Tattoos,gender, and well-being among American college students

This research note examines the relationship between survey respondents’ reports of escalating numbers of tattoos and their measured levels of self-esteem, depression, suicide ideation, and reports of one or more suicide attempts. Data were gathered from 2,395 college students attending six American public universities. Results indicate a four-fold higher level of reported suicide attempts among females with four or more tattoos as compared to those with no tattoos, or three or less. Paradoxically, results also indicate a statistically significant elevation in self-esteem within that same group. No other findings and comparisons are statistically significant. These findings are interpreted in light of previous research examining the relationship between tattoos and gender, body image, and deviance.     

Stigma of ink: Tattoo attitudes among college students

We test a structural equations model of stigma against tattooed persons and attitudes toward future tattoos among 195 tattooed and 257 non-tattooed college students. Having tattooed friends and family members undermines stigma against tattooed persons while beliefs about negative side effects of tattooing reinforces stigma assignment. The variables above and the respondent having a tattoo predict attitude toward future tattoos. We test a second model, stigma victimization, drawing on data from the 195 tattooed respondents. While greater tattoo abundance results in greater stigma victimization, respondents with more tattoos also report a greater commitment to their current tattoos and less desire for removal. We discuss results using attitude theory, stigma theory, and the contact theory of prejudice.     

The dilemmas of embodied symbolic representation: Regret in contemporary American tattoo narratives

Numerous scholars have argued that we are currently in a post “tattoo renaissance” era wherein the practice has increasingly become a legitimate art form accepted by the American middle class. In order to facilitate this cultural transition, tattooed people legitimize their own tattoos through various narratives that ascribe deep semantic meaning to their images and words. Pulling from twenty-two in-depth interviews with tattoo removal clinicians, tattoo artists, people who regret at least one of their current tattoos, and people who have had their tattoos removed or altered, this paper contributes to the literature on the meaning and significance of tattoos in the lives of 21st century Americans. In particular, we aim to showcase that, in the current cultural context, wherein people feel a need to justify their tattoos with a level of profound symbolic meaning, tattoo regret abounds in a form distinct from that of previous generations. Drawing from a post-structuralist framework which understands tattoos as symbols, we discuss tattoo narratives as pervasive normative expectations and explore how people face potential dilemmas when they lack them, as well as when they subscribe static and absolute meanings to the words and images depicted in their body art. These narratives, and accordingly the tattoos themselves, become problematic as a result of the inability of tattoos to function beyond their capacity as symbolic representations. When people cannot reconcile or transcend the dynamic and relative nature of their tattoos’ symbolic meanings, they feel regretful and sometimes opt for tattoo cover-ups or removals.     

新媒体、受众与主流价值观建构--以流行歌曲传播为例

思考主流价值观的建构策略,至少需要考虑近年来媒介传播方式的迭变,以及由此带动的受众实践方式的变化这两方面因素。新媒体一方面大大降低了音乐生产、传播的成本,使音乐的创作变得越来越个体化,另一方面,它也使流行音乐产业危机四伏。新媒体中,私人化收听行为滋生了某种“权力对冲结构”。对于音乐作品中的价值观念,受众并非简单接受,还会有各种形式的改写与挪用。我们应从流行文艺与主流价值体系的各自不足出发,发现彼此需要之处,促进相互提升,还应通过多方商讨,勘定当代价值观底线。     

文化自觉视阈中的艺术类大学生德育工作

在各种思想文化交流、交融、交锋的全球化时代,文化自觉的重要性日益凸显。面对艺术类大学生文化自觉的缺失,高校德育要承担起培育艺术类大学生文化自觉的使命,教育和培养艺术类大学生对主流文化的坚定信仰、对民族传统文化的自觉体认和对外来文化的批判借鉴,实现"以文化人"的德育理念。     

