The DipSW admissions process: Laying the foundations for social work training

Recruitment and selection to DipSW is an essential, but largely ignored, activity. Here, we examine the ‘professional’ literature which emphasises setting standards for entry and the antiracist literature which explores discrimination in the selection process. The Manchester University DipSW selection process is then discussed as are some of the broader issues for selectors in balancing the competing interests of prospective students, course programmes, agencies and other interested parties. It is argued that recruitment and selection is not a simple administrative chore but is inextricably bound up with current debates about the nature of both social work practice and education.     

IT'S NOT JUST A JOKE

Sexism is a recurrent part of women's everyday lives. One understudied area within gender scholarship is the content and implications of sexist humor as a form of sexism. In this article, we explore the sexist content of 153 Internet jokes. Our analysis demonstrates that sexist jokes offer portrayals of misogyny that serve many functions, some of which include the sexual objectification of women, devaluation of their personal and professional abilities, and support of violence against women. Implications of such humor are discussed as well as future research possibilities in this area.     

RELIGIOSITY,PEERS, AND DELINQUENCY: DOES RELIGIOSITY REDUCE THE EFFECT OF PEERS ON DELINQUENCY?

Do peer influences have the same effect on religious and nonreligious youth, or does religiosity reduce the effect of peers on delinquency? Using data from the National Youth Survey, we examined the interaction of religiosity and peer influences on marijuana use, alcohol use, hitting, and property offenses. The results suggest that, for marijuana use and alcohol use, three measures of peer influence—peer attitudes, behaviors, and pressure—have weaker effects on religious adolescents. Thus, even when religious youth are exposed to peers who encourage substance use, religiosity may serve as a protective factor that reduces the effect of peers. In contrast, religiosity does not seem to condition the effect of peers on hitting and property offenses.     

Family Instability and Early Initiation of Sexual Activity in Western Kenya

Epidemiological, economic, and social forces have produced high levels of volatility in family and household structure for young people growing up in sub-Saharan Africa in recent decades. However, scholarship on the family to date has not examined the influence of this family instability on young people’s well-being. The current study employs unique life history calendar data from Western Kenya to investigate the relationship between instability in caregiving and early initiation of sexual activity. It draws on a body of work on parental union instability in the United States, and examines new dimensions of family change. Analyses reveal a positive association between transitions in primary caregiver and the likelihood of early sexual debut that is rapidly manifested following caregiver change and persists for a short period. The association is strongest at early ages, and there is a cumulative effect of multiple caregiver changes. The results highlight the importance of studying family stability in sub-Saharan Africa, as distinct from family structure, and for attention to dimensions such as age and recency.     

Moving beyond the magic Indian Trope in Craig Johnson's Walt Longmire series

In films, the Magic Negro is a stock character whose supernatural gifts promote the success of a White protagonist. A character with parallel traits found in a number of mystery series is the Magic Indian, who has supernatural connections and abilities unavailable to others. In his Walt Longmire mysteries, Craig Johnson develops a strong supernatural thread with the agency of Native American characters who can be considered Magic Indians. While Johnson's Magic Indians share similarities with Magic Negroes, they exhibit key differences in the way their spirituality is presented that make them more realistic characters serving an educational function.     

Sequencing and Scheduling Appointments with Potential Call‐In Patients

This paper studies appointment scheduling for a combination of routine patients who book well in advance and last‐minute patients who call for an appointment later that same day. We determine when these same‐day patients should be scheduled throughout the day, and how the prospect of their arrivals affects the appointment times of the routine patients. By formulating the problem as a stochastic linear program, we are able to incorporate random and heterogeneous service times and no‐show rates, ancillary physician tasks, and appointment delay costs for same‐day patients who prefer to see the doctor as early as possible. We find that the optimal patient sequence is quite sensitive to the no‐show probabilities and the expected number of same‐day patients. We also develop two simple heuristic solutions to this combinatorial sequencing problem.     

A National Survey on Depression,Internalized Homophobia,College Religiosity,and Climate of Acceptance on College Campuses for Sexual Minority Adults

ABSTRACT

Sexual minority persons have an increased risk for negative mental health outcomes in adulthood. This seems to largely be due to experiences of stigma in social settings. This study sought to understand the relationship between attending a religiously conservative college, internalized homophobia (a measure of sexual stigma), and depressive symptoms for sexual minority adults. Sexual minority adult participants (n = 384) from across the U.S. were recruited and completed a Web-based, anonymous survey. A mediation model predicting depression through college religious conservatism, college acceptance of sexual minority identities, and internalized homophobia was tested using path analysis. Results revealed an indirect effect of increased religious conservatism of a college predicted higher depression through lower college acceptance and higher internalized homophobia. Implications for the mental health of sexual minority adults and future research are examined.     

Dynamic patterning of concerns: A long-term comparison of the structure of hopes and fears of Israelis

The patterning of human concerns over time is investigated, using data from two surveys on concerns conducted in Israel in 1962 and 1975 respectively. Both studies used identical questions developed by Hadley Cantril-open-ended questions in which the respondent described either his personal or his country's future in positive and/or in negative terms. Concerns were defined by three major facets: their evaluative direction, their psychological immediateness, and the life-area to which they pertain. Time and salience were considered indirectly. A basic structure was predicted: the patterning of concerns would remain relatively stable over the years. In the event, only a patterning by life-areas emerged, primarily for the personal concerns, but is was found to remain relatively stable over time. Hopes and fears on both personal and national issues intermingled in an overall configuration of the major concerns.     

Advancing Research on LGBTQ Microaggressions: A Psychometric Scoping Review of Measures

ABSTRACT

Understanding the nature and consequences of LGBTQ microaggressions is critical to fostering equity and wellbeing among sexual and gender minorities. Yet little guidance is available for researchers seeking psychometrically robust measures of subtle LGBTQ slights, invalidations, and insults. To address this gap, we conducted a scoping review of multi-item quantitative measures that included at least one question addressing LGBTQ microaggressions. This article reports the study characteristics and psychometric properties of 27 original measures we identified and their subsequent adaptations. The article concludes with an assessment of strengths and limitations of LGBTQ microaggression measurement, highlighting aspects of measurement innovation on which future researchers can build. As microaggressions remain a powerful and underexplored mechanism of sexual and gender minority oppression, this review will help to both advance methodological quality in this critical research area and enhance our understanding of how microaggressions manifest in the lives of LGBTQ individuals.