context of different types of relationships. This study focuses on the development of children's adherence to these norms. We examined first and third grade children's allocation of jointly earned rewards after they had worked on a task with either an acquaintance or a friend. In both grades, more children working with friends than with an acquaintance divided the reward equally. In both grades acquaintances tended to use an equity norm more often than did friends. This effect was not significant among first graders but was significant among third graders. Moreover, third grade pairs of friends were significantly more likely than first grade pairs of friends to divide rewards equally. These results provide evidence of children's increasing use of communal norms in their friendships.

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