From Health Crisis to Rights Advocacy? HIV/AIDS and Gay Activism in China and Singapore

The relationship between HIV/AIDS and gay activism has been primarily informed by the American experience and understudied in nondemocratic contexts. Drawing upon qualitative research on China and Singapore, we refine understanding of HIV/AIDS’ influence on the development of gay activism under authoritarian conditions, by examining the processes through which activist organizations interact with laws and regulations, political norms, HIV/AIDS funding, and government responses to both HIV/AIDS and collective organizing. We show how HIV/AIDS’ influence plays out in multiple patterns, depending on the strategic responses that gay activists select from a constrained range of options to shape their organizations’ destinies. Therefore, we provide insights for development agencies and international donors into whether and how international assistance intended to encourage activism and wider social change are mediated by political and legal controls on local activism.     

Funding Mobilization Strategies of Nongovernmental Organizations in Cambodia

The objectives of this paper are to map strategies for resource mobilization of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in different sectors in heavily aid-dependent Cambodia and analyse the past and future trends of each of the evolving strategies. The data used is the product of a national survey revealing NGOs’ key funding sources and trends in a 10-year period from 2006 to 2016. Foreign grants and donations are still dominant, but one out of five NGOs surveyed engage in earned-income activities, and this trend is expected to increase in the next 5 years. This study contributes to the on-going academic and development debate about the struggles non-profit organizations face and the ensuing strategies for mobilizing funding. It also raises questions about the potential effects of different strategies for resource mobilization, social and ethical dilemmas, and the trade-off between different choices of funding resulting in a diversification strategy.     

Becoming fascinating

The conservative Christian women's movements which include Fascinating Womanhood, the Total Women, and the Philosophy of Christian Womanhood are described. These three groups share the beliefs that men and women are interestingly different; that women ought to submit themselves to their husbands; and that women must keep themselves attractive and well-groomed in order to maintain their husbands' interest and affection. This article attempts to portray some of the processes through which women become involved in each of these groups. With the assistance of Kanter's model of commitment mechanisms involved in participation in communes, this article analyzes the techniques used by the Fascinating Womanhood movement to gain the commitment of new members. Many aspects of this movement are similar to meaning-seeking movements discussed by Klapp.     

The Clustering of Psychiatric Disorders in High-Risk Gambling Populations

The aims of this study were to examine the associations between psychiatric disorders and pathological gambling (PG) and the clustering of psychiatric disorders in high risk gambler populations. The sample comprised 140 regular gamblers who were recruited from the general public. A variety of self- report and semi structured questionnaires was administered, including the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview, The Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire-4th Edition, NORC DSM-IV Screen for Gambling Problems Self- administered and Problem Gambling Severity Index. Axis I and Axis II psychiatric disorders and personality disturbances were found to be more prevalent amongst pathological gamblers than other gamblers with the strongest differences observed for mood and anxiety-related disorders. Almost two-thirds of pathological gamblers reported both an anxiety or mood disorder in conjunction with another type of disorder. These differences between the gambling groups existed even after controlling for gender. The results highlight the high rates of co-morbidity in pathological gamblers in the community and the extent to which anxiety and mood disorders co-existing with other forms of pathology. These results highlight the significant challenges facing treatment services in the treatment of PG and the extent to which this should be treated as the primary disorder.     

Evaluation of a Financial Literacy Test Using Classical Test Theory and Item Response Theory

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the quality (item difficulty and discriminability, construct validity, and reliability) of a financial literacy test that has been used to measure financial literacy in multiple countries. The test was analyzed based on Classical Test Theory and Item Response Theory, specifically the Rasch model, with the goal of identifying areas of improvement. The findings from the two measurement frameworks were quite comparable and identified similar measurement problems. Steps to improve the financial literacy measure were recommended.     

Exploration of Individual Responses to Mass Violence: A Personal Narrative of Trauma on September 11, 2001

This paper presents a personal experience with trauma during and following the terrorist attack in New York City on September 11, 2001. The paper offers a reflection on the traumatic event itself, the author’s immediate and long-term responses, and an exploration of the subsequent diagnosis and treatment provided.     