Getting inked: Tattoo and risky behavioral involvement among university students

The purpose of the study is to assess university students’ involvement in tattooing and examine associations between tattooing and risky behaviors. University students enrolled in physical education and health classes at one Midwestern University are study participants, and a survey is used to examine 998 university students’ involvement in tattooing. The results indicate that 29.6% of respondents have a tattoo. The most common locations for tattoos are the chest (37.6%), foot (26.8%), arm (15.8%), and back (14.4%). Females are more likely than males to have a tattoo. Tattooed students are significantly more likely than non-tattooed students to engage in alcohol and marijuana use and risky sexual behaviors. Suicidal behaviors and suicidal ideation are not related to tattoo status among university students. Therefore, college health professionals should be aware of associations between tattooing and risky behavioral involvement. Educational programs are needed to increase student awareness of body modification and associated risk behaviors.     

穿孔文化的社会学探究

人类在自己的身体上穿孔大概有6000年以上的历史了。现今，越来越多的青年男女不再是为穿孔而穿孔。却开始了另外一种穿“孔”艺术。他们在身体很多部位都打上孔，穿上各种各样的饰物，用一种张扬，另类的方式诠释这种古老的“艺术”。     

Currents in a Stream: College Student Identities and Ethnic Identities and Their Relationship with Self‐Esteem,Efficacy, and Grade Point Average in an Urban University*

Objectives. We investigate how college student identities and ethnic identities vary among black, white, and Asian students and among immigrant, second‐, and third‐generation students at a large public urban university (in counterpoint to recent studies at highly selective schools). In addition, we explore how those identities are related to college students' sense of self‐esteem and efficacy and their academic performance. Methods. We use survey data from a sample (N=652) of students attending a large diverse public urban university to create new indexes for several dimensions of college identity and ethnic identity and use existing self‐esteem and efficacy indexes to compare black, white, and Asian students, as well as immigrant, second‐generation, and third‐generation students. Results. Among several significant identity differences, we find: (1) whites are lower than blacks on college identity indexes, and immigrant students are higher than subsequent‐generation students on college student identity measures; (2) whites are lower than blacks and Asians on ethnic identity measures; only the ethnic activities index declines linearly from immigrant to second‐ to third‐generation students; (3) blacks have higher self‐esteem and efficacy than whites or Asians; whites have higher GPAs than blacks or Asians, while immigrant students have higher GPAs than third‐generation students; and (4) at least one college student identity dimension and one ethnic identity dimension is related to self‐esteem, efficacy, and GPA. Conclusions. How young adults conceive of themselves as college students and the way they formulate their own racial‐ethnic identities is related to their self‐esteem, efficacy, and academic performance. Moreover, the pattern that these relationships take is somewhat different at a large diverse public urban university than at highly selective universities.     

Social psychology and neoliberalism: A critical commentary on McDonald,Gough, Wearing,and Deville (2017)

McDonald, Gough, Wearing, and Deville (2017) call for the discipline of social psychology to investigate issues of neoliberalism, consumption and self‐identity more seriously. We make two contributions in relation to their analysis. First, we highlight some current issues associated with neoliberalism as a concept that leave us in doubt regarding the analytical usefulness of the term. Due to its imprecision and over‐extension, predominant association with the left who use it pejoratively, and altered economic circumstances, we are increasingly skeptical of neoliberalism's analytical validity to social psychology. Second, we also stress the importance of interdisciplinarity, but suggest that empirical insights from mainstream social psychology have much to offer social scientists concerned with how current economic developments impact upon self‐identity and social behaviour. We conclude by pointing out that a greater openness to heterodoxy within and between critical and mainstream strands and the wider social sciences are required if social psychologists are going to make more persuasive impacts to the study and resistance of market logic.     

Horizontal Hostility; Relations Between Similar Minority Groups

Two studies were conducted to examine the relations between similar minority groups. We predicted that minority group members would show horizontal hostility, a form of prejudice, against members of a similar, but more mainstream, minority group. The results of both studies confirmed this hypothesis. In Study 1, members of 3 Jewish congregations (reform, conservative, orthodox) showed prejudice against a member of a similar but slightly more secular congregation. In Study 2, members of a college varsity soccer team showed prejudice against junior varsity players. We conclude by suggesting that horizontal hostility is the result of social changes since Allport (1954) wrote The Nature of Prejudice. Members of minority groups value their minority social identity, even when the group is stigmatized. The positive value of minority social identity causes group members to look down on members of similar, more mainstream groups.     

The protestant ethic and the religious tattoo

This research illustrates how basic ideas from Weber's Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism are reflected in religious individuals’ choices in obtaining tattoos. Qualitative responses to survey questions show that, among 60 university students who indicated they have one, religious tattoos reflect asceticism in their lives, point them to service (calling) in the name of God, or provide a level of assurance (or anxiety) regarding life after death. We offer this work as an illustration of how the essence of Weber's work persists in the popular culture of the 21st century.     

Seeing the Insane in Textbooks of Abnormal Psychology: The Uses of Art in Histories of Mental Illness

Pictures in historical chapters of textbooks convey information about the values and assumptions of the authors'professions and the larger culture. We scrutinized 15 recent abnormal psychology textbooks for reproductions of art created before 1900. Thirteen works appeared in three (20%) or more textbooks. Overall, these pictures support a "Whiggish" account of history that celebrates the present and gives a distorted, incomplete rendering of the past. The 13 pictures tended to depict the mentally ill as an underclass who are released from their literal and metaphorical shackles by men who are "ahead of their time" in their struggles against prevailing ignorance. The pictures also emphasized the difference of the mentally ill by presenting a catalogue of stereotypic visual elements attributed to insanity throughout Western history. We argue for the inclusion in textbooks of "history for the sake of the past" as a way of genuinely engaging different ideologies and thereby stimulating interest in our own implicit values and biases.     

Sculpted landscapes: art & place in Cleveland's Cultural Gardens, 1916-2006

Perhaps the world's first peace garden, the Cleveland Cultural Gardens embody the history of twentieth-century America and reveal the complex interrelations between art and place. This essay uses the Cleveland Cultural Gardens as a lens through which to explore how art and place have intersected over time. It explores how communities have negotiated questions of national, ethnic, and American identity and embedded those identities into the vernacular landscape. It considers how the particulars of place were embedded into a public garden and asks whether it is possible for public art to transcend its place—both in terms of geography and history. In some sense, the Gardens have transcended their place, but in others respects, their fortunes were bound inextricably to that place, to the economic, demographic, and cultural contours that shaped and reshaped Northern Ohio. As works of art, the Cleveland Cultural Gardens both have reflected the history of Cleveland and American industrial cities during the 20th century and revealed something of the dynamics that underscored the changing character of public art and gardens in American cities.     

家庭背景、教育期望与大学教育获得：基于上海市调查数据的实证研究

家庭背景通过子女教育实现优势地位的代际传递,以往国内研究认为,这种代际传递主要通过教育分流和文化资本、社会资本机制得以实现。本文根据威斯康星教育获得模型的研究成果,引入大学教育期望作为家庭背景影响子女大学教育获得的中间机制。研究采用2010年“上海居民家庭生活状况调查”数据。分析发现,在少年时具有大学教育期望的人,最终获得大学教育的机会明显增加,而个人大学教育期望的产生又主要同家庭背景和父母期望有关。具有优势地位的父母（尤其是接受过高等教育的父母）对子女上大学的期望较高,并激发了子女上大学的期望。同时,具有优势地位的父母能更多地参与到子女的教育过程中,为子女创造更多的支持条件,这些都有助于子女维持和实现自己的教育期望。因而,整个代际传递的逻辑可以表述为：家庭社会经济地位越高的子女,其上大学的期望也越高,这种期望最终会转化为大学教育获得的优势。     

Rehabilitation policy for drug addicted offenders in China: current trends,patterns, and practice implications

ABSTRACT

Drug use in China is both associated with criminal behaviour and regarded as social deviance. Drug addicted offenders can either be assigned criminal punishment or compulsory drug treatment, depending on the severity of the crimes they have committed. Compulsory drug treatment is in many ways similar to imprisonment in China. However, both compulsory drug treatment and imprisonment fail to prevent drug relapse. The authorities have implemented methadone maintenance treatment and non-medical social work interventions, although they are still in their infancy. More efforts should be made to deliver post-institutionalization programmes to help ex-inmates stay away from drugs and crime.     

多元文化交汇中高校马克思主义意识形态主导性探究

在多元文化交汇的今天,伴随各种意识形态的相互激荡,高校大学生马克思主义主流意识形态有着淡化的倾向。如何在高校中坚持马克思主义意识形态主导地位,已成为理论和实践中不可回避的难题。通过探究产生该问题的原因,探索在高校坚持马克思主义主流意识形态的有效途径。     

Addressing Ethnicity in Social Care Research

This article surveys recent developments in relation to the dimensions of ethnicity and ethnic disadvantage in social policy research and practice, with a focus on social care. While there has been limited increase in attention to ethnicity within general policy discussion and increasing sophistication within specialist debates, advances in theory and methodology have largely failed to penetrate the research mainstream, let alone policy or practice. This is a long‐standing problem. We advocate more focused consideration of ethnicity and ethnic disadvantage at all levels. Failure to do so creates the risk of social policy research being left behind in understanding rapid changes in ethnic minority demographics and patterns of migration, with increasing disadvantage to minorities.     

How do substance abusers and their significant others experience the re‐entry phase of therapeutic community treatment: a qualitative study1

Transition to re‐entry (aftercare) is a stressful event for therapeutic community residents. While several authors agree on the importance of social support during reintegration, few studies have focused on the experiences of re‐entry clients themselves and their significant others during this period. Using a case‐study design, the present study examines the re‐entry process of four TC‐residents and three of their social network members during a six‐month period, starting at the time of their transfer to the halfway house. Clients and their significant others have mixed feelings about the reintegration period, although both are mainly positive. Clients report difficulties in leaving behind the TC‐mentality and building up a stable social network; they are surprised about the frequent contacts with substance (ab)use in mainstream society. Significant others misjudge clients’ feelings about transition and relapse. Many significant others have a positive attitude towards the use of substances. The tendency in mainstream society to increasingly accept the use of substances intensifies clients’ need for early guidance in building up stable supportive networks. Significant others need well‐grounded information on the reintegration process and on relapse.     

教育扩招促进了代际流动?

本文基于中国综合社会调查的数据,以改革开放后参加工作的群体为研究对象,实证分析了中国高等教育扩招对代际流动的影响。研究发现,没有充足证据证明教育扩招促进了代际流动。一方面,尽管教育在扩张前后始终是决定个人社会经济地位高低的最重要因素,但教育扩招没有显著改善教育机会不均等问题,从而也无法减弱家庭背景以教育为中介对子女初职社会经济地位的间接影响,带来代际流动的改善。另一方面,教育扩招的结构化效应不显著,大学毕业生面临的劳动力市场并非完全遵循绩效原则,因此,即便教育扩招提高了他们在社会总人口中的相对比例,也无法带来社会整体代际流动的改善。因此,发挥教育扩招促进代际流动的功能,不仅要强调教育机会的分配公平问题,同时也要努力完善劳动力市场建设,促进就业机会均等。     

Does Immigration Help or Harm Children’s Health? The Mayan Case

Objective . We explore how the health, as measured by physical growth, of children in Guatemalan Maya families is impacted by immigration to the United States. Methods . We analyze anthropometric data on Maya children in Guatemala and in the United States. In addition, we use survey data from the Maya–American children and their parents about lifestyle and SES to examine the factors associated with overweight and obesity. Results . The Maya–American children are on average 10 centimeters taller, indicating better health. However, nearly half the Maya–American children are overweight and 42 percent are obese. Children who report watching TV or playing computer games as one of their favorite leisure time activities face a higher chance of being overweight. Conclusion . Immigration from Guatemala to the United States improves the health of children in that they generally grow taller. However, immigration also raises the risk of weight problems, increasing the likelihood of health problems such as hypertension and diabetes.