The Associations of Financial Stress and Parenting Support Factors with Alcohol Behaviors During Young Adulthood

This study examined concurrent and prospective associations of financial stress (financial strain, lack of financial access, public assistance) and parenting support factors (relationship quality, living at home, financial support) with young adults’ alcohol behaviors (alcohol use, heavy drinking, and problematic drinking) over a 5-year period. Analyses of National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) data (N = 7,159) showed that, over the study period, alcohol use and heavy drinking declined while problematic drinking increased. In addition, living at home and parental relationship quality were associated with fewer concurrent and prospective alcohol behaviors whereas financial strain and parents’ financial support were associated with more alcohol behaviors. The implications for minimizing alcohol misuse in young adults amid uncertain economic conditions are discussed.     

Nonverbal Behavior in the Digital Age: Explorations in Internet Social Communication

This Special Issue of the Journal of Nonverbal Behavior explores nonverbal issues in the digital age, with an emphasis on how information is communicated and received on social networking sites such as Facebook. In addition to showing that a variety of user characteristics play an important role in the exchange of information, the featured articles also reveal the impact of different types of nonverbal cues individuals use to create and manage impressions.     

How Parental Involvement Affects Childhood Behavioral Outcomes

National Educational and Longitudinal Study 1988 (NELS88) data were used to examine the impact of parental involvement measures on the behavioral outcomes of high-school students. Parents’ general sense of involvement with the community, as well as non-school child-helping groups, were used as instruments for whether these parents were educationally involved with their child. The instrumental variables strategy helped quantify the true effect of parental involvement on own-child behavioral outcomes. The results showed that parental involvement led to better child behavioral outcomes at the high school level, and that this effect was strengthened in the instrumental variables results.     

Polyfidelity

Kerista Village is an equalitarian, nonmonogamous, utopian community in San Francisco whose members claim to have eliminated sexual jealousy. Responses of 15 Keristans to a specially designed “Sexual Jealousy Inventory” were compared to responses given by 87 Americans and 17 Israelis. Results indicate that Keristans indeed report significantly less sexual jealousy than the other two groups. Various interpretations of these results are offered, all within a social psychological perspective.     

Facial reactions in preschoolers: A descriptive study

The facial behavior during a marble rolling game was analyzed for two samples of children between the ages of 2 and 5 years using the Facial Action Coding System (FACS). In addition, for a subsample of children temperament ratings were available. Analysis of coding reliability showed that frequency as well as temporal location coding can be reliably performed for preschoolers. The facial movements show a frequency distribution which is highly similar in both samples. Movements of the mouth, especially the components of smiling, and some movements of the eye region, were observed frequently. Most other facial movements were infrequent events. The more often shown facial movements were stable over a period up to 18 months. In addition, sum-scores of emotion-relevant Action Units were meaningfully related to infant temperament characteristics.     

The interrelationships of self-monitoring factors,personality traits,and nonverbal social skills

Following recent developments concerning individual differences in nonverbal social skills, the present study examined the inter-relationships of several standardized measures of nonverbal skills and personality. Particular attention was given to the concept of self-monitoring, thought to be a skill central to social interaction. Based on previous research which suggested that self-monitoring, as measured by the Self-Monitoring Scale (SMS), is a multidimensional construct, it was hypothesized that self-monitoring may actually be comprised of a number of more basic social skills. Correlations between standardized measures of basic social skills and three factors obtained from factor analysis of the SMS (Briggs, Cheek, & Buss, 1980) supported this conception. The elements of self-monitoring appear to be “charisma,” “performance,” and “social sensitivity.”     

Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking: Assessing and Reducing Risk

This exploratory study represents one of the preliminary phases in a larger study conducted in efforts to develop the Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking (DMST) Risk and Resiliency Assessment. The purpose of this study was to examine the factors that may put youth at risk for DMST. Because of Social Works ethical responsibility to marginalized populations, the promotion of protective factors through a 10-session group intervention to counteract against such risks was also explored. Thus, over a three-month period, 10 psychoeducational group interventions were facilitated with 23 runaway, homeless, and street youth (RHSY) at an urban drop-in center with the primary goals of: (a) increasing awareness of healthy versus unhealthy relationship patterns, (b) increasing knowledge on how to set healthy relationship boundaries, (c) increasing the desire and expectation of mental, physical, and sexual respect, and (d) assisting in safe exits from abusive and/or exploitive relationships. Results of the pre-test post-test design indicate a myriad of risk factors for DMST. Findings also support that when provided a psychoeducational intervention within a safe, encouraging, and youth friendly environment, RHSY are able to define and develop protective factors against sex trafficking. Implications are relevant to practitioners and researchers in the field.     

Competing Drivers of Hybridity: Third-Sector Housing Organisations in Northern Ireland

This paper explores the complex process of hybridisation of third-sector housing and support organisations (TSOs) in Northern Ireland. The focus of the study is the policy field of housing-related support services, known in the UK as ‘Supporting People’. This is a hybrid policy field involving several government departments, a number of market mechanisms and two types of third-sector actors. The exercise of organisational agency to adapt to competing drivers is illuminated through mental health and homelessness case studies. The paper explores how competing external influences from the Northern Ireland Assembly, horizontal policies for the third-sector and vertical service commissioning policies interact with TSOs’ own adaptation strategies involving the deployment of robust third-sector identities. Hybridisation is found to involve not only the dominance of state drivers and the promotion of market mechanisms in both fields, but also enactment of third-sector identities. Our analysis of hybridization in this case counters Billis’ (2010) representation of third-sector identity as weak, in flux, and subject to erosion by focusing on the agency of TSOs to strategically adapt to and negotiate external drivers and thereby achieve competitive advantage. Through the enactment of identity in this adaptation process, resources such as legitimacy, charitable income and volunteers are secured. This provides opportunities for policy makers to add value if they are prepared to emphasise horizontal over vertical policy goals.     

Old and novel methods for estimating Feral Pigeons (Columba livia f. domestica) population size: a reply to Amoruso et al. (2013)

In a recent paper Amoruso et al. (2013) proposed a novel method for estimating population size of Feral Pigeons, the Superimposed Urban Strata (SUS) method. In our reply we firstly comment on the lack of a complete review of the available literature. Secondly we point out that the SUS method does not account for birds detection probability and thus it is just a simple index of abundance as many others proposed in recent years. Thirdly, we question the approach used by the authors to evaluate the reliability of their method. To conclude, we believe that the SUS method is not truly innovative and that further investigations are needed before considering it as a reliable way for estimating Feral Pigeons populations size.     

Reprise

This article attempts to offer a rebuttal to some of the criticisms advanced by the authors of the three rejoinders to my article “Black Polygamous Family Formation.” It focuses on the nature, meaning, and conceptualization of a polygamous pratice whereby a legally married man takes on a second consensual mate, begins a second family, and lives with it in coexistence with the first family. Both African and African-American patterns are explored to see what the fundamental differences or similarities are between these two patterns of plural marriages—or what I call “polygynous relationships.”     

Health Care and Disability NGOs in Croatia: State Relations,Privatization, and Professionalism in an Emerging Field

Although nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in post-socialist countries have been under a microscope since their inception, their relations with the state are only beginning to come into focus and to be the subject of comparative and theoretical assessment. What these relationships mean to different stakeholders, whether they take trajectories similar to those in the West, and how they will be shaped by socialist legacies, are important questions to address before such relations are naturalized as “the way things are.” This paper examines NGO/state relations in the development of health care and disability services in Croatia, a nation newly admitted to membership in the European Union. The paper explores policy and institutional legacies, health care privatization, and relations with health professionals as forces affecting the financing, structure, and experience of relationships between NGOs and the post-socialist state.     

The Past,Present, and Future of a Regional Sociological Association

The papers in this special issue provide a comprehensive, in-depth look at the Pacific Sociological Association.  In this Epilogue, I call attention to some of the most important challenges and opportunities facing the organization raised by the contributors to this volume